This is England (18)

It's 1983 and school is out for the summer.

This Is England, is the story of those long weeks between terms where life changing events can take place. 12-year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is an isolated lad who lost his father in the Falklands war. Over the course of the summer holiday he finds fresh male role models when those in the local skinhead scene take him in. With his new friends Shaun discovers a world of parties, first love and the joys of Dr Marten boots, but It's at one of these parties that he meets Combo (Stephen Graham), an older, racist skinhead who has recently been released from prison.

All of the ticket sales from this screening will be going to HOPE NOT HATE, a movement pushing back against hate and standing up for stronger, more united communities.

As a study of the creeping influence of political extremism, This is England feels as urgent today as it was almost 20 years ago. Director Shane Meadows said of the film:

"It's my own story, basically. Nineteen-eighty-three was the year I became a skinhead myself. I shaved my head, put on a pair of Doc Martens and visited a tattoo parlour. It's a tragedy that 95% of people associate skinheads with racism. The whole cult was born out of a love for black music and it was originally a very left-wing, socialist movement. It was only later that the National Front took the anger and frustration of its members and directed it towards minorities."

"I came from a white, working-class background, and I was constantly told that the Asians were nicking all our jobs. For a three-to-four-week period I believed it. But then I witnessed some appalling violence, and realised it was all bullshit."