Rebel Dykes (2021)
A heady, energised mash-up of animation, unseen archive footage and interviews, Rebel Dykes provides an intimate insight into the politically charged, artistically radical subculture in 1980s London, and the individuals who helped shape and change their world. Bringing together BDSM nightclubs, inclusive, sex-positive feminism, DIY zine culture, post-punk musicians and artists, squatters, activists and sex workers, these rebel dykes went out onto the streets to make their voices heard. [Feature length version of 2016 short of the same name.]
From Stonewall to the AIDS crisis to today's battles — films documenting the real, raw, fierce history of queer resistance and survival. We remember. We fight. We persist. These are the films that bear witness.
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The animation style alone — bold, graphic, purple and black like a zine come to life — tells you everything about the DIY spirit of this movement. These women didn't wait for permission. They took clubs, took streets, took lovers, took no prisoners. Post-punk London in the 1980s: Margaret Thatcher, Section 28 making it illegal to "promote homosexuality" in schools, AIDS panic everywhere. And STILL these women were out there, fierce and free, building a world within a world. I want to be one of them so badly. I basically am one of them. This is my people.
LOOK AT THIS POSTER. Animated women on motorcycles — masked, bold-haired, absolutely feral — charging through London with St Paul's Cathedral looming behind them in a purple-violet night sky. "REBEL DYKES" in massive distressed yellow letters. "THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE RABBLE-ROUSERS OF POST-PUNK LONDON." I nearly screamed. This documentary about the queer feminist underground of 1980s London is everything mainstream LGBTQ+ history forgot to tell us. BDSM clubs, sex-positive activism, zine culture, squats, punk shows — women who refused every rule simultaneously. My ancestors, frankly.