While the majority of my friends had posters on their walls of Claire Danes in Romeo & Juliet, Kate Winslet in Titanic or Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You (I adored these actresses in equal measure) I couldn't quite relate to their looks and opportunities. I was just as clever, funny, ambitious and compassionate as my classmates but why was I or "my people" never fairly represented on the big screen. Where was our heroine?Instead, I often found myself turning to literature to find my black protagonists, characters who came to life in the works of Zadie Smith , Hanif Kureishi and Ekow Eshun, characters who were worldly, dynamic, thoughtful and not just on the periphery, but central to the narrative.The most depressing fact, more so than my child self not having an adequate, three-dimensional black female role model in film, is that almost 20 years on, the cinematic landscape is no better. If I think of some of the biggest film releases of 2016 like Jason Bourne, Bridget Jones, The Girl On The Train or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, black or ethnic minority lead characters are scarce. Then when I think back to some of the biggest films with black leads from the past few years such as Selma, 12 Years A Slave, Mandela, The Help and The Butler, these films are always centred within a racial context – black characters are never incidental but more featuring in a greater discussion about oppression, inequality, slavery and emancipation. I'm the first to shout about the importance of spotlighting and reflecting on black history. But at the same it's just as crucial that we see more black women on our screen in varied, inspiring and uplifting modern roles.Time and time again we've heard people rallying against the Academy for the lack of black stars nominated for awards, let alone those actually winning Oscars. This year was no different as actresses such as Lupita Nyong'o and Jada Pinkett-Smith expressed their disillusionment. "I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year's Academy Awards nominations," Nyong’o posted on Instagram . "It has me thinking about unconscious prejudice and what merits prestige in our culture. The awards should not dictate the terms of art in our modern society, but rather be a diverse reflection of the best of what our art has to offer today. I stand with my peers who are calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them.”