Horace Ové is widely regarded as one of the foremost Black filmmakers in postwar Britain. The filmmaker and photographer was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and exposed to cinema as a child through American military bases on the island. He moved to England in 1960 to study photography, interior design, and painting, before attending the London School of Film Technique in 1965.

Ové worked as a photographer in the 1960s and 1970s, documenting Black life in postcolonial Britain, including key political figures like Michael X and Stokely Carmichael. His 1975 film Pressure, which explored the experiences of the Windrush Generation in Britain, made him the first Black director of a feature film in Britain.

Ové’s work often combined documentary and drama, using narrative storytelling to emotionally engage audiences. In 1984 the Photographers’ Gallery in London organized a retrospective of his photography titled Breaking Loose: Horace Ové.