Pop-up Picturehouse brings you a double bill evening of poetry documentaries.
DREAD BEAT AND BLOOD (1979)
Director: Franco Rosso
Duration: 43 minutes and 46 seconds
This vibrant portrait of dub poet and political activist Linton Kwesi Johnson transports us back to the turbulent streets of Brixton in the late 1970s. Jamaican-born Johnson explains with precise and powerful eloquence the violence and racism meted out to Black and Asian communities in London and beyond – and how his poetry acts as a weapon in the struggle for justice.
TEN YEARS IN AN OPEN NECKED SHIRT (1984)
Director: Nick May
Duration: 1 hour, 1 minute, and 8 seconds
The near-legendary bard of Salford, aka John Cooper Clarke, aka the ‘name behind the hairstyle’, is the focus of this essential documentary. Nick May’s film wisely sets aside narration to give space to Clarke’s sharp, take-no-prisoners words: in live performance, interviews and simple but striking impromptu ‘videos’ for tracks from his LPs with producer Martin Hannett. The film climaxes with a grim tour through Manchester slums to accompany Clarke’s magnum opus, Beasley Street, a despairing hymn to the urban devastation and human casualties of the Thatcher era.
This is no conventional biography; the film also serves as a useful introduction to the shortlived ‘punk poetry’ scene that rose up around Clarke at the turn of the 80s.
Cost: Donations on the door: £3 suggested.
Refreshments: Drinks & snacks available – details coming soon.
Doors open: 6:45pm
Screening start time: 7:15pm, 15 min interval at 8pm.
This will be a relaxed informal screening,
Huge thanks to ICW for use of the space
