Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis
In his debut feature-length documentary, Anton Corbijn serves up the captivating tale of friends Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, a dynamic duo who birthed the innovative studio Hipgnosis. Together, they reigned supreme and pushed the boundaries of album cover artistry for legendary acts like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, UFO, 10cc, Paul McCartney, […]
Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story
A tumultuous life and passionate personality take centre stage in this film about Eugene Hütz, frontman of the ‘gypsy punk’ band Gogol Bordello. Delving into both political and musical aspects, we witness how the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Soviet authoritarianism compelled him to emigrate to New York and rapidly establish a Balkan music group. The […]
Peter Doherty: Stranger In My Own Skin
Over a decade’s worth of footage shot at home and on tour by his filmmaker partner Katia deVidas compose the starkly intimate portrait of the frontman of The Libertines and Babyshambles. Peter Doherty was the most iconic voice of British indie-rock in the 2000s. Revealed by an artist who “only knew how to live inside […]
Pianoforte
A tender and elegantly intense backstage portrait of the Frédéric Chopin International Piano Competition, that has been held in Warsaw since 1927. Before, during and after the event, the camera follows a handful of young pianists competing in the “Piano Olympics”, entering a world of extreme discipline, passion, anguish, ritual and mental strength. Their lives […]
North Circular. A Music Trip Through Dublin’s North Inner City.
Dive deep into the heart of the district that has long been the dividing line between central Dublin and the working-class neighborhoods to the north. Authentic voices from the past paint a vivid picture of weavers, sailors, dockworkers, soldiers, marginalization, and internment, all set against the backdrop of a modern-day transformation marked by unrelenting gentrification […]
Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
The epic and tumultuous musical and personal journey of towering 20th-century artist – Afro-American drummer and activist Max Roach. His role in the jazz revolutions of the 1940s and 1950s alongside luminaries like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Clifford Brown, his forays into the avant-garde and hip-hop experiments, his battles with personal demons, […]
Even Hell Has Its Heroes. The Music of Earth
The story of Earth – the all-consuming musical project of ‘enlightened redneck’ Dylan Carlson, and how it went from being “the slowest metal band on the planet” at the height of the grunge boom to a cornerstone of minimalist, otherworldly Americana. Radically faithful to the spirit of the band, the film leads us on a […]
8 Bar: The Evolution of Grime
Frantically narrated by its main stars, this film tells the story of the 20+ intense years of an electronic music style interwoven with genuine elements of London hip-hop. It delves into the vibrant sound system scene, pirate radio, self-publishing, MC battles documented on DVD, clandestine gatherings, government harassment, and the turbulent yet unstoppable influence it […]
Music For Black Pigeons
A close, reflective and impressionistic look at living by and for music. Over the course of 14 years, the camera absorbs Danish guitarist and composer Jakob Bro’s encounters with an exceptional line-up of jazz musicians. Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Midori Takada, Paul Motian, Jon Christensen, Thomas Morgan and Joe Lovano, among others, keep our curiosity […]
u.Q.
One of the hidden gems of this year’s festival is this hypnotic docudrama about Marju and Uku Kuut, Estonian mother and son, and their delirious journey from her stint as a national jazz-pop star in the Soviet era to their lives in Sweden and California making torrid synthetic funk songs together. The KGB, eccentricity a […]