White Riot, Award-Winning Rock Against Racism Film Opens At UK Cinemas

Winner of Best Documentary at the BFI London Film Festival, White Riot (taking its name from a song by The Clash) presents 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 in the 1970s to a vitally important national movement. The film focuses on a major event held on 30 April 1978 when over 100,000 anti-fascists marched seven miles from Trafalgar Square in central London to a live concert featuring The Clash and Tom Robinson, at east London’s Victoria Park, encountering violent supporters of fascist party, the National Front, along the way. Sadly, even 40 years after this momentous event, anti-racism protest marches are an ongoing necessity, making White Riot particularly timely. And no doubt the Rock Against Racism movement of the 1970s influenced today’s Love Music Hate Racism campaign.

After its UK premiere at the BFI London film festival, White Riot 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 2020. There have been one-off screenings of the film at festivals during the summer but this month, White Riot will finally open in cinemas, first with special “insider” previews on 15 September at twenty Showcase Cinemas, followed by a nationwide theatrical release on Friday 18 September 2020.

For music fans keen to see the early days of punk rock, White Riot is essential viewing. More importantly, the film is a powerful social documentary of Britain in the late-1970s, when punk music was exploding and the country was deeply divided over immigration, with the far-right and fascist political party, the National Front, gaining strength. Contemporary interviews are intercut with fascinating archive footage and interviews, to recreate a moment in time when music changed the world and a generation challenged the status quo. The film builds to Rock Against Racism’s huge antifascist outdoor festival in Victoria Park in April 1978, headlined by The Clash, Steel Pulse, The Buzzcocks and Tom Robinson.

Director Rubika Shah’s film shows how the national protest movement, Rock Against Racism (RAR) was formed in 1976 in response to famous rocker Eric Clapton’s outrageous statement at a concert in Birmingham where he supported the racist MP Enoch Powell. Co-founder of RAR, Red Saunders wrote to the music press urging action. As neo-Nazis recruited the nation’s youth, RAR’s multicultural punk and reggae gigs provided rallying points for resistance. Red Saunders, explains: “We peeled away the Union Jack to reveal the swastika.” For six years, from 1976-1981, RAR was at the centre of a cultural movement against racism and the NF, printing the social issues fanzine, Temporary Hoarding and organising anti-racism concerts. From 1978 it was partnered with both the Anti Nazi League and School Kids Against the Nazis.

Rubika Shah, Director of White Riot, explains why she wanted to make this film: “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.”