Film

Possibly the first feature ever made on reggae, and not shown in the US in decades, Trinidadian-born auteur Horace Ové’s remarkably prescient documentary examines the societal impact of reggae with empathy for both black and white youth culture. The centerpiece of the film is a 1970 concert in the UK, featuring Toots and the Maytals, Desmond Dekker, the Pioneers, John Holt, and others, interspersed with interviews with players in the British reggae scene (Trojan Records founders, legendary DJ Mike Raven, and others). But Ové’s true achievement is letting the music explode, framed by beautiful compositions and camerawork and punctuated with playful, rhythmic editing by Franco Rosso (Babylon, which screens on the same day).