THE STUART HALL PROJECT - DVD

THE STUART HALL PROJECT
A film by John Akomfrah

This absorbing documentary from director John Akomfrah (The Nine Muses, Handsworth Songs) presents an intimate and engaging portrait of Stuart Hall, the Jamaican-born public intellectual and co-founder of the New Left Review, whose work in the field of cultural theory has profoundly influenced the academic landscape. Using extensive footage of Hall's appearances on radio and television, the film explores its themes of memory, race and identity through the juxtaposition of events from Hall's life, and a discourse on the wider social and political events of the second half of the twentieth century, all set against a soundtrack by Hall's favourite musician, Miles Davis.

Special Features

• The Stuart Hall Project Q&A (2013, 12 mins): John Akomfrah and Baroness Lola Young in conversation at BFI Southbank
• John Akomfrah and Stuart Hall Q&A with Parminder Vir (2013, 49 mins): audio recording from the ICA screening of The Stuart Hall Project
• Black and White in Colour Rushes (BFI, 1992, 20 mins): an interview with John Akomfrah recorded for Isaac Julien's Black and White in Colour: Television, Memory, Race which was broadcast during the BBC's 'Black and White in Colour' season
• Original trailer
• Optional 5.1. surround sound
• Fully illustrated booklet with a newly commissioned essay by Mark Fisher, and full credits

UK | 2013 | colour, and black & white | English language, with optional hard-of-hearing subtitles | 95 mins | DVD9 | Original aspect ratio 1.78:1 (16x9 anamorphic) | Dolby Digital mono audio (320kbps) | Region 2 DVD

Review

'A stirring documentary tribute to the cultural theorist Stuart Hall... we see the past few decades through very special eyes' --Dave Calhoun, Time Out ****

'Akomfrah finds a new and quietly moving significance in Hall's own life story' --Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian ****

'A fascinating visual tapestry of archive material' --Tom Dawson, Total Film ****