Alexandra Park Pageant, 27 June 1970
From the collection of
From the collection of
The beginning of a Mancunian tradition - could this be the first Moss Side Carnival?
All traditions must start somewhere, and in this fascinating film, local people come together on a wet summer day in Alexandra Park in Manchester for what is arguably the first Moss Side Carnival. Now one of the largest community events in the North of England, this early Carnival is packed with floats, fashion, football and dancing, plus Rita Fairclough from Coronation Street lending her support.
All traditions must start somewhere, and in this fascinating film, local people come together on a wet summer day in Alexandra Park in Manchester for what is arguably the first Moss Side Carnival. Now one of the largest community events in the North of England, this early Carnival is packed with floats, fashion, football and dancing, plus Rita Fairclough from Coronation Street lending her support.
From local news to feature film, through home movies and TV documentaries, this collection showcases South Asian Britons in front of and behind the camera. The contribution of colonial troops is illuminated through the earliest newsreels, while hardhitting current affairs programmes highlight the struggles faced in the 1960s, 1970s and beyond. Public information films produced for South Asian audiences feature alongside Hindi-language films made in Britain and interviews with prominent Asian-British figures. A bold wave of British Asian filmmaking in the 1990s is represented through early works by the likes of Gurinder Chadha and Asif Kapadia.