“Honestly mate, you look sterling”
During the summer of 1983, 12-year-old Shaun finds a sense of belonging with a group of skinheads, only for his life to take a darker turn when a racist, nationalist ex-convict named Combo joins the group, leading them down a path of hate and violence.
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."