John Akomfrah and Lina Gopaul, Reconsidering Handsworth Songs, October 30, 2012

Copyright Massachusetts Institute of Technology For more information: act.mit.edu Experiments in Thinking, Action & Form: Cinematic Migrations, Fall 2012 Lecture Series John Akomfrah and Lina Gopaul Reconsidering Handsworth Songs October 30, 2012 Handsworth Songs (1986), an essayistic documentary film, explores the history of the contemporary British black experience, in particular the riots and racial disturbances that broke out in 1985 Britain. Directed by John Akomfrah and produced by Lina Gopaul, the film pushed the boundaries and techniques of documentary filmmaking, combining real footage of street fights, archival material, confessions of people, and poetic voiceovers to portray a profound moment in the struggle for social justice. Salman Rushdie’s 1991 book, Imaginary Homelands, includes a review of Handsworth Songs he’d written in 1987. In his introduction he reflects on “a transformed international scene” since the “upheavals of 1989 and 1990,” and writes that the film “stimulated a lively debate among black British film-makers.” The post-screening discussion will address current reflections on the film within the shifting contexts of the past and the present and in relation to the work of Black Audio Film Collective and Smoking Dogs Films.