LONDON.- Modern Films announces a special digital preview screening and Q&A 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 Curzon Home Cinema on the anniversary of the RAR antifascist march on 30 April 1978, this special preview screening event, supported by Love Music Hate Racism, will take place on Thursday 30 April, 2020 at 8pm. As part of the preview screening, it will be available to view online for an exclusive 48 hour period on Curzon Home Cinema. The event will feature a live-streamed panel discussion and audience Q&A hosted by journalist and broadcaster Mark Kermode, in conversation with director Rubika Shah, starting with the weekly Clap for the NHS national moment at 8 pm.
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 The Clash, X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse and Tom Robinson.
Rubika Shah, Director, said: I first found out about Rock Against Racism five years ago and couldnt believe the story about how this movement came about hadnt 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.
Following this preview event, White Riot will see a further series of digital preview
screening events take place across the summer, in partnership with some of the UKs best music festivals. The film will receive its UK & Ireland theatrical cinema release in September 2020, including a regional tour in partnership with Doc N Roll and tie-in screenings with Love Music Hate Racism.
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 Copenhagens CPH:DOX in March.