Never-before released in North America, Franco Rosso’s incendiary BABYLON had its world premiere at Cannes in 1980 but went unreleased in the U.S. for “being too controversial, and likely to incite racial tension”.  Babylon comes to South Florida exclusively at O Cinema Miami Beach, presented in partnership with Third Horizon Film Festival.

A conversation following the film between Third Horizon creative director Keisha Rae Witherspoon and Dr. Pat Saunders of the University of Miami on the legacy of the film and its place in the canon of Caribbean cinema will take place on Friday, April 12th immediately after the 8:30pm screening.

Raw and smoldering, it follows a young dancehall DJ (Brinsley Forde, frontman of landmark British reggae group Aswad) in South London as he pursues his musical ambitions, battling fiercely against the racism and xenophobia of employers, neighbors, police, and the National Front. Written by Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia) and shot by two-time Oscar® winner Chris Menges (The Killing Fields) with beautifully smoky cinematography that has been compared to Taxi Driver, BABYLON is fearless and unsentimental, yet tempered by the hazy bliss of the dancehall set to a blistering reggae and lovers rock soundtrack featuring Aswad, Johnny Clarke, Dennis Bovell, and more.

You’ve seen The Harder They Come, maybe you’ve seen Rockers, but you’ve never seen anything like BABYLON.