In the spirit of All Points East and the strong connection between the festival’s venue of Victoria Park and Rock Against Racism (RAR), MODERN FILMS is pleased to present virtual preview screenings and a new special event for the award-winning film, WHITE RIOT, directed by Rubika Shah. Winner of the Grierson Award for Best Documentary at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival, WHITE RIOT charts the birth of the hugely influential Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement, which grew from a group of like-minded political activists in an East London print shop to a vitally important national movement.
Streamed exclusively online by Modern Films and supported by partners NME and Little White Lies, the All Points East event will take place on Thursday 29 May, 2020 at 8:00pm.
As part of the event, WHITE RIOT will be available to view online from 22 - 31 May 2020. Part of the proceeds from each stream will go to participating independent cinemas, which are currently closed but still supporting the film's campaign.
The event on 29 May will feature a live-streamed panel discussion and audience Q&A hosted by journalist, DJ and presenter Kate Hutchinson, in conversation with director Rubika Shah, RAR co-founder Roger Huddle and All Points East director Jenny Hamada. The panel will be followed by special music guest, Celeste Bell, daughter of Poly Styrene, whose band X-Ray Spex performed at the original RAR carnival in Victoria Park.
WHITE RIOT is set against a backdrop of Britain in the late-1970s, where Punk is exploding and the country is deeply divided over immigration, with the far-right and fascist political party, the National Front, gaining strength. Blending contemporary interviews with powerful archive footage and interviews, the film recreates a moment in time when music changed the world and a generation challenged the status quo. It climaxes with RAR's huge antifascist carnival in April 1978, which saw 100,000 people march across London before attending an outdoor festival in Victoria Park headlined by X-Ray Spex, The Clash, Steel Pulse and Tom Robinson.
Rubika Shah, Director, said: “I first found out about Rock Against Racism five years ago and couldn’t believe the story about how this movement came about hadn’t been told. White Riot delves into the birth of Rock Against Racism. It is an inspiring story about youth culture and standing up for what you believe in. We are thrilled to be releasing it into the world. Watch this space for more digital screenings over summer.”
WHITE RIOT will present a further series of digital preview screening events across the summer, in partnership with more of the UK’s best music festivals, to be announced soon, before the film is released in cinemas across UK & Ireland in the Autumn.
WHITE RIOT premiered at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival where it won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary. It received its international premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival 2020, where it received a Special Mention. It also screened at Glasgow Film Festival in February and as part of the digital edition of Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX in March.