Cinema

15 October 2024

7pm

Franco Rosso, 1980
95 mins

The Open University’s Black and Minority Ethnic Staff Network are pleased to present Babylon (1980).

The movie centres around Brindsley Forde’s character Blue. He fronts a reggae sound system based in South West London (Brixton). The film captures the trials and tribulations of young black youths in troubled London in the early eighties.

Following the end of the film there will be a Q&A with Dr. Anthony Gunther, to discuss how the film helped shape his research.

Dr Anthony Gunter is a Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies. Prior to joining the Open University, he was Principal Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of East London. Before embarking on his career in academia he worked for over 14 years in South and East London, firstly as a detached community and youth worker before taking on Project and Area Manager roles, managing the delivery of programmes and provision in the areas of: early years, 5-11-year-old after school services, alternative education, adult education, detached youth work and centre-based youth projects. His interests and expertise are in the areas of: Black young people; youth cultures and transitions; ethnography; serious youth violence and gangs; race/ethnicity, crime and justice; and policing multi-ethnic urban neighbourhoods. He’s the author of ‘Growing up Bad: Black Youth, Road Culture & Badness in an East London Neighbourhood’ (Tufnell Press, 2010), and ‘Race, Gangs and Youth Violence: Policy, Prevention and Policing’ (Policy Press, 2017), and with Ellis & Marques ‘Thug Criminology: A Call to Action’ (University of Toronto Press, 2023).

There will also be an opportunity to watch ‘What would you do?’ – a short film inspired by Dr Anthony Gunter’s research that recently won best short at the Birmingham film and Television festival before watching Babylon.