At the end of the 1970s, Gary Numan found himself to be one of the world’s biggest-selling recording artists, 'Are ‘Friends’ Electric?' and 'Cars' were huge hits, no one had heard, or seen, anyone like Gary Numan.
The Asperger’s syndrome that helped forge Numan's tunnel-like ambition, informing his music and image, also brought problems. At a time when the public knew little about the condition, the press labeled him a freak, one paper suggested his parents should have been doctored for giving birth to him. Depression, anxiety, near bankruptcy and a long period in the wilderness followed. Then Numan fell in love with his biggest fan, Gemma, who helped him rediscover his passion for music. (SXSW Film Festival brochure)
SXSW Film Festival 2016 - World premiere
When an alcoholic musician is taken in by an old friend, it is his last chance to sober up before he loses everything. But can he escape his addiction and his obsession with his ex-girlfriend long enough to appreciate the girl who is trying to save him?
Artist Jumana Manna sets out in search of the musical diversity of historical Palestine. Drawing on her research into the German-Jewish ethnomusicologist Robert Lachmann (1892-1939) and his work in Palestine, the film follows Manna’s exchanges with musicians as she encounters them in their homes and places of work and worship.
Berlinale 2016 - World premiere
The music never had to be explained. For childhood friends Yoshiki and Toshl, forming their band X in 1982 was a way of living through music. Soon they were selling out international stadiums by perfecting their own style of amps-to-11 glam rock dubbed “psychedelic violence crime of visual shock” (imagine Iron Maiden with a David Bowie spirit animal) and connecting with millions of fans.
Their journey to play Madison Square Garden amidst a Beatlemania-shaped maelstrom is expertly captured by director Stephen Kijak and editors Mako Kamitsuna and John Maringouin, who dismantle the kitsch and dig into the cult of personality to reveal a story of misfortune and tragedy that has shadowed the band time and again. Just as it is for their fans, music becomes a lifeblood for X Japan, as they are forced to reinvent and regroup in order to survive. Cameos by artistic giants including Marilyn Manson and David Lynch mark some memorable moments in this roller-coaster musical experience. (Sundance Film Festival brochure)
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2016 - Sonic Strand
Take a journey across time to the birth of modern music, when the musical strands of a diverse nation were first combined, thereby sparking a cultural revolution that forever transformed the future of music and the world. The event will include clips of the film, an extended conversation with the creators including executive producers Robert Redford, T Bone Burnett and Jack White, and live performances featuring The Avett Brothers and other special music guests.
Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2016 - Special Events
A boy growing up in Dublin during the ’80s escapes his strained family life and tough new school by starting a band to win the heart of a beautiful and mysterious girl.
Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2016 - Premieres - World premiere
Based on a true story about Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends, a group of Cornish fishermen from Port Isaac who were signed by Universal Records and achieved a Top 10 hit with their debut album of traditional sea shanties.
“for the time being” is a collage of moving images made thirty years apart and re-worked into seventeen sections of tentative autobiography. The soundtrack mixes music and environmental sound with conversation, not all of it intelligible. In the scraps that are, the film-maker and his partner talk together about how we document and re-interpret our lives.
Routes Jukebox: The Documentary’, tells the story of the ever-evolving Liverpool music scene since the 1940s and its influences and connection with other music cities such as New York, Detroit, Nashville and Kingston. From the influx of Gaelic sounds and rhythms that came to the city with the mass Irish migration to the importing of Rock N Roll records from the United States via the historic Cunard line to the rise of Merseybeat, Punk and House Music, ’Routes Jukebox’ touches on the various social and cultural factors that led to the creation of such an prolific and enduring music scene. Additionally, the documentary touches on the stories of the oft-forgotten links between Liverpool music and Motown and Reggae.
An energising and controversial feature documentary that lifts the lid on the fast growing UK battle rap scene.
The film reveals the history and evolution of this unique subculture of hip hop: charting from its origins in playgrounds and parks, through to nightclubs and competitions. From its beginnings as a battle of quick-thinking freestyle wit, through to its current incarnation as a form of well-rehearsed poetry and theatre.
Directors Craig Tuohy and Tom Worth followed and filmed major players involved with the UK battle rapping scene over a period of two years- revealing behind the scenes footage, clips from some of the best battles, and interviews with the top battle rappers from all over the UK including poet Mark Grist, whose battle rap with Blizzard has had over 4.5 million hits on YouTube.
The film is an entertaining expose on how the UK has taken an American art form and made it uniquely British, and so creating one of the most exciting youth subcultures around today.
D.^^.$.®. (Dance.Music.Sex.Romance.mk1) explores how the digital environment, in the form of reconstructing and publicising our intimate experiences, directly influences our image of self and the implications this ego-theism has on romantic and erotic relationships.
