INQUEST seeks London venues for documentary on state deaths

The UK Is Not Innocent, which recounts the 40-year history of Finsbury Park charity INQUEST, had its first screening at Hackney’s Castle Cinema late last month, attended by Mr Zephaniah’s family.

The poet, who died in December from a brain tumour, rewrote his poem One Minute’s Silence to include the victims in the documentary.

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The film “tells the history of 40 years of violence by the state,” said Richard York, who spent 18 months making it with co-director Hannan Majid.

“People were affected very deeply,” INQUEST’s Jessica Pandian said of the Hackney screening.

“Somebody in the Q&A afterwards said yes, they felt anger, but they also felt incentivised to mobilise, organise and do something about it. That is what we wanted it to be, ultimately – a call to action.”

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Mr Zephaniah’s poem is “a big part of the film”, said Richard. “It was being written as the film was being edited… He was watching early cuts.”

The poet - a chairman of Hackney Empire Theatre and involved in the Hackney Windrush Art Commission - sadly died before he could be filmed but had already made an audio recording.

“It was really upsetting,” said Richard. “He’s such a legend and an icon. We’re massively privileged to have him kind of blessing the film with his presence.

“Benjamin gives us these points of breathing space, where the audience can process what has gone before.”

Poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who lived for many years in Newham, was working on The UK Is Not Innocent when he died. He passed away before he could be filmed, but the documentary includes his last ever audio recorded poem (Image: John Stillwell/PA Wire)

Cases included in the film “represent all the different issues we work across – racism, mental health, policing, prisons, and mass fatalities,” said Jessica.

The shooting of Mark Duggan by police in Tottenham in 2011 is one of the cases covered.

“It’s kind of like the story of Britain as well,” said Hannan. “Hillsborough, Grenfell, Blair Peach – these are big moments in this country.”

Blair Peach died in 1979 in Southall after allegedly being hit on the head by a police officer during an anti-racism protest.

“You have to balance those key historical moments with the stories no one’s ever heard about,” said Richard.

“I don’t know why I’ve never heard the names like Adam Rickwood. I’d never heard of Gareth Meyer until I started working on this film – and I was so shocked to learn about these cases.”

Mr Rickwood, aged 14, was found hanged in a County Durham young offenders’ institution in 2004. In the same year, Gareth Myatt, 15, died after being restrained at a secure training facility in Warwickshire.

Celia Stubbs, a founding member of INQUEST, was the partner of Blair Peach, who died after allegedly being hit in the head by a police officer during an anti-racism protest (Image: Rainbow Collective)

“In some ways, they bring the greatest impact to the audience because they just don’t see it coming,” said Richard. “They’ve never even heard these names.”

The film’s title challenges Britain’s reputation as a “soft” state, said Richard, particularly in conversations like those which followed George Floyd’s murder by American police in 2000.

“Still, a lot of the time, people are saying, ‘Yea, it’s bad, but it’s not America – at least the police don’t carry guns’,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous. The police do carry guns here more and more, and George Floyd wasn’t even shot, he was killed by positional asphyxia, which happens all the time in this country.

“The UK is not this kind of benevolent state. It’s just as guilty and as murderous as the similar kind of regime across the Atlantic.”

One thing highlighted by the film, said the makers, is that even with INQUEST’s help, families rarely get justice.

“There’s so few cases historically where a just outcome has come through,” said Richard. “The evidence or public feeling has to be so astronomical… They’re always getting let off the hook.”

Leslie Thomas KC, who worked on the Hillsborough disaster and Mark Duggan shooting inquests, is among those interviewed for The UK Is Not Innocent (Image: Rainbow Collective)

Reliving these cases, he said, “was pretty traumatic – and we’re used to watching some heavy stuff.”

Richard and Hannan’s company, Rainbow Collective, has made films about sweatshops that fuel the fast fashion industry, a mass fatality in Bangladesh and families living in refugee camps.

Working on the INQUEST film, said Richard, “has changed us completely, permanently, as filmmakers but also as people.”

Hannan recalled a “special moment” after the Hackney screening where the victims’ families thanked them for the film and urged them to ensure it is as widely seen as possible.

INQUEST now wants to hear from venues – from art galleries to community centres and schools – who are prepared to host screenings with Q&As.

Hannan’s hope, he said, is that “people can watch this, learn from it – and then do something about it.”

“Hopefully, in 40 years’ time, we won’t be making the same documentary,” said Jessica.

To offer a venue, email: jessicapandian@inquest.org.uk.