Held Over! Plays July 9 - 31
Directed by Rubika Shah
2019, UK, 90 min
Rubika Shah’s energizing film 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. 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.
Cinematheque at Home – curated by the Cinematheque – will offer new theatrical releases every week which our audiences can pay to stream through our website (by clicking the ‘buy tickets’ button). This is not only an opportunity for our patrons to see new cinema, but is an important way that they can continue to support independent film during this pandemic.
Reviews
White Riot reminds us that the world is much like a record. Sure the songs may start out pretty similar but if we ultimately don’t like what we’re hearing it’s incumbent on us to make sure we pick up that needle and change the tune, as well as make sure that we hit repeat on other tracks that just feel right.
– David Voigt, In the Seats
Rubika Shah’s smart, spirited feature debut is a whistle-stop tour of a DIY uprising.
– Simran Hans, The Observer
