We’re back for another year of film screenings and discussions with a very special Scalarama event. On Monday the 16th of September from 7pm at the Hyde Park Book Club, we’ll be showing Franco Rossi’s iconic film Babylon (1980). And, once we’ve got you in the mood for some reggae, Pub Dub legend V-Ital will be playing a DJ set for us try out some moves to.
Film synopsis
Franco Rosso’s incendiary Babylon had its world premiere at Cannes in 1980 but went unreleased in the U.S. for “being too controversial, and likely to incite racial tension” (Vivien Goldman, Time Out). Raw and smoldering, it follows a young dancehall DJ (Brinsley Forde, frontman of landmark British reggae group Aswad) in South London as he pursues his musical ambitions, battling fiercely against the racism and xenophobia of employers, neighbors, police, and the National Front.
Babylon is fearless and unsentimental, yet tempered by the hazy bliss of the dancehall set to a blistering reggae and lovers rock soundtrack featuring Aswad, Johnny Clarke, Dennis Bovell, and more.
–Synopsis adapted from Kino Lorber
Leeds Cineforum 