Synopsis

A black-and-white handheld video recording of the E1 Festival, 1973, filmed by the Basement Project, from the streets in Wapping to a field in Stepney. The E1 Festival was a community-run event that took place throughout the 1970s on vacant land in Stepney, East London. Originally set up to raise money for the Junior Football League, it was a weekend long event of music, performing arts, stalls, and activities for people of all ages. The video reveals various vibrant vignettes of the festival, from a marching band, to music performances by a band called ‘Amethyst’, to short interviews with attendees. One middle-aged man speaks of hearing about the festival through action groups in the local community, expressing his solidarity against developers in the East End. Another man says he has been at the festival since 9am, while another woman expresses her glee at winning a prize the previous year.