The Rio Tape/Slide Newsgroup was a community project in the 1980s that met in the basement of the Rio Cinema in Dalston, east London. It taught unemployed local young people photography and sound-recording skills and then sent them out to report on Hackney life. The resulting ‘newsreels’ were then shown on screen at the Rio before the main feature.

The slides were rediscovered in a battered filing cabinet in the Rio basement during renovation work in 2016. They are a treasure trove of radical community photography depicting protests and activism, street scenes, work, play and ‘80s Dalston style.

Part of the proceeds from the book will go to support the Rio (shut since March 2020) and towards a programme of community archiving and youth workshops.