This film is part of Free

True Romance, Etc.

Hackney teenagers - black, white, gay and straight - talk sex, love and marriage in this compelling drama-documentary.

Documentary 1982 33 mins

Overview

London teenagers hold nothing back in this involving fusion of drama and documentary with a powerful post-punk and ska soundtrack. Young men and women - black and white, gay and straight - speak candidly about sex, love, gender expectations, relationships and peer pressure, amidst a compelling drama about a drunken party in Hackney that can't fail to fascinate anyone who grew up in the early 1980s.

The party central to this film by the Newsreel Collective was scripted out of improvisations with the cast. The film was originally made for schools, colleges, youth clubs and women's and men's groups, and will surely resonate with all those 80s children's television viewers who were somewhat bemused that the kids never used swear words at Grange Hill. Another film by the collective, Divide and Rule - Never! is also available on BFI Player.