Curated and introduced by: Phoebe Beckett Chingono, Jaye Hudson, and Cici Peng (LCVA team)
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With panelists: Tony Dowmunt and Andy Porter (LCVA founding directors)
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The selected videos address issues from grassroots perspectives: bringing into view alternative feminisms and their intersections; political organising techniques – counterposing angles from a local electoral campaign and a direct action group; as well as performance, non-performance, and informal modes of self-representation that explore themes of crime, intimacy, and sexuality, a private realm not often considered to be a part of ‘community media’. Through these works, the programme explores resonances and discontinuities across strategies of representation, forms of institutional critique, and methods of community mobilisation.

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Films:
Excerpts from:

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• Things that Mother Never Told Us (1977) informed by the methods of consciousness-raising groups from the Women’s Liberation Movement, Carry Gorney uses video to collaborate with women on Milton Keynes council estates talking about relationships, motherhood, marriage, and identity.
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• Open Door: Transex Liberation Group (clip) part of the Channel 4 programme series Open Door, it features a rare broadcast of early trans organising.
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• Dead Proud (1988), written and performed by Second Wave, presents sharp, funny sketches by black and white working-class women, drawing on their experiences to explore teenage pregnancy, school, and family.

• Election 74 Part 2 (1974) captures a political debate on party organising, ending with voter interviews at a polling station in Tower Hamlets.
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• You Got to be Choking (1994) documents the grassroots campaign against the M11 Link Road by communities in East London during 1993–94.

• Us and Crime (1974), by Basement Film Group, features candid, humorous interviews with peers about crimes they’ve committed.
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• Liz and Pauline (1970–79), a black-and-white video interview with two young Black women reflecting on love, work, and hopes for the future.
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• Red Bucket is a satirical performance by a Gay Sweatshop offshoot, a parody of straight and gay norms, exposing class and gender tensions in queer theatre.

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