evidence: Protest marches; bigots emboldened in the mainstream; institutional racism and exploitative policies going apparently unchecked… these themes sound distinctly contemporary in 2020, but they’re also undeniably deep-rooted. A new documentary film, White Riot, highlights the 1970s inception of Britain’s Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement, and its ground-breaking carnival event held on 30 April 1978: where a crowd of around 100,000 anti-fascists would march the seven miles from Trafalgar Square in central London to a live concert at Victoria Park in east London, through a stronghold of violent fascist party the National Front. [...] The feature-length documentary, which won awards at London, Krakow and Berlin film festivals, builds on an acclaimed 2017 short film by Shah and Gibbs, and involves numerous RAR key players: photographer, activist and agitprop theatre performer Red Saunders; co-founder Roger Huddle; Syd Sheldon and Ruth Gregory (whose vivid photography and design gave Temporary Hoardings its sharp look); Kate Webb (aka Irate Kate) who ran the RAR office and mailed out badges, stickers and publications; smart writers like Lucy Toothpaste (aka Lucy Whitman, whose fanzine articles also gave a platform to themes including feminism and LGBT+ equality). The soundtrack is exhilaratingly multi-genre, through heady live footage (highlights include clips of reggae dons Steel Pulse, and punks X-Ray Spex, led by brilliant young frontwoman Poly Styrene, at Victoria Park; and London Pakistani rockers Alien Kulture; Tom Robinson singing the anthemic Winter Of ’79) as well as contemporary insights.