Rip It Up: BABYLON (1980)

As part of the BFI Film Audience Network’s national Rip It Up programme, we’ve curated a special season celebrating the vital role the dancefloor has played in British youth culture!

From the Northern Soul scenes of the 70s to Jamaican sound systems and 90s rave culture, these are paradigm shifting spaces where generations of young people have come of age — because places to escape the monotony of working life allow newfound identities blossum, dreams of new worlds.

LOVERS ROCK (2020) — dir. Steve McQueen

Before Babylon, we'll screen Steve McQueen's Lovers Rock, part of his acclaimed Small Axe anthology. Set at a house party in 1980s London, we enter an intimate space created by and for Black British communities to dance, flirt, fall in love and find freedom from the racism around them. Inspired in part by Babylon, Lovers Rock offers a more intimate portrait of the same culture, shifting the focus from confrontation to the joy, sensuality and collective freedom found on the dancefloor.

Set in South London in the late 1970s, Babylon follows Blue, a young Black British reggae DJ chasing his ambitions on the sound system scene while facing relentless racism from employers, neighbours and the police.

Raw, furious and deeply immersed in the music culture it depicts, Babylon captures sound system culture it is a space for community and resistance.

We're very pleased to have Khara [Blackgirlwatching] with us to introduce the films!