3.9

Handsworth Songs (1986)

Name: Handsworth Songs
Director: John Akomfrah
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1986
Duration: 1 h 1 min
Cast: Pervaiz Khan, Meera Syal, Yvonne Weekes

Documentary • 1h 1m

Director: John Akomfrah

Cast: Pervaiz Khan, Meera Syal, Yvonne Weekes

3.9

No official release

Only Unofficial Sources

No official edition exists. Anything circulating comes from unofficial sources, so there is no release this site can recommend.

Best video release

Unofficial DVD

About the film

The Black Audio Film Collective’s acclaimed essay film, 'Handsworth Songs', examines the 1985 race riots in Handsworth and London. Interweaving archival photographs, newsreel clips, and home movie footage, the film is both an exploration of documentary aesthetics and a broad meditation social and cultural oppression through Britain’s intertwined narratives of racism and economic decline.

TSPDT: 2025: #995
2024: #983
2023: #960

More Documentary on Blu-ray

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Criterion 4K Blu-ray

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5.1: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

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Upcoming Release:

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US Periscope Blu-ray OOP

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

US Periscope Blu-ray OOP https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Why-We-Fight-Blu-ray/87823/

Otherwise there are DVDs

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Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray and UK Dogwoof Blu-ray probably similar

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

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Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

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4K · Solid

Best Video & Audio:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has excellent master in SDR and a good encode. BD caps here.

Audio Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor audio: The 2.0 is fine but unremarkable, the 5.1 is presumably an upmix with a botched, strongly raised LFE channel which makes the entire track unlistenable on well-tuned equipment. Audio graphs here.

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Director: Preston Sturges

Best Video:

Criterion The Palm Beach Story Blu-ray extras

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

While it's included on both Criterion The Palm Beach Story extras and Arrow's Sullivan's Travels' extras, Criterion uses a different source and is vastly superior, see caps