Celebrating youth culture together with Sheba Soul Ensemble
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A double bill of Young Soul Rebels + This Is England, presented by young people from Sheba Soul Ensemble; and Fish & Chips from the award-winning Mermaid in the interval!
Young Soul Rebels 5.30pm
Youth culture meets identity politics in this part-thriller, part-gay love story set in London in 1977, days before the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations. The hedonistic world of pirate DJs Chris and Caz is shattered when a close friend is killed while cruising in the local park. The black community suspect the National Front, but the police pull Chris in as a suspect.
This beautifully crafted period piece, a bold and stylish debut feature from Isaac Julien, paints a convincing picture of late-'70s London. The city is a carefully mapped out social landscape, open to all but offering safety to none, as we are taken to a Dalston barber, east London council estates festooned with Union Jacks, West End offices, soul clubs and city parks.
Cert 15
Running time 1hr 45 mins
This Is England 8.30pm
This is England: Mods, New Romantics, and Skinheads are the major youth sub-cultures of this very English summer of 1983 and young 12-year-old Shaun is left wandering aimlessly alone and lost during the start of his school holidays, until his chance meeting with Woody and his fun and friendly Skinhead pack. Finding a new lease of life; girls, parties, Ben Sherman shirts, Doc Martin boots and shaven hairstyles young Shaun is welcomed, life during this summer holiday has got a whole lot better. That is until Combo arrives on the scene bitter, dangerous, racist, militant and psychotic life for young Shaun has just approached his first major crossroads. This is England is a look back at the early eighties of British working-class life through the eyes of young Shaun and his new gang, and dealing with the bitterness of outside influences such as racism and xenophobia, of mass unemployment and the fall out of the Falkland's War; Thatcher's Britain: Did we ever have it so good? When you see Shaun, ask Him.
Cert 15
Running Time 1 hr 41 mins
Watch one film or both, or make an evening of it! Fish & Chips can be ordered and paid for on arrival between 5pm and 5.30pm.
Sheba Soul Ensemble is a multidisciplinary arts collective creating theatre, film, live performance and community experiences that challenge narratives and inspire change.
The 2026 BFI FAN UK-wide season, Rip It Up, explores and celebrates the changing face of youth rebellion, culture and expression – from joy to heartbreak – on screen in the UK.
Youth culture in the UK has a wide and varied history, from the defiant rebellion of Teddy Boys, mods and rockers and the many activist movements that have shaped our society, to hedonistic self-expression in the music and fashion scenes and the emotional rollercoaster that simply is being a teenager – all of which have been portrayed on screen in a multitude of ways. Films in this programme at the Dragon are: Pride (11 June), Bend It Like Beckham (16 + 24 July), Young Soul Rebels + This Is England (30 July) and Quadrophenia (6 August)
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