LRB Screen continues its exploration of visions of London created by non-British filmmakers: films in which the city is a key player, rather than a backdrop; in which its buildings, streets, parks and rivers cast a distinctive shadow over the drama; in which a fresh encounter makes the city unfamiliar and mysterious again.

Next up is the path-breaking Babylon. Compellingly scored by Dennis Bovell and partly based on his false imprisonment in the 1970s for running a Jamaican sound system, it follows a young DJ (Brinsley Forde MBE, who fronted the real-life reggae group Aswad) as he pursues his musical ambitions in south London while facing down police brutality, the National Front and evidence of structural racism at every turn.

Following its world premiere at Cannes, and subsequent UK screenings – which preceded the Brixton riots by a matter of months – it was declared ‘too controversial, and likely to incite racial tension’ to be shown at the New York Film Festival and was not released in the United States until 2019.

For the New York Times, Wesley Morris wrote that Babylon ‘still feels new … You’re looking at people who, in 1980 England, were, at last, being properly, seriously seen,’ while Robert Abele in the LA Times described the film as ‘assertive and ebullient … alive as a movie can be.’

Introducing Babylon, and discussing it afterwards with regular host Gareth Evans, will be the film journalist and broadcaster Ellen E. Jones: co-host of the BBC’s Screenshot and author of Screen Deep: How Film and TV Can Solve Racism and Save the World.

Cast:
Brinsley Forde, Karl Howman, Trevor Laird