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.

We are partnering with Love Music Hate Racism for this special virtual screening through distributors Modern Films. A Smoking Bear production. Winner of Best Documentary at BFI London Film Festival 2019.

White Riot will be available between Weds 5 – Sun 16 Aug for a 48 hour rental by clicking ‘Watch at Home’ below. You can preorder now and a personal viewing link will be sent on Weds 5 Aug. We will be hosting a free live online Q&A at 7pm, Thur 13 Aug 2020 via Zoom. Book your free place via our box office link above and Zoom details will be sent on the day. 

 


This screening is part of Film FeelsConnected, a UK-wide cinema season, supported by the National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network.  Explore all films and events at filmfeels.co.uk  

Q&A Speakers

Rose Delcour-Min 

Education and Equalities Official at the Musician’s Union

Since January 2020, Rose has been helping to develop networks for underrepresented members, supporting the campaign work for diversity in music syllabi, and working on projects to improve representation and opportunities for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) orchestral musicians. Her interest in trade unionism and the arts goes back to working in art galleries since 2011, and she achieved a distinction in her Visual Sociology MA looking at strike action in a post-industrial work environment.

Ed Gibbs

Co-Writer and Producer
Ed is a freelance journalist, film programmer and documentary producer based in London. His by-lines include the Guardian, Time Out, Little White Lies, Empire, GQ and Rolling Stone. He is a self-proclaimed documentary obsessive, dog lover and Arsenal fan. He is someone who “flies the flag for diversity and is a champion of fresh talent.” He is the co-writer and producer of White Riot.

Becka Hudson

Researcher and campaign organiser.

Becka has built national, arts-based political and community campaigns, most notably Fck Boris and Grime4Corbyn. She regularly works with a range of grassroots groups, most often with young people, to utilise music and performance as part of political campaigning. She has worked with Cardboard Citizens, Battersea Arts Centre, The World Transformed and Brent London Borough of Culture. In the rest of her time, Becka researches and campaigns on issues relating to imprisonment and other kinds of state violence.

John Pandit (Chair)

Founding member of Rich Mix and Asian Dub Foundation + their education wing (ADFED)

John has been a long-standing supporter of Rich Mix and was on the board up until 2018. John has been an activist as well as a musician all his life, having been involved in various community actions and even worked for CAPA, an organisation monitoring police and racial harassment in East London. His work is unapologetically political, believing that ordinary people should have access to resources and opportunities so they too can make work where they can express themselves and tell their own stories.

Rubika Shah

Director and Co-Writer
Rubika Shah’s critically acclaimed feature documentary White Riot won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival, and a Special Mention at the 2020 Berlinale. Her previous work includes the proof-of-concept short White Riot: London, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Berlinale Crystal Bear-nominated Let’s Dance: Bowie Down Under, a rare mini-doc about David Bowie and MTV, which screened nationally through Picturehouse in 2017.

Ira Sylvester

National Organiser of Love Music Hate Racism

Ira has a degree in psychology and works within mental health and community outreach programmes. In his work with LMHR he is a musical activist and campaign coordinator. He has a passion for comedy and is also actively performing stand-up. He thinks we need to be able to both talk and laugh about serious issues in order to bring about public awareness and change.

Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) is a nonpartisan organisation which aims to promote unity through the power of music, musicians, and grassroots movements. The organisation is a not-for-profit anti-racism campaign. LMHR is run almost exclusively by volunteers. The message is simple, there is more that unites us than divides us. Nothing demonstrates this more than the music we listen to. LMHR uses the energy of the music scene to celebrate diversity and promote anti-racism, in the tradition of the Rock Against Racism

Since its founding in 2002, LMHR has put on many hundreds of LMHR events, from large outdoor festivals to local gigs and club nights. Alongside the shows, the campaign has run educational workshops, stalls at music events and panel discussions with the aim of tackling racism.

They support local groups or contacts to put on events to bring communities together. They also go into schools and colleges when possible running workshops, assemblies and music events

Their aim is to use the power of music to bring together individuals and communities in a beautiful resistance against bigotry and hatred.