This film is part of Rentals
White Riot
Revolution rock! Rubika Shah’s vital documentary profiles punky reggae protest movement Rock Against Racism, from grassroots beginnings through to a major multicultural event.
Documentary 2019 81 mins
Director: Rubika Shah
Overview
Expanding her 2017 short, Rubika Shah’s energising film charts a vital London protest movement. Rock Against Racism (RAR) was formed in 1976, prompted by ‘music’s biggest colonialist’ Eric Clapton and his support of racist MP Enoch Powell. White Riot blends fresh interviews with queasy archive footage to recreate a hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches. As neo-Nazis recruited the nation’s youth, RAR’s multicultural punk and reggae gigs provided rallying points for resistance. As founder Red Saunders explains: ‘We peeled away the Union Jack to reveal the swastika’. The campaign grew from Hoxton fanzine roots to 1978’s huge antifascist carnival in Victoria Park, featuring X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse and of course The Clash, whose rock star charisma and gale-force conviction took RAR’s message to the masses.
very strong language, racist behaviourAccessibility
Related
Documentary
He Dreams of Giants He Dreams of Giants
Documentary 2020 83 mins Director: Keith Fulton
Terry Gilliam battles with obsession and self-doubt in this poignant, insightful documentary on the making of his long-anticipated screen adaptation of Don Quixote.
Billie Billie
Documentary 2019 98 mins Director: James Erskine
Part film-noir, part tragedy, this mesmerising documentary uncovers the true life of the legendary Billie Holiday.
Stray Stray
Documentary 2020 72 mins Director: Elizabeth Lo
A soulful new voice emerges in Elizabeth Lo’s evocative award-winning debut documentary, which details life on the streets of Istanbul from the perspective of the city’s stray dogs.
The Earth Asleep The Earth Asleep
Documentary 2021 80 mins Director: Clara Casian
Poignant film by artist filmmaker Clara Casian addressing the aftermath and extreme trauma of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché
Documentary 2021 96 mins Director: Celeste Bell
The death of punk icon and X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene sends her daughter on a journey through her mother’s archives in this intimate documentary.
IWOW: I Walk on Water IWOW: I Walk on Water
Documentary 2020 199 mins Director: Khalik Allah
The monumental new diary film from New York-based director and photographer Khalik Allah.
Black Stories
12 Years a Slave 12 Years a Slave
Biopic 2013 134 mins Director: Steve McQueen
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender star in Steve McQueen’s fearless, Oscar-winning story of a free man who’s sold into slavery.
20 Feet from Stardom 20 Feet from Stardom
Documentary 2013 87 mins Director: Morgan Neville
This moving documentary shines a spotlight on the backing singers behind some of the great musical hits of the 21st century.
Adulthood Adulthood
Drama 2008 99 mins Director: Noel Clarke
After being released from prison following a murder charge, Sam Peel (Noel Clarke) attempts to reboot his life and seek redemption.
All Night Long All Night Long
Drama 1962 91 mins Director: Basil Dearden
Othello is transposed to the 1960s Soho jazz scene as a malevolent drummer sows mistrust between husband-and-wife jazz luminaries.
American Gangster American Gangster
Crime 2007 157 mins Director: Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott’s heavyweight crime drama follows the rise and fall of drug-runner Frank Lucas, commandingly portrayed by Denzel Washington.
Amazing Grace Amazing Grace
Documentary 2019 89 mins Director: Alan Elliott
Aretha Franklin, at the height of her powers, returns to the music which nurtured her prodigious talent.
New
A Common Crime [Un crimen común] A Common Crime [Un crimen común]
Drama 2020 96 mins Director: Francisco Márquez
There are echoes of Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman in this gripping tale of class divisions and ethical responsibility in contemporary Argentina.
Sequin in a Blue Room Sequin in a Blue Room
Drama 2019 80 mins Director: Samuel Van Grinsven
Sexual obsessions spiral dangerously out of control in this altogether different coming-of-age tale.
T11 Incomplete T11 Incomplete
Drama 2020 104 mins Director: Suzanne Guacci
Past mistakes haunt the present and threaten a new love affair between an older woman and her patient in this compelling melodrama.
Minari Minari
Drama 2020 116 mins Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Lee Isaac Chung's sweeping story of a Korean-American family in search of the American Dream, winner of two Sundance prizes and now nominated for six Academy Awards.
Zana Zana
Drama 2019 96 mins Director: Antoneta Kastrati
Haunted by her long-suppressed past, a Kosovar woman struggles to reconcile the expectations of motherhood with a legacy of wartime brutality.
Sometimes Always Never Sometimes Always Never
Comedy 2018 91 mins Director: Carl Hunter
Bill Nighy, Sam Riley and Alice Lowe star in this stylish and heartfelt comedy-drama about a Scrabble-obsessed tailor searching for a lost son.