Babylon (Rosso, 1981): Rio Cinema, 2pm
Rio Cinema introduction:
To close Black History month celebrations across Hackney, Rio Cinema presents an in-house favourite with Franco Rosso’s Babylon (1980). Banned on release in the US in fear of inciting riots and originally rated X in the UK, Babylon follows Jamaican-British youngster Blue’s day to day in Brixton. The young reggae DJ (played by Brinsley Forde, M.B.E., Aswad) of the Ital 1 Lion sound system in Thatcher-era South London pursues his musical ambitions while battling against the racism and xenophobia of employers, neighbours, police, and the National Front.
The film will be followed by a live on-stage Q&A panel hosted by musician Nubiya Brandon. The conversation will take the opportunity to hear the real-life experiences of those who grew up in the Caribbean-British community of 1980s London.
Alongside these events in Screen 1, the Rio lobby will be exhibiting photographs by Chanté Saunders and Maisie Brown (previously exhibited at Dijons and featured in Nowness) with their photography series titled “RUDEBOYS”. The series is a contemporary re-imagining of Rude boy culture inspired by the wealth of British-Caribbean style and history across the UK. And In partnership with Backronym Films there will be a limited number of Black history month zines on sale (included in one of the ticket brackets) available on the day.
Time Out review:
Although Babylon shows what it's like to be young, black and
working class in Britain, the final product turns dramatised documentary
into a breathless helter-skelter. Rather than force the social and
political issues, Rosso lets them emerge and gather momentum through the
everyday experience of his central character Blue (sensitively played
by Brinsley Forde). A series of increasingly provocative incidents finally
polarise Blue and lead to uncompromising confrontation. Although the
script runs out of steam by the end, the sharp use of location, the
meticulous detailing of black culture, the uniformly excellent
performances and stimulating soundtrack command attention.
Ian Birch
Here (and above) is the trailer.
No comments:
Post a Comment