Aaron Trinder, director of Free Party: A Folk History, said: “This film is a unique look at a much-underrepresented moment in cultural history.
“It was the last great unifying youth movement before the digital age, one that challenged the authorities, connected environmental awareness with music, and questioned laws on land rights and trespass,” he continued. “With new laws criminalising trespass and protest across Europe, the story is more relevant than ever.”
It comes against a modern-day backdrop of crisis in the UK’s nightlife industry, with the BBC reporting that around 400 British clubs – more than one-third of the total number – have closed in the past five years, as rising ticket and drink prices, rents, operating costs and changing habits in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic leading to financial struggles for music venues and nightclubs.
Mark Angelo Harrison, co-founder of Spiral Tribe, added: “The British establishment buries people’s history, celebrating the powerful while criminalising grassroots movements — just as it did with the Free Festival and Free Party scenes.
“This documentary uncovers the untold story of one of the UK’s most outlawed cultural movements. Intelligent, independent, and defiant, it challenges the commodified idea of social space — and celebrates a movement that, despite relentless repression, keeps on bustin’ new moves. A living history that doesn’t miss a beat.”
Watch the trailer below.
Free Party: A Folk History will be virtually premiered on 30 May. For more information and tickets, visit its official website.
Isaac Muk is Huck’s digital editor. Follow him on Bluesky.
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