THE PEOPLE’S ACCOUNT

Ceddo Film and Video Workshop, 1986, 50 minutes

**** Film will be available 24 hours before the conversation event ****

‘Three major uprisings rocked London and Birmingham in late 1985. Each was sparked by an act of police lawlessness against a Black woman.’

– The People’s Account

A documentary drawn from oral histories and first-person accounts of the Broadwater Farm uprising which took place on a housing estate in Tottenham, north London in 1984. The film is told from the point of view of the black community which lives there. This was Ceddo’s first film for Channel 4 though it was never screened – the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) objected to the description of the police as racist, lawless terrorists, and to the description of the riot as a legitimate act of self-defence. The network asked for changes to be made. Ceddo refused.

CEDDO FILM AND VIDEO WORKSHOP

‘Ceddo operated like a guerrilla unit using film as a weapon. It fielded a film crew at riots in Handsworth, Brixton and Tottenham, with the intention of documenting police behaviour. This footage can be seen in Handsworth Songs (d. John Akomfrah/ Black Audio Film Collective, 1986)’

– London Community Video Archive

Ceddo Film and Video Workshop was one of several black collectives set up in the 1980s with support from the then-new broadcaster Channel 4 and the Greater London Council. Their work was characterised by a radical left-wing critique of British society in relation to black people and by an interest in African and Caribbean politics and history.

We will be joined by members of CEDDO including Menelik Shabazz, June Reid and Dada Imarogbe.

REGISTER FOR THE EVENT THEN WE WILL EMAIL YOU :

– the link to the film 24 hours before the conversation event

– the Zoom link the day of the conversation