RUBIKA SHAH’S feature-length directorial debut expertly documents the emergence of Rock Against Racism (RAR) that emerged in 1976, just as punk was exploding across Britain.

Using intriguing archive material, eschewing editorialisation and allowing the seven-year story of RAR to be told in the words of those involved, White Riot sidesteps the cliches and pitfalls easily fallen into when portraying punk, or indeed British life, in the mid to late-1970s.

The film is a reminder that RAR was as much a cultural as a political movement and, that while it was partly a response to the noisy mid-70s presence of the National Front (NF), the initial spur for its creation was a series of dodgy statements in support of fascism made by the dinosaurs of rock — among them Eric Clapton — against whom punk was kicking.