Project Detail

8 Bar - The Evolution of Grime

Synopsis

From its DIY collaborative origins in London council estates and pirate radio, via its intricate musical influences, to a complicated emergence into the mainstream, this immersive and exciting documentary tracks the evolution of Grime music. With extraordinary access to the key originators, producers and musicians from the subculture, as well as behind the scenes footage and a wealth of archive, the film combines a nuanced overview of the genre with a vivid sense of its socio-political context and impact across three decades of rocky UK history and reactionary politics.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2021 - Create - World premiere

Details

Year
2021
Type of film
Features
Running time
93 min
Director
Ewen Spencer 1st Feature
Producer
Aleksandra Bilic, Jamie Clark, David Upshal

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

BBC Storyville

Sales Company

Gunpowder and Sky

280 Mare Street
London E8 1HE

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Spacewoman Spacewoman

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all. At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

Someone holding an umbrella in the rain at a gas station Two Days on the Interstate

Director: Tatiana Stark

Year: 2025

As thousands of people travel to see the total solar eclipse in Texas, one woman drives from Dallas to New Mexico, in search of a legal abortion. Concurrently, people in a town off the Interstate she is driving along decide whether to crack down on 'abortion traffickers' like her. Official Selection Odense Film Festival 2025

Betty Cook of National Women Against Pit Closures Iron Ladies

Director: Daniel Draper

Year: 2025

The story of working-class women who, during the 1984–85 Miners' Strike, found themselves at the forefront of a battle against the British state. From Scotland down to Kent, women from the coalfields shed light on their experiences of the year long struggle, and how they became the backbone of the Strike. With many still active today, their actions reshaped the landscape of political activism for working-class women.