Sin Bin of the City - first screening at Museum of Liverpool

Street riot Reproduced with the kind permission of the Liverpool 8 Law Centre

On Saturday 14th October Museum of Liverpool will be screening the new short documentary film 'Sin Bin of the City'. Join us for the first public screening of the film followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and members of the L8 community.

Director, James Arthur Armstrong tells us more:

In 2016, I won the ITN Source Short Film Competition at Sheffield Doc/Fest for my short film 'Ferguson, Missouri'. Upon winning, I was granted full access to the vast archives of ITN to inspire, and feature in, my new film, Sin Bin of the City.

It was during the early stages of production that I began to see similarities to the 2014 race-related community backlash in Ferguson and the events that occurred in my home city of Liverpool 36-years previous. Racial tensions had been growing for years in Ferguson, much like Toxteth, Liverpool, and the result was a community coming together in violence and protest. Whilst archive footage provided me with a snapshot of events, I knew I needed to become involved with the community itself and hear, first-hand, the personal stories behind the newsreel images of this important political and social moment in British history.

Man Director, James Arthur Armstrong

For many people, the events of the summer of 1981 are something that should be forgotten - a blot on the history of a city and community that is best left in the past. My film aims to re-open the history books, bring unheard accounts to light and, most importantly, reflect on the modern relevance to wider communities today. Now more than ever we need to talk to each other, to listen to each other and understand how we see the world, and cinema, to me, is one of the best mediums for doing this.