Projects matching: Don Letts

Synopsis

A documentary that looks intimately at the incredible life story that shaped an iconic female musician who defined an era - The Selecter’s Pauline Black.
Pauline Black goes on an odyssey looking at her personal experience of identity and how it has informed her life and art. The Two Tone movement was the perfect setting for Pauline with her mixed British, Nigerian and Jewish heritage. It was the catalyst that allowed her to explore and express all sides of herself and figure out who she is. Looking at her own groundbreaking experience, Pauline traces how her legacy is relevant to the world around her today where modern society pushes the boundaries of gender, politics, race and identity.
“More than anything I wanted my family to finally say my name, Pauline Black. They could never bring themselves to say the B word. After years of being called half-caste or coloured, I could say it loud and proud, Pauline Black. I wanted to assert my new identity, fashioned in my own image, not somebody else’s idea of who I should be. My rebirth was complete. The ‘rude girl’ I had invented had a new name, Pauline Black.”
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2024 - World premiere
Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - International premiere

Synopsis

Poly Styrene was the first woman of colour in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, the Anglo-Somali punk musician was also a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements.
But the late punk maverick didn’t just leave behind an immense cultural footprint. She was survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother’s legacy and her mother’s demons. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly’s life, while their lasting trauma scarred Celeste’s childhood and the pair’s relationship.
Featuring unseen archive material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this documentary follows Celeste as she examines her mother's unopened artistic archive and traverses three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.
Official Selection Glasgow Film Festival 2021 - World premiere
Official Selection SXSW Film Festival 2021 - North American premiere

Synopsis

The story of Don Letts, a first generation Black British cultural mover and shaker, filmmaker, musician and raconteur. The film frames Don’s story with the Enoch Powell Rivers of Blood speech in 1968 and the “hostile environment” immigration policy of 2018. That’s the backdrop and the context of Don’s life – trying to find a place in the world. So we cover his relationship with the nascent punk scene – how rastas and punks found a common bond, both outside the mainstream, and how he introduced dub reggae to the punks. How he became part of the inner circle of the Clash, and how Johnny Rotten took him to Jamaica. He then became a top promo director (London Calling, Chain Gang, Pass the Dutchie) and then he formed a band, Big Audio Dynamite, with his old friend Mick Jones and made music that incorporated dance, reggae, rap, film samples and rock n roll. On leaving BAD Letts became a feature director, won a Grammy for his documentary WESTWAY TO THE WORLD: THE STORY OF THE CLASH, and is now a leading cultural commentator.

Synopsis

"The seeds for the multicultural society we live in now were formed on the dancefloor back in the day" says Don Letts by way of introduction to Nicolas Jack Davies’ documentary about Trojan Records, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The company was founded by Windrush immigrant Lee Gopthal, against a backdrop of rising racial hatred. 'Rudeboy' charts the label’s evolution from 1960s ska and rock-steady to the chart-topping hits that introduced reggae to a global audience, while also recalling the prejudice that the music’s pioneering artists and producers had to overcome in London. Blending original interviews with evocative archive footage and cinematic reconstructions, the film is a timely celebration of British Jamaican working-class youth culture, style and ingenuity.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2018 - Create Strand - World premiere
Official Selection IDFA 2018 - International premiere
We Are One: A Global Film Festival 2020 - Selection Curated by BFI London Film Festival

Synopsis

The Slits who formed in London in 1976 were the world's first all girl punk band. Contemporaries of bands such as The Clash and The Sex Pistols, they were the pioneering godmothers of the musical movement know as "Punky Reggae".
This documentary tells the story of the band and the lives of the women involved, from the band's inception in 1976 to the bands end in 2010 at the death of lead vocalist Ari Up.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2017 - World premiere
Official Selection Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018

Synopsis

From Led Zeppelin to The Rolling Stones, Elvis to Madonna, John Lennon to Johnny Rotten, Bob Gruen has captured half a century of music through the eye of a lens.

In this landmark documentary series, award-winning filmmaker Don Letts reveals the stories behind some of the most famous rock 'n' roll photographs of all time.

Synopsis

Don Letts is an unsung hero of British music. Told in Letts' unique voice, Superstonic Sound is a documentary about his family legacy that mirrors the history of Bass in the UK and his fighting for identity being the first generation of British born Black. A journey from Dub and Reggae to the legendary very first Punk club 'The Roxy' in the mid-seventies, crossing Hip Hop towards Dubstep; a musical, cultural and personal travel between past and present.

Synopsis

Loosely based around Romeo and Juliet, and the lyrics of the inimitable Bob Marley's famous song, this engaging film (that stars Marley’s son) takes full advantage of Jamaica's rich musical and religious diversity to produce a delicious inspiring love story. Entering a local music competition, Kassa (Ky-mani Marley), a young Rasta reggae musician is transfixed by the angelic voice and looks of Serena (Cherine Anderson) a devout gospel-singing daughter of a Pentecostal pastor (Winston Stona). Set in steamy Jamaican locations and throbbing with an incredible soundtrack, religious and cultural prejudices, a jealous fiancé (Idris Elba), insecure band members and the nefarious dealings of the competition’s promoter (Winston Bello), all conspire to keep Kassa and Serena from their musical and romantic destiny.

Synopsis

In the mid 1970s, a revolution was ignited on the streets of London and New York - almost overnight it shattered the status quo and would have a lasting impact on future generations of youth culture. It redefined popular music and fashion, threatened the establishment, and legitimised an independent, do-it-yourself attitude. With a star-studded cast of historic and modern figures in popular culture, this feature-length film takes a highly original look at the Punk movement.

Combining recent interviews with rare and famous archival performances, a chronological narrative emerges, allowing this incredible story to tell itself.