Handsworth Songs

Duration:61 mins
Director: John Akomfrah
Starring: Pervais Khan, Yvonne Weekes, Meera Syal

Synopsis

Followed by a poetic response and conversation with performance poet, writer and musician Zena Edwards.

An invigorating and thoughtful documentary from the London-based Black Audio Film Collective that examines elements of the Black experience in Britain from the perspective of the tragic events of 1985: the Handsworth riots, the death and funeral of Cynthia Jarrett, and the seemingly ever downward path of race relations, brought to a head by the deteriorating economic plight of Britain in the '80s.

What is in evidence here is a fertile and imaginative cinematic intelligence which, in waging 'the war of naming the problem', musters a range of archive material, interviews, and filmed records of the disturbances. In so doing the film becomes an essay that is as full of subtle, rich and allusive argument as it is devoid of empty didacticism and stridency.