About
Birmingham has a rich but largely ignored musical history. âMade In Birmingham: Reggae Punk Bhangra' explores the social, political and cultural issues that gave rise to music emanating from the city using rare archive footage and interviews to shed new insight into the city and its music.
Including interviews and archives from Steel Pulse, UB40, Swami, Au Pairs and Nightingales, the film has achieved great success, being screened at Film Festivals around the world; Hawaii International Film Festival, NxNE, Thessalonica Documentary Festival amongst others, and numerous Film Festivals in the UK. âMade In Birmingham: Reggae Punk Bhangra' has also received two special commendations from the RTS Awards in 2011.
Contributors include: Brian Travers (UB40), Dennis Seaton (Musical Youth), Amlak Tafari, (Steel Pulse), Pete Hammond and Paul Foad (Au Pairs), Pete Hyde (Spizz Energi), Janice Connolly and Conrad Swartz (The Surprises), Alan Apperley (The Prefects/Nightingales), S-Endz (Swami). Archives include fashion designer Patti Bell who styled Duran Duran videos, Panto Banton (The Beat), David Hines (Steel Pulse), Kevin Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners) and Anachak and Apna Sangeeta.
Responding to UK Film Council, Digital Film Archive Fund (DFAF) brief, the focus of this project was to make accessible a variety of regional archive film to engage new audiences with archive moving image funded by Screen WM around the themes of Home, Identity and Community.
Directed by Deborah Aston
Executive Producer, swish films, Roger Shannon
Executive Producer, Birmingham Popular Music Archive, Jez Collins
For further information please contact Roger Shannon
email: rogershannonswish@gmail.com mobile: +44 (0)7887 566878