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"THE NEW BLACK Film Club Stratford" presents ... Menelik Shabazz's: THE STORY OF LOVERS ROCK @ Stratford Picture House, Saturday 17th September

Watch 'THE STORY OF LOVERS ROCK' film trailer, then follow the links below where you can learn more about the film, view footage and images...

  • The Story of Lovers Rock is a new documentary film that tells the story of how Lovers Rock music defined a generation in the late 70s and 80s hugely impacting on British Pop Culture. 
  • The film which will be released on 30 September 2011 in the UK, however in keeping with music buying tradition the film will be 'pre-released' on Saturday 17th of September at Stratford Picturehouse, in East London courtesy of Britain's leading exhibitors of Black and Cultural films: The New Black Network.

AWARD WINNING UK DIRECTOR REVIVES LOVERS ROCK MUSIC ... 

  • Produced and directed by award winning director/producer Menelik Shabazz; this marks a return after a 30 year absence.

Doors to the screening open at 7pm with an 8pm start, and is followed by a Q&A session with the man himself and a number of select guests.

Tickets: £8.00 Bookings

  • The feature length documentary contains interviews, comedy sketches, dance, live performances and archive footage which are used to shed light on the music and the generation that embraced it.

    Lovers Rock often dubbed romantic reggae is a unique British sound, the genre developed against a backdrop of racial tension, the Brixton riots and sound systems in the late 70s and 80s. It went from a small UK scene to become a global phenomenon through artists like UB40 and Maxi Priest.


Rapture Film Club presents ... Bishops TD Jake's: JUMPING THE BROOM @ Stratford Picture House, 6th September

  • Starring: Angela Basset, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Loretta Devine and Mike Epps 

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Tickets: £10

Bookings







Producers T.D. Jakes and Tracey E. Edmond's invite you to the marriage of Sabrina Watson (Paula Patton, Precious) and Jason Taylor (Laz Alonso, Fast & Furious), who just might be the perfect couple. Unfortunately, their families are a perfect recipe for disaster.

Mrs. Watson (Angela Bassett) has an upper-crust sensibility that matches her family's Martha's Vineyard estate, where Jason's straight-out-of-Brooklyn mom (Loretta Devine) seems utterly out of place. 

When the families gather for Jason and Sabrina's wedding, it becomes clear that each side has its traditions...and its secrets. When uptown meets downtown, the truth comes out - and only one question remains. Will this couple endure the hysterical and harrowing trials of love and finally jump the broom?

Followed by Q&A with Quincy and invited guests.

Doors: 7pm 

Complimentary Caribbean Buffet served courtesy of Caribbean Scene Restaurant

Film starts: 8pm

  • Shabazz stated: "The film connects the music with the children of that era, a generation whose story has rarely been told. Lovers Rock was significant because it provided the space for young people to share intimate feelings through dance which is absent with today's generation".

    Despite international success the genre has been hugely ignored by the British mainstream. Yet the music went on to influence a number of successful bands in the 80s like Culture Club, Sade, and the Police. Lovers Rock helped to bridge a multicultural gap that polarized the times.

    Lovers Rock allowed young people to experience intimacy and healing through dance - known as "scrubbing" at parties and clubs. They identified with the music as it spoke to their notions and emotions of romantic love and formed a coping mechanism for what they were experiencing on the streets. Lovers Rock developed with national UK hits with artists like Janet Kay's "Silly Games" riding the British charts several times, first hitting the charts in 1979, moving successfully into the European Charts. Kay has been recorded in the Music Guinness Book of Records, as the first British Black female to have a reggae song at the top of the UK charts.

    Kay features in the documentary alongside other artists who contributed to the success of the genre. The list of contributors include UB40, Maxi Priest, Levi Roots, Linton Kwesi Johnson, comedians Angie Le Mar, Robbie G, Eddies Nestor accompanied by new artists like Ava Leigh and Lovella Ellis.

    Today the music is being embraced by young talent like Leigh and Ellis, daughter of the legendary reggae artist Alton Ellis.

    Ava said "Lovers rock is the first genre of reggae I had ever heard; we come from a small town called Chester, up North, where there is no reggae scene, or any music scene. So the first time I heard that genre was my mum, my mum really loved Lovers Rock"
  • The film is distributed in conjunction with Verve Pictures and Sun Ra.

Tickets: £8.00 Bookings




Watch 'JUMPING THE BROOM' film trailer, then the bonus clip ...