Skip to content

Free Party: A Folk History

Midnite weekend screenings happen on Friday & Saturday nights (meaning arrive on Friday and/or Saturday night by 11:45pm for seating, the movie starts after midnite)!

Director: Aaron Trinder Run Time: 107 min. Format: DCP Rating: NR Release Year: 2023

Doc’n Roll Festival Presents: NYC PREMIERE

All they wanted was the freedom to party. The State saw them as the enemy within.

This DIY indie film follows the birth of the UK’s free party movement in the late 80s and early 90s and the social, political and cultural impact it’s had on our present times. For Conservatives, the movement’s DIY, anti-consumerist lifestyle, prophetic environmental concerns, radical direct-action, anti-road protest and animal welfare ethos threatened the foundations of the State. The film explores the inception of the movement, a meeting between urban ravers and the new age travelers during Thatcher’s last days in power, and the explosive years that followed, leading up the infamous Castlemorton free festival in 1992 – the largest ever illegal rave, which provoked the drastic change of the laws of trespass with the notorious introduction of the Criminal Justice Act in 1994.

Eschewing tired formulaic filmmaking styles and tokenistic big name DJ sound-bites, this exhilarating modern day folktale is told exclusively by those who were in the thick of it and features interviews with members of Spiral Tribe, DIY Sound system, Bedlam and many others.

Trailer

UPCOMING SPECIAL SCREENINGS

SEE ALL
Poster for Fortress
Apr 23

Fortress

In the year 2017 one corporation is building a fortress for the ultimate takeover… your mind

details
Poster for Queen Kelly
Apr 25 - Apr 26

Queen Kelly

The new 4K reconstruction of a “lost” classic

details
Poster for Italo Disco Legacy
Apr 28

Italo Disco Legacy

A journey into the past and the future of Italo Disco music

details
Poster for Reeling
May 12 - May 17

Reeling

After a life altering accident, Ryan returns home and uncovers the secret of when things took a tragic turn

details