TPH Presents BEATS WORKING: A MUSIC DOC FESTIVAL

All they wanted was the freedom to party. The State saw them as the enemy within.

A DIY film that follows the birth of the UK’s free party movement from the late 80s and early 90s and the social, political and cultural impact it’s had on our present times. Many Tories believed the movement’s DIY anti-consumerist lifestyles, prophetic environmental, radical, direct action anti-road protest and animal welfare ethos threatened the foundations of their neoliberal era State. The film explores the inception of the movement, a meeting between urban ravers and the new age travellers during Thatcher’s last days in power, and the explosive years that followed, leading to the infamous Castlemorton free festival in 1992 – the largest ever illegal rave, which provoked the drastic change of the laws of trespass with the notorious introduction of the Criminal Justice Act in 1994. Eschewing tired formulaic filmmaking styles and tokenistic big name DJ sound-bites, this exhilarating modern day folktale is told exclusively by those who were in the thick of it and features interviews with members of Spiral Tribe, DIY Sound system, Circus Warp, Bedlam and many others.

The screening on Friday, November 8th will be preceded by a DJ set from Jim Westlake. Co-Founder of Trip Hazard Sound System and resident DJ with VIRUS Sound System, Jim is a DIY rave enthusiast to the core.

BEATS WORKING is a music documentary film festival curated by Thornbury Picture House and it celebrates the year’s greatest music documentaries, hand picked from the best film festivals.

Rating

CTC

Duration

107 MINS