The Te Story of “Pri”: Lbians and Gays Support the Mers Were Communists - Left Voice

Contents:

• WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI
• COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'
• PRI AND JOY: GAY ACTIVISM AND BRISH FILM
• PRI AND THE PS: WHEN GAY RIGHTS MET THE STRIKG MERS
• 10 SENTIAL MOVI ABOUT GAY RIGHTS
• PRI: WATCH GEE MACKAY AN EXCLIVE CLIP OM THE DRAMA ABOUT THE GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS WHO JOED THE MERS' PROTT - VIO

WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI

" He acknowledg now that this is a le you n only e once a pch and explas that he went on to tell the story of mers the Dulais valley South Wal durg the 1984-5 strike – the longt Brish history – and a gay and lbian group om London that donated more money (£11, 000 by December 1984) to their e than any other fundraiser the UK, along wh a mib emblazoned wh the logo LGSM: Lbians and Gays Support the a when a gree of homophobia was the norm, LGSM drove a uple of mib om Hackney Communy Transport and a clapped-out VW mper van to a bleak mg town South Wal to prent their donatns, uncerta what sort of wele to expect.

Three years later and the film, shot Banwen, Wal, and London, and directed by Tony-wng Matthew Warch (rponsible for Matilda the Mil, and soon to be artistic director of the Old Vic), is might assume a rom about strikg mers and 80s gays was unlikely to be big box-office, but the same was probably said of Billy Ellt. "In the homema LGSM documentary, we also glimpse a tall, handsome fellow wearg groovy leather troers, shakg a donatns bucket outsi Gay's the Word bookshop London's Marchmont Street – this is Jonathan Blake.

Gay activists work to help mers durg their lengthy strike of the Natnal Unn of Meworkers the summer of productn, box office & pany Vios56More like thisReview There is nothg not wonrful about this you don't lgh, don't shed a tear, or don't want to get up and cheer at the end, then you weren't payg attentn durg this movie.

COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'

Coal mers and gay activists — two groups that, 1980s England at least, you might have figured would steer clear of each other — partner surprisgly effectively the real-life story that's affectnately fictnalized Pri.

25, 2014The classic unn anthem “Solidary Forever, ” sung by Pete Seeger, troduc “Pri, ” a stirrg film about the uneasy aln of Brish meworkers and gay and lbian activists durg a labor strike the mid-1980s.

PRI AND JOY: GAY ACTIVISM AND BRISH FILM

“Pri, ” unlike “The Full Monty, ” isn’t a edy, but lghs are harvted om the llisn of macho workg-class mers South Wal and young Londoners, mostly male, who gather at a gay strike was well unrway when Mark Ashton (Ben Schzer, “The Book Thief”), a fervent poli, began recg iends at a gay pri march London to raise money to help the mers and their fai. The ps were so foced on breakg the strike Wal, he poted out, that their harassment of gay people London had temporarily fledglg anizatn, Lbians and Gays Support the Mers, tri to get touch wh the unn and eventually reach a lol chapter a South Wal village.

The first layer of ice is broken when Jonathan (an improbably st Domic Wt, of “The Wire”), an actor and gay party animal, improvis a wild “Saturday Night Fever”-style solo to Shirley & Company’s “Shame, Shame, Shame. The gay supporters, bis Mark and Jonathan, clu Jonathan’s lover, Geth (Andrew Stt), who grew up Wal, fled to London and hasn’t been home sce, and Joe (Gee MacKay), a shy, semi-closeted llege unn si clus Hefa (Imelda Stnton), a gung-ho, unflappable anizer who enthiastilly wel the gay ntgent, and Cliff (Bill Nighy), the unn’s pole, haltgly shy secretary. Var gre of antigay sentiment are exprsed by the mers, yet the movie ref to monize anyone except Mreen (Lisa Paley), an tractably homophobic mer’s wife who leaks the news of the aln to a tabloid.

PRI AND THE PS: WHEN GAY RIGHTS MET THE STRIKG MERS

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Bill Nighy (centre) was uned wh his Pri -stars at the London premiereThe 1984 mers' strike and the gay rights movement may seem like unlikely on-screen partners - but their g together Matthew Warch's film Pri has produced, acrdg to actor Bill Nighy, "the most important Brish film of recent years" Nighy is one of the stars of the movie, which documents the te story of how Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr (LGBT) groups beme the biggt fancial supporters of the mers, who went on strike for more than a year 1984, prott agast wispread p closur.

Pri foc on one London group of lbian and gay activists, who "adopted" a mg muny south Wal, spe ial spicn and prejudice om Stnton, Paddy Conside, Domic Wt and Andrew Stt - Moriarty TV's Sherlock - are also part of the ensemble st. If you were asked by your grandchildren what velopments your lifetime ma you most proud, one of them might be the civil rights movement Ameri and the other would be the emancipatn of gay men and women. "You have to remember that Pri is set 30 years ago and the Gay Pri march weren't a celebratn or Mardi Gras, they were polil events that would see protters beaten up by the police.

10 SENTIAL MOVI ABOUT GAY RIGHTS

"What is so funny is that we are makg a film about failure - bee the mers ultimately lost their battle - but we do feature a scene the film of the Gay Pri march London 1985. The full might of the Natnal Unn of Meworkers showed up for the first time history to that march, and that was a direct rult of the gay rights movement and their fundraisg. Image source, PublicyImage ptn, Imelda Stnton and Domic Wt show how the te life events picted Pri reveal the steely spir of the mers and their supporters"The followg year gay rights beme enshred the Labour Party nstutn, and that aga was a direct rult of the events we show Pri.

10 September 2014By Alex DavidsonPri (2014)This week se the release of Pri, a crowd-pleasg edy about the culture clash that occurred when a group of gay and lbian activists offered their support to Welsh mers strikg  1984-5. The World Ten Tim Over (1963)Lbians were rarely reprented a posive light at the cema, although Cicely Courtneidge  The L-shaped Room (1962) and, pendg on how you read the film, Sylvia Syms and June Rchie  The World Ten Tim Over (1963) were exceptns, and uld be seen as promotg tolerance for gay women.

PRI: WATCH GEE MACKAY AN EXCLIVE CLIP OM THE DRAMA ABOUT THE GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS WHO JOED THE MERS' PROTT - VIO

Derek Jarman’s feature but Sebastiane (1976) drew parallels wh the martyrdom of Sat Sebastian and ntemporary gay persecutn, while Nighthawks (1978) showed the sympathetic lead beg threatened wh unemployment for discsg his homosexualy wh class.

Framed Youth: Revenge of the Teenage Perverts (1983)Framed Youth: Revenge of the Teenage Perverts (1983) featur queer teens discsg their sometim harrowg experienc Thatcher’s Bra, while open and hont gays and lbians partied hard the charmgly right-on One Five (1983), celebratg sexual diversy and challengg homophobia. And ACT UP filmed their protts agast the poor ernment rponse to the AIDS epimic, claimg polil homophobia rmed the lack of actn – if was gay people dyg rather than straight people, fightg the disease was low prry.

Two of Us (1987)Often art reacts to the polil climate, but the suatn was reversed wh the broadst of The Two of Us (1988), a sweet romance between two gay teenagers that, bizarrely, ed huge ntroversy owg to the recent implementatn of the nox Sectn 28, which forba the teachg of gay sex tn schools.