Ahead of White Riot’s wider cinema release, we held a special virtual screening of Rubika Shah’s energising film, which charts a vital national 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. Blending fresh interviews with queasy archive footage, White Riot manages to recreate the intensity of the hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches in the late 1970s.

As neo-Nazis recruited the nation’s youth, RAR’s multicultural punk and reggae gigs provided rallying points for resistance. 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.

With so many current-day parallels to draw from RAR’s protests and activism, we planned a free, live Q&A over Zoom, in order to extend the conversation White Riot begins. As our first virtual Q&A, this was a big moment for us, and one we were excited to see so many people book in to attend.

Despite taking place over 40 years ago, White Riot’s source material of the rise of anti-racist activism is a value our organisation holds very close to its heart, as well as an understanding of music’s undeniable power to ignite social change.

Our panelists included White Riot Director and Co-Writer Rubika Shah, Co-Writer and Producer Ed Gibbs, John Pandit (Chair) Founding member of Rich Mix and Asian Dub Foundation and their education wing, ADFED, Rose Delcour-Min, Education and Equalities Official at the Musicians’ Union, Fck Boris and Grime4Corbyn creator, campaigner and researcher Becka Hudson and national organiser of Love Music Hate Racism, Ira Sylvester.

Across the hour-long conversation (with people tuning in from as far afield as the US), Rubika talked us through what attracted her to the Rock Against Racism story in the first place, and how the characters led the way for the eventual narrative White Riot follows. Parallels were drawn with the current spur of activism taking place this summer around the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as questions around maintaining momentum in the face of adversity and set-backs.

For a summary of the lively discussion, see our Twitter thread here:

And for anyone that missed the Q&A and would like to watch it in full, see the full video of our live Zoom Q&A below:

We are proud to have partnered 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.

This screening was 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