Peterloo

Peterloo is a 2018 British historical drama, written and directed by Mike Leigh, based on the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. The film was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival. The film received its UK premiere on 17 October 2018, as part of the BFI London Film Festival, at HOME in Manchester. The screening marked the first time that the festival had held a premiere outside London. Leigh said he was delighted that Peterloo would be premiered "where it happened". It was released in the United Kingdom on 2 November 2018, by Entertainment One and in the United States on 5 April 2019, by Amazon Studios. Background The film Peterloo marks the 200th anniversary of the notorious Peterloo Massacre. On 16 August 1819, a crowd of some 60,000 people from Manchester and surrounding towns gathered in St Peter's Fields to demand Parliamentary reform and an extension of voting rights. At that time, Manchester had no members of parliament of its own while the whole of Lancashire was represented by two county MPs and middle and working class men and all women were denied voting rights. The meeting was peaceful but the armed government militias charged the crowd on the pretext of an attempt to arrest a leader of the meeting. The behaviour of the crowd & toll of casualties was disputed but as many as 18 people were killed and up to 700 wounded. After the massacre the government immediately launched a crackdown on public assembly and electoral reforms on the pretext that the country was heading towards armed rebellion. The outcry led to the founding of the Manchester Guardian and played a significant role in the passage through Parliament of the Great Reform Act. which extended the franchise to 'head of household' middle-class men.