British Council Logo UK Films Database
Project Detail

Bananaz

Synopsis

Bananaz takes you “behind the screens” on one of the great creative partnerships of our time. Following a late night conversation between Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn as they dissected our "pop idoled" culture in early 2000, the virtual band Gorillaz was born. With friend and film maker Ceri Levy they decided to document the process.

Levy started shooting immediately, following these two unlikely pioneers with his camera.

For the first time the virtual walls come down and the audience sees the true brain child of Hewlett and Albarn; the work that went into the drawings, the animation, the music and the voices. As one radio interviewer puts it; 'It's a parallel universe - these guys aren't in the band but they know the animated characters who are'.

Bananaz is the funny, riotous and compelling film which gives a never seen before account of the working relationship of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. An inspiring, unsanitised, free-wheeling, rather puerile
comment on what can be done when creative minds meet in the spirit of collaboration.

Details

Year
2008
Type of project
Features
Running time
92 mins
Format
35mm
Director
Ceri Levy
Producer
Jamie Hewlett, Damon Albarn
Co-Producer
Jamie Hewlett, Damon Albarn
Editor
Seb Monk
Director of Photography
Ceri Levy
Composer
Gorillaz
Principal cast
Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett, De La Soul, Dennis Hopper, Ibrahim Ferrer

Categories

Fiction Documentary

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Head Film Ltd/Gorillaz/Bananaz Ltd

Sales Company

HanWay Films

24 Hanway Street
London, W1T 1UH
UK

T: +44 (0)207 290 0767

F: +44 (0)207 290 0751

info@hanwayfilms.com

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

A man stood on a chair wipes water vapour with his hand off the glass cover of a memorial board in a stone brick chapel. Adlais

Director: Alex Darby, George Leith, Sophie Mei Birkin

Year: 2026

Adlais (Echo) weaves Welsh language folklore and histories through their shared subjects of poetry and drowning – and asks whether we’re listening to the past as it surfaces today.

Climate / Environment Experimental History Welsh Woman Director
A young girl is lying on the grass staring up at the sky in front of her house, in the background her mother stands at the front gate of their house looking towards her. Paper Plane

Director: Saoirse Ronan

Year: 2026

When a defiant young girl stages a silent protest, refusing to return home until the disruptive presence of her father is gone, her mother must decide whether to follow her or let her go. Official Selection, Venice International Film Festival - in Competition Orizzonti Corti

Drama Woman Director
A woman in white shirt, in a red corridor looks off camera to the right with a surprised expression. Aurora

Director: Rita Osei

Year: 2024

Aurora, a perimenopausal vampire, is on a quest to kill a habit that won't die! Official Selection 2025, Final Girls Berlin, Germany (International Women's Day screening) Official Selection 2025, Romford Horror Film Festival, Essex Official Selection 2024, Tweetfest, London Official Selection 2024,Unrestricted View Horror Film Festival, London (Opening Night Gala) (Nominated Best Director and Actress Short Film) Official Selection 2024, Haunted House Fear Fest, New York (Winner Best Director, Cinematography, Actress, Supporting Actress in a Drama) Preview screening 2023, 225 Film Club Festival

Black Drama Horror