THE first trailer of Mike Leigh's Peterloo, starring Maxine Peake has been released just before the film dramatising one of the bloodiest clashes in Manchester's history is premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

The film by the acclaimed Salford director will be screened at the festival which opens on August 29.

More than a dozen people were killed and more than 400 injured in the 1819 political massacre, which broke out at St Peter's Field, Manchester, on 16 August when cavalry charged into a crowd of more than 60,000 who had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation.

Local magistrates sent the cavalry through the crowd to arrest speakers, including the political reformer Henry Hunt.

The massacre was dubbed Peterloo after the battle at Waterloo a few years earlier, inspired the protest poem The Mask of Anarchy and the founding of the Guardian newspaper in Manchester.

The film — backed by BFI, Amazon Studios and Film 4 — starring the Bolton-born actor, is expected to open in November. It also stars Rory Kinnear and Neil Bell.

The minute-long trailer gives an insight into the hardships facing those living in Manchester prompting them to demand change during what by all accounts was a peaceful protest.

Maxine, famous for her roles in Silk and Dinner Ladies, has previously joined the annual Peterloo massacre commemorations in Manchester City Centre and spoke of the importance of people having a voice and never forgetting events such as this.

Talks are ongoing about creating a permanent memorial.