Young Soul Rebels
Thu May 23, 6:30 PM - Thu May 23, 8:30 PM

Set in East London in 1977, the year of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, Isaac Julien’s first narrative feature film follows friends Chris and Caz and traces the racial and sexual tensions between the emergent subcultures of soulboys, punks, and skinheads. A sensitive coming-of-age film, a murder mystery, and a love story, Young Soul Rebels received the SACD critics prize at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. It also features an early appearance of Academy Award nominee Sophie Okonedo alongside a pitch-perfect soundtrack that includes Funkadelic, X-Ray Spex, and Sylvester.

In conjunction with the exhibition Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: Punk Graphics, 1976–1986, the Museum of Arts and Design is proud to present a showcase of films centered on punk’s global influence. When punk first exploded on the scene in London and New York, its seismic shocks galvanized youth movements worldwide for rebellion and social change. Like the bands that inspired them, these films upend genre formulas in the service of satire, protest, and a better possible world.
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