August
This summer Channel 4 takes to the streets to highlight the most exciting and cutting edge talent from the underground; from street dance, urban sport, street art to rap/spoken word and hip hop. Street Summer features an all-star cast and explores influences that have shaped contemporary urban cool with a season of films dedicated to the cutting edge of culture.
Presented by Actor, DJ, MC and lifelong Hip Hop fan Idris Elba (The Wire, Luther) and featuring stars from both here and the US (Snoop Dogg, Mark Ronson, Nas, Rakim, Debbie Harry, Jessie J, Chipmunk, Tinchy Stryder and N Dubz, to name just a few) How Hip Hop Changed the World countdowns the defining moments of a culture that exploded out of the wastelands of 1970’s New York and went on to become one of the most dominant global economic, political and social forces of our time. From the birth of turntabalism to the UK grime artists that are now conquering the world, this two hour special reveals everything you need to know about Hip Hop and beyond.
Life of Rhyme is a documentary exploring British emcee culture and it’s unique contribution to spoken word and poetry – be it via rap, jungle, drum and bass, garage, or grime. Presented by Akala (Ms Dynamite’s brother), the film celebrates the incredible flourishing of lyricism and poetry amongst British youth, as shown by the success and popularity of artists such as Roots Manuva, Wiley and Dizzee Rascal, to Tinie Tempah, Wretch 32 and Devlin.
For the very first time, Concrete Circus, directed by Mike Christie (Jump London, Inside Incredible Athletes), brings together five of the world’s best street sport talents and their amazing filmmakers. Their recent films have it all: beauty, danger jaw-dropping action, and – between them – nearly 50 million online views.
The season includes the television premiere of Banksy’s documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop, as well as Graffiti War, a documentary looking at the creative tension between street art and graffiti.
Three-part series Street Dance Wars tells the story of up-and-coming street dance crews at the Street Dance XXL UK Championship.
A specially commissioned dance, film One Man Walking is a powerful and stylish collision of krump, hip hop, b-boy and parkour, set on the night-time streets of London.
Street Summer starts on Friday 12 August and will be complemented by a range of programming on T4, More4, Film4 and 4Music.
Check out the new teaser for Concrete Circus. This is from Claudiu Voicu’s new parkour film within the documentary:
For more info about Street Summer:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/street-summer/articles/street-summer
Street Summer promo:
