Bradford 12 documentary 'Rebellion' premieres at BFI London Film Festival

Left · 1'Rebellion', a documentary by activist filmmakers Ken Fero and Tariq Mehmood, world-premiered at the 70th BFI London Film Festival on 14 October 2026. 1 Left · 1The film retraces the case of the Bradford 12: young South Asian men who, in the early 1980s, stood trial on terrorism charges for preparing to defend their community from a racist attack. Mehmood is himself one of the Bradford 12. 1 Left · 1The Guardian's review describes the defendants as twelve south Asian members of the United Black Youth League, arrested in 1981 on a charge of conspiracy to cause explosions for possessing dozens of petrol-filled milk bottles, allegedly to throw at police. 2

Left · 1A mixed-race jury acquitted them, accepting their argument that it was self-defence and that the items were closer to fireworks than bombs, because black and Asian communities were routinely attacked by skinheads and racists. 2 Left · 1Fero told The Hollywood Reporter the project grew from his meeting Mehmood in 1991 and took roughly 30 years to come to fruition, with three or four years spent making the film. He said he chose to make it now because of the growth of the far right and the vilification of migrants. 1 Left · 1Fero said the film seeks to tell white working-class communities that "Your problems are created by Elon Musk, not by migrants", and he compared the Bradford 12's treatment to the accusations of terrorism faced by supporters of Palestine Action, which has been designated a terrorist organisation in the UK since 2025. 1

Left · 1Fero also said community members, including Bradford 12 members, acted as editorial consultants, and that the trial scene, about a third of the film, was shot in one day with around 120 community volunteers rather than professional actors. 1 Left · 1Reviewing it for the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw called it a "fierce film" that places the case in the context of 1980s racism, including Thatcher's "swamped" remark, the death of Blair Peach, the New Cross fire and the Anwar Ditta case. 2 Left · 2Bradshaw's one criticism was that, despite the film's emphasis on solidarity and its use of National Front footage, no interviewee says the word "antisemitism". Fero, by contrast, said in the interview that the film notes support the Bradford 12 received from progressive Jewish organisations. 2 1