We support migrant creatives rebuilding their careers in the UK, and early starters from migrant backgrounds who want to grow into film and television — through community, wellbeing, practical skills, confidence and public platforms for their work.
Trusted by filmmakers, collaborators and communities across the UK and beyond.
The first Shoot Your Short Manchester training has wrapped. Register interest for future cohorts, Exposure walks, The Post Room edit nights and Screenshorts events.
Made In Black Studios CIC — registered in England and Wales (No. 17185100) — builds sustained creative pathways for migrants rebuilding careers in the UK and early starters from migrant backgrounds. Through community, practical film training, peer support, wellbeing-focused connection and public platforms, we help people grow confidence, develop industry skills and move closer to sustainable creative careers.
Structural barriers prevent talented Black creatives from entering the UK screen industries — regardless of ability. We dismantle them.
Hands-on production and post-production training, one-to-one mentorship, and a sustained community pipeline. Real equipment, real crews, real films from day one.
Young creatives, career changers, migrants rebuilding UK credits — anyone from a Black or underrepresented background with the drive but not yet the access or confidence.
Publicly screened films, verified UK production credits, improved employability and career confidence — and a growing pipeline into the professional screen industries.
Young Black people ready for professional training and a clear path into the screen industries.
Internationally trained creatives rebuilding careers and networks in the UK.
Underrepresented voices with stories to tell who need the tools and platforms to tell them.
Communities whose cultural output deserves platforms, investment and audiences.
We don't run one-off workshops. We build sustained pathways from first access to professional readiness — and then we make sure the work gets seen.
Hands-on filmmaking education in cinematography, storytelling and craft — professional tools from session one, as practitioners not observers.
Mentorship, growth pathways and creative opportunities — from first curiosity to sustainable employment in the UK screen industries.
Screenings, spotlights and platforms that put Black creative work where it belongs — in front of audiences that matter.
Train. Create. Screen.
Production and post-production training for filmmakers interested in scripted and unscripted film and television. Professional cinema-grade equipment from day one. No experience required.
Next cohort — join the waitlist
Dates announced soon
Led by award-winning filmmakers with work recognised across the industry.
A regular community space — not a festival, not a competition. Quarterly screenings, script workshops and group feedback for Black and underrepresented filmmakers at every stage.
Join our ever-growing community of filmmakers making real, meaningful work — and making their mark on the UK screen industry.
Real voices from our community. More coming soon.
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Coming SoonGrants, training, screenings, project updates and our monthly Talent Spotlight — direct to your inbox.
Photography · Chizurum Agupusi @latro_photography
Made In Black Studios CIC exists for the migrant creatives, early starters and underrepresented filmmakers who have talent, stories and ambition, but need access, confidence, community and a pathway into the UK screen industries.
The UK film and television industry still depends heavily on access, geography, networks and confidence. For many migrant creatives, moving to the UK can mean starting again in an industry that has no clear way to receive their previous experience.
Made In Black Studios was created to make that journey less isolating. We create spaces where people can meet, learn, make, screen, receive feedback and begin to see themselves as part of the industry again.
Made In Black was founded by Ibitayo “Tsaint” Ibikunle, a Nigerian-born filmmaker and cinematographer based in the UK. His work includes award-winning and nominated projects across BBC, Channel 4, Deloitte and independent cinema, and he holds UK Global Talent recognition in Film and Television.
But the organisation was not created from awards. It was created from lived experience: the loneliness of rebuilding, the pressure of proving yourself again, and the knowledge that many brilliant creatives simply need community, structure and a credible pathway.
Home Away explored migration, belonging and the quiet labour of rebuilding identity in a new country. It surfaced the same questions that now sit at the heart of Made In Black: Where do people go when their previous life, skills and confidence no longer translate easily? Who helps them feel seen?
That question became practical. Not just films about belonging, but spaces where belonging can actually happen.
Through Exposure, Shoot Your Short, The Post Room and Screenshorts, we support confidence, wellbeing, industry skills, creative identity and public visibility. The goal is not simply to run activities. The goal is to build a living film culture where people can keep growing long after the first session ends.
Our projects help migrant creatives and emerging filmmakers move from isolation into community, from curiosity into practice, and from practice into public visibility.
Made In Black creates practical, culturally rooted projects that support belonging, production, development and public exhibition.
Made In Black Studios · Exposure
A low-pressure creative project where migrant creatives and new entrants meet, walk, photograph, film, share food and build a sense of belonging in the city.
No specialist equipment required. A phone is enough.
View Exposure
Photography · Zainab Asafa @zainnies_visuals
A practical filmmaking project for emerging filmmakers and underrepresented creatives. Participants learn camera, lighting, sound, directing, editing and post-production by making real work together.
Future cohort: register interest now.
View Shoot Your Short
Photography · Zainab Asafa @zainnies_visuals
A creative room for community members to bring scripts, story ideas, footage, rough cuts and questions. A space where raw material becomes stronger through honest conversation.
View Post Room
Community screenings · cinema room
A screening space for Black-made short films, work-in-progress previews, audience feedback and cultural gathering before wider festival journeys.
View ScreenshortsTell us which project you want to hear about first. We will use this list for future Exposure walks, Shoot Your Short cohorts, Post Room nights and Screenshorts events.
A low-pressure creative wellbeing project where migrant creatives and new entrants meet, walk, photograph, film, share food and build belonging through creative observation.
Exposure is the softest point of entry into Made In Black Studios. There is no pressure to be advanced, no pressure to have equipment, and no requirement to produce finished work. Participants simply show up, move through the city together, photograph or film what they notice, share food and build trust.
It supports wellbeing, confidence and social connection for migrant creatives who are rebuilding their lives and creative identity in the UK.
A hands-on filmmaker development project helping migrant and underrepresented creatives gain skills, make work, earn credits, build confidence and find a trusted creative community.
Shoot Your Short began before Made In Black Studios was registered. In Lagos, 30 successful applicants were trained over three days and completed a short film at the end. The work has been growing for years; we are now scaling it properly in the UK.
From Lagos to Bradford to Manchester, the method has stayed the same: practical access, real collaboration and learning by making. Some people connected through the wider Shoot Your Short journey have gone on to build serious creative practice, including award-winning work.
Shoot Your Short breaks that loop. Participants move through practical training, collaborative shoots, post-production, feedback and public screening. It is not a lecture room. It is a production environment where people learn by making.
The project supports confidence, wellbeing and creative identity while building real craft: cinematography, directing, sound, editing, storytelling and working as a crew.
After Lagos, the work continued in the UK through training and community activity, including Bradford with The Unit, before Made In Black Studios became fully registered in Manchester as a CIC.
That journey matters because this is not a new idea being invented for a grant. It is a tested approach being shaped into a sustainable creative pathway for migrant and underrepresented filmmakers rebuilding confidence, careers and community in the UK.
Hands-on filmmaking workshops give emerging creatives access to tools, training and confidence.
Training continues with The Unit, carrying the approach into new communities and contexts.
Made In Black Studios CIC is registered and Shoot Your Short becomes the flagship pathway for the organisation.
In 2026, Made In Black Studios delivered a two-day Shoot Your Short pilot in Manchester, supported by Manchester Museum. Participants learned camera, lighting, interview craft, sound and documentary production. A peer-to-peer documentary was produced during the training and is now being edited by the community.
These reels were made by participants and community members during the Shoot Your Short training. They are not polished promotional films from Made In Black Studios. That is the point: they show the atmosphere of the room, the learning in progress and the way participants documented the experience in their own voice.
A monthly creative development space for scripts, stories, footage, rough cuts and honest feedback. The room where ideas become stronger before they meet an audience.
The Post Room keeps the community active between training, shoots and screenings. Members bring scripts, story ideas, edits, problems and questions. The format is informal but serious: peer critique, rough-cut review, story support and practical advice from people who understand the work.
It is how Made In Black turns occasional activity into a sustained creative home.
A space for Black-made short films, work-in-progress previews, audience feedback and cultural gathering before wider festival journeys.
Screenshorts gives emerging filmmakers a place to test work, premiere films, hear from audiences and feel the cultural importance of seeing their stories held properly. It is not just a screening. It is feedback, gathering, industry visibility and community celebration.
For Shoot Your Short participants, Screenshorts becomes the public payoff: their work is seen, discussed and positioned for festival submission.
Coming SoonOur inaugural community screening event. Films by Black filmmakers across Greater Manchester and beyond. Q&A, networking and celebration. Get on the list.
A dedicated strand for documentary films by Black storytellers. Stories of migration, identity, community and resilience told with honesty and craft.
Touring editions taking Made In Black Screenings to schools, libraries and community venues across Greater Manchester. Accessible and free to attend.
MIB Screenings welcomes films, scripts and ideas at every stage. Tell us about your project and what kind of support you're looking for.
Community archive
A journal series documenting the stories, practice and journeys of Black filmmakers and migrant creatives building work, community and careers in the UK.
Founder of Made In Black Studios. Cinematographer. Director. Migrant creative. Building the room he once needed.
Made In Black came from the place where my professional life and my personal life collided. I moved to the UK with years of work behind me, a body of films, credits and confidence built in Nigeria. But migration has a way of making you start again. You can arrive with experience and still feel unseen. You can know what you carry, but struggle to find the room where that experience translates. Made In Black is the room I needed when I was rebuilding.
I understand the quiet grief of migration: leaving behind reputation, networks, language, rhythm and certainty. I also understand the determination it takes to rebuild without losing yourself. That is why the work is not just about teaching people how to use cameras. It is about helping migrant creatives recover confidence, protect their wellbeing, find peer support and begin to imagine themselves as part of the UK screen industry without erasing where they came from.
Home Away was me turning the camera toward a question I had been carrying since I arrived in Britain: will this place ever feel like home? The film follows my reflections alongside Felix, Victor and Agatha, each navigating a different version of rebuilding. It helped me see that the answer was not only to make films about belonging, but to build spaces where belonging could be practised. That is what Made In Black is becoming.
Shoot Your Short has been part of my journey since 2020. It began from a simple conviction: talented people should not have to wait for permission before they touch professional tools, tell meaningful stories or feel like filmmakers. Across Lagos, Bradford and Manchester, the impact has been the same. People enter unsure, curious or disconnected, and leave with practical skills, creative confidence and new collaborators. Carrying that into the UK now matters because many migrant creatives are not beginners in life, but they are forced to begin again in a new industry. Shoot Your Short gives them a bridge.
I am a Nigerian filmmaker, cinematographer and colourist based in Manchester. I have worked across documentary, narrative and social impact storytelling, including as cinematographer on Disciples: The Cult of TB Joshua for BBC Africa Eye, which won the Royal Television Society Award for Best International Documentary. I have also worked on projects connected to the BBC, Channel 4, Deloitte, Africa Eye and independent cinema. I hold UK Global Talent recognition in Film and Television, but the point of that recognition is not status. It is responsibility. If I have found doors, I want to help other people find theirs too.
I am developing 60 Days, a film rooted in the pressure migrants face when survival, work, identity and belonging collide. That same urgency drives Made In Black. I want us to build a sustainable Black and migrant film community in the UK where people can enter through connection, grow through training, develop work with peers, screen their films publicly and eventually return as mentors for others. The dream is not just to create opportunities. It is to create continuity.
A forthcoming conversation with a filmmaker on craft, authorship, access and creative survival.
A forthcoming feature on migration, practice, confidence and the communities that make careers possible.
Photography · Chizurum Agupusi @latro_photography
Your support helps us keep creative opportunities accessible for migrants rebuilding careers in the UK and early starters from underrepresented backgrounds who need practical skills, wellbeing-focused community and routes into film and television.
Donations help cover venue hire, participant travel, food, equipment access, documentation and the hidden costs that often stop people from taking part.
We welcome filmmakers, producers, editors, writers and creative professionals who can offer honest guidance, feedback and encouragement to emerging creatives.
Future Made In Black goods will help generate earned income for community projects while giving supporters something beautiful to wear and share.
For the communities we serve, access is not only about talent. It is about travel, childcare, confidence, equipment, networks and safe rooms where people can learn without feeling out of place. Your support helps us keep the door open.
Our members need more than inspiration. They need practical insight, honest feedback, introductions to how the sector works and people who can help them believe their creative future is possible.
We are developing simple, beautiful Made In Black goods that can help generate earned income for the CIC. Register interest and we will let you know when the first drop is ready.
MIB Cap
Simple community goods that help fund access.
Coming SoonMIB T-Shirt
Wear the mission. Support the work.
Coming SoonMIB Hoodie
Designed for community, built for sustainability.
Coming SoonMade In Black is a living creative community for migrants rebuilding creative careers in the UK and early starters from migrant backgrounds who want to grow into film, television and visual storytelling.
Based in Manchester · Supporting creatives across the UK
Our community benefits through practical access to cameras, peer learning, creative confidence, shared networks and spaces where ideas become work. These are images from the rooms, walks and sets where that transformation happens.
Participants pick up equipment, make creative decisions and learn by doing.
A space where people feel seen enough to speak, try, create and begin again.
Practical skill-building in a room that feels culturally safe and creatively serious.
People meet, walk, talk, photograph, crew for each other and build creative relationships that last.
Participants gain confidence by seeing themselves as makers, not just learners.
The work is technical, but the deeper shift is confidence, wellbeing and connection.
Our work supports migrant creatives rebuilding their careers in the UK and early starters from migrant backgrounds to rebuild confidence, reduce isolation, improve wellbeing and strengthen their creative identity. Through practical filmmaking, story development, peer feedback and community connection, members develop industry skills that help them move closer to sustainable creative careers.
Participants are encouraged to see themselves as filmmakers, storytellers and cultural contributors, not just people trying to find a way in.
Shared creative activity reduces isolation and creates supportive peer relationships, helping people feel less alone while rebuilding their sense of purpose.
Members build camera, lighting, sound, directing, editing, script discussion, feedback and production skills through real activity.
The community helps people meet collaborators, gain experience, develop work, screen films and build confidence toward careers in film and media.
A selection of images from training, production, Exposure sessions and behind-the-scenes moments. Click any image to view larger.
Whether you want to join the community, mentor migrant and emerging creatives, or support the work financially, there is a real way to help build this ecosystem.
Made In Black Studios CIC
Registered No. 17185100 · England & Wales
Manchester, UK
07932 742 431
For funders & commissioners: We respond within 3–5 working days. Email us directly or use the form.
MIB Mentorship connects Black and underrepresented creatives with working industry professionals. One hour a month can open a door that stays shut for years without it. Tell us where you are — we'll find the right match.
Shoot Your Short is designed for people who have not had the opportunity — not those who already have access. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and other ethnically diverse backgrounds, migrants and internationally-trained creatives, people with caring responsibilities, those from low-income households, and anyone who has felt like the screen industries were not built for them.
This waitlist form helps us understand your interests, background and the kind of support you may need. There are no wrong answers.
