Cables & Cameras and BSWN are collaborating to reflect on the impact of the 40th Anniversary of the St Pauls riot, with a planned screening of ‘A Day to Remember’ by Available Light on 4th April 2020 at the Cube cinema. Due to current circumstances with COVID-19, the event has been postponed but we are hoping to revisit it later in the year during Black History Month. So do keep an eye on our event listings for further details. We will announce a new date as soon as we are able to.

The St Pauls riot occurred in Bristol on 2nd April 1980, when local police raided the Black & White Café on Grosvenor Road. The riot lasted for many hours, fire engines and police cars were damaged, 130 people were arrested, 25 were taken to hospital, including 19 police officers and members of the press. 16 of those arrested were prosecuted but were either acquitted or had charges against them dropped. The riot occurred against a background of increasing racial tension, poor housing conditions, social injustice, prejudice and harassment of black youth. The police increasingly used the Sus law to stop and search youth from ethnic minorities, especially from Afro-Caribbean community, which created tension. Calls for a public enquiry into the disturbances were repeatedly rejected by the government. A year later, several riots occurred across the country, including in Brixton in London and in Toxteth in Liverpool.

Gary Thompson from Cables and Cameras said:

“Cables and Cameras would like to say at this unusual time we have postponed the screening of the 40th anniversary of the St Paul’s Riots. But we will revisit this important topic later in the year.

We will look for new ways of spreading the word for BAME filmmakers in the Southwest. Cables and Cameras are also looking forward to working with BSWN on future projects. At this moment in time if you have any content you would like to share, contact Cables and Cameras.

We are also looking for partners and supporters to help develop new emerging talent in the BAME creative community. The only way for us to build and create new projects is to have likeminded people and organisations working together. We need to stay focused and positive. BAME creatives & filmmakers in the South-West, let’s work together!”

If you would like to find out more about the riot, Cables and Cameras recommend reading To Ride The Storm: The 1980 Bristol 'Riot' and the State by Harris Joshua and Tina Wallance with assistance by Heather Booth, first published in 1983.

This study of the event and the aftermath analyses the responses of the legal system, the role of the media and the reactions of various government agencies, and sets the scene by a consideration of the treatment of black people in Britain. The authors demonstrate that collective racial violence is not a recent phenomenon, rather it has been an integral part of history of race and black settlement in Britain.

The lessons drawn from Bristol should be read by everyone concerned with ethnic relations and the inner city’s problems. It also has much to offer those concerned with the media, and law and order.

For more information about opportunities for getting involved with filmmakers and creatives in the South West, do contact Cables and Cameras.