This film is part of Rentals

White Riot
Revolution rock! Rubika Shah’s vital documentary profiles punky reggae protest movement Rock Against Racism, from grassroots beginnings through to a major multicultural event.
Documentary 2019 81 mins
Director: Rubika Shah
Overview
Expanding her 2017 short, Rubika Shah’s energising film charts a vital London 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.

Accessibility
Related
Documentary

Wake Up Punk Wake Up Punk
Documentary 2022 84 mins Director: Nigel Askew
Nigel Askew's documentary explores the punk movement, featuring revealing insights from designer and punk icon Vivienne Westwood.

The Velvet Queen: Snow Leopard The Velvet Queen: Snow Leopard
Documentary 2021 92 mins Director: Marie Amiguet
An adventurer and one of the world's most renowned wildlife photographers attempt to track the most elusive of big cats, in this stunning documentary scored by Warren Ellis and Nick Cave.

Ennio Ennio
Documentary 2021 156 mins Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
A definitive portrait of Ennio Morricone, the legendary composer responsible for some of the most memorable film scores of all time.

River River
Documentary 2021 75 mins Director: Jennifer Peedom
A profound cinematic and musical reflection on how rivers have shaped both the planet’s elaborate landscapes and all human existence.

Rebel Dread Rebel Dread
Documentary 2020 83 mins Director: William E. Badgley
This is the story of the iconic Don Letts, the coolest cultural polymath – narrated by the man himself.

African Apocalypse African Apocalypse
Documentary 2020 92 mins Director: Rob Lemkin
Rob Lemkin’s harrowing yet urgent documentary shines a lens on the trauma and legacy of colonialism in one of Africa’s poorest nations, Niger.
The Camera is Ours: Britain's Women Documentary Makers

Dreamcatcher Dreamcatcher
Documentary 2014 98 mins Director: Kim Longinotto
Kim Longinotto’s inspirational documentary about Brenda, a Chicagoan charity worker who helps vulnerable prostitutes leave the industry.

Love Is All Love Is All
Documentary 2014 74 mins Director: Kim Longinotto
A hundred years of love and courtship on the silver screen, with music created by celebrated Sheffield singer-songwriter-producer Richard Hawley.

From the Sea to the Land Beyond From the Sea to the Land Beyond
Documentary 2012 73 mins Director: Penny Woolcock
This fascinating and moving film by award-winning director Penny Woolcock is a lyrical portrait of Britain's coastline which features a score by British Sea Power.

Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami
Documentary 2017 115 mins Director: Sophie Fiennes
Grace Jones is laid bare in this intimate and electrifying insight into the fascinating world of a pop-cultural phenomenon.

Keyboard Fantasies Keyboard Fantasies
Documentary 2019 60 mins Director: Posy Dixon
After his 1986 album Keyboard Fantasies is rediscovered, a black trans musician recounts his life, from the lonely 1960s to the joy of witnessing the present.

I Am Belmaya I Am Belmaya
Documentary 2021 81 mins Director: Sue Carpenter
An inspirational story of rebellion, courage and hope as Belmaya, a young Dalit woman in Nepal, silenced and subjugated for most of her life, takes up the movie camera to tell her story.
New

Ali & Ava Ali & Ava
Drama 2020 94 mins Director: Clio Barnard
Clio Barnard’s latest film is a tremendously warm and tenderly written love story.

Parallel Mothers Parallel Mothers
Drama 2021 123 mins Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Almodóvar at his very best, presenting a riveting drama about two mothers from very different backgrounds whose lives become intertwined.

Wake Up Punk Wake Up Punk
Documentary 2022 84 mins Director: Nigel Askew
Nigel Askew's documentary explores the punk movement, featuring revealing insights from designer and punk icon Vivienne Westwood.

We're All Going to the World's Fair We're All Going to the World's Fair
Horror 2021 86 mins Director: Jane Schoenbrun
This remarkable debut from Jane Schoenbrun is destined to be a cult classic.

Murina Murina
Drama 2021 96 mins Director: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic
Tensions rise between restless teenager Julija and her oppressive father Ante when an old family friend arrives at their Croatian island home.

Compartment No. 6 Compartment No. 6
Drama 2021 107 mins Director: Juho Kuosmanen
Juho Kuosmanen’s grungy train journey to Siberia, in a Finnish student’s shared sleeper carriage with a volatile Russian labourer, won the 2021 Cannes Grand Prix.