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Franco Rosso

Franco Rosso

Directing

Biography

Franco Rosso (29 August 1941 – 9 December 2016) was an Italian-born film producer and director based in England. He is known for making films about Black British culture, and in particular for the 1980 cult film Babylon, about Black Jamaican youth in south London, which was backed by the National Film Finance Corporation.

Known For

Kes
7.4

Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.

Kes

1970
Babylon
6.9

Drama telling the story of Blue, a young man of Jamaican descent living in Brixton in 1980, as he hangs out with his friends, fronts a dub sound system, loses his job, struggles with family problems and has his friendships tested by racism.

Babylon

1980
Dread Beat and Blood
8.5

Follows dub poet master Linton Kwesi Johnson out of the recording studio onto the Brixton streets.

Dread Beat and Blood

1979
Right to Work March
N/A

They're young, unemployed and on the march - from Glasgow, Liverpool and Swansea to London.

Right to Work March

1972
Bed Peace
7.5

John and Yoko in the presidential suite at the Hilton Amsterdam, which they had decorated with hand-drawn signs above their bed reading "Bed Peace." They invited the global press into their room to discuss peace for 12 hours every day.

Bed Peace

1969
The Nature of the Beast
7.5

A boy reads about the attacks of a unknown animal on livestock in the town. He plans to run his own investigation. The so called beast however is also used as a metaphor for every day problems the townsfolk face.

The Nature of the Beast

1988
Reggae
7.0

BBC documentary focusing on a reggae concert held at Wembley Stadium in 1970 featuring the Pyramids, Pioneers, Black Faith, Millie, the Maytals, and Desmond Dekker. Includes interviews with DJ Mike Raven and producer Graham Goodall, who review the history and development of reggae.

Reggae

1971
Ian Dury X.
N/A

Ian Dury, singer/songwriter of Kilburn and the High Roads and the Blockheads, talks about how becoming disabled has affected his life and music.

Ian Dury X.

1983
64 Day Hero
N/A

Documentary about the life and career of the 1940s and 1950s boxer Randy Turpin.

64 Day Hero

1986
The Mangrove Nine
10.0

The Mangrove Nine trial resulted from conflict between the police and the Black community in Notting Hill that had escalated from the end of the 1960s onwards. The Mangrove case began when around 150 Black people protested against long-term police harassment of the popular Mangrove Restaurant in Ladbroke Grove. A documentary film, 'The Mangrove Nine' (directed and produced by Franco Rosso), was made in 1973, and includes interviews with the defendants recorded before the final verdicts. The Mangrove Nine film portrays interviews with the defendants recorded before the final verdicts were delivered at the trial, as well as contemporary comments from Ian Macdonald and others.

The Mangrove Nine

1973
Struggle for Stonebridge
N/A

Documentary on the Harlesden People's Community Council, formed by the people of the Stonebridge estate in Harlesden, Brent, and their struggle to develop a disused London Transport bus terminus into a community complex.

Struggle for Stonebridge

1987
All That Glitters
N/A

BBC Schools documentary about the successful British rock band The Sweet, their riches and the price of fame. Charting 24 hours in the life of a rock band that asks the question: "Is the music business really that glamorous?" The show contains live material shot on the 21st December 1973 during their legendary concert in the Rainbow Theatre, London.

All That Glitters

1974