PAULINE BLACK: A 2-TONE STORY

Jane Mingay | UK 2024 | 92’ | OV

Pauline Black, lead singer of 2-Tone hit band The Selecter, tells her extraordinary life story in the same frank manner that helped shape her as an iconic, era-defining female musician. Pauline had a difficult upbringing and joining the 2-Tone music movement in 1979 was the perfect catalyst; enabling her to explore and express all sides of herself.

Looking back at her own ground-breaking experience in this feature documentary, Pauline traces how her legacy came about and how it is relevant to the world today, especially where society pushes the boundaries of gender, politics, race and identity. Pauline, of mixed Nigerian and Jewish heritage, was adopted into a white family in Essex in the 50’s. Her upbringing was defined by casual racism from within her own family. Pauline went on to find her own identity in the Coventry 2-Tone music scene and The Selecter was a reflection of working-class life in Thatcher’s Britain, their music as social reportage and with an ethos of anti-racism and anti-sexism.

This is a cinematic and visceral documentary mixing intimate actuality, archive and interviews and a storming soundtrack. Contributors include Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson (The Selecter ), Don Letts, Rhoda Dakar (The Bodysnatchers, The Special AKA), Lynval Golding (The Specials), Mykaell Riley (Steel Pulse), Jools Holland (Squeeze), Skin (Skunk Anansie), Damon Albarn (Blur), and Sonia Boyce.