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London's acclaimed BFI Film Festival commences in just over two weeks, so we thought we'd give our readers a heads up on what music related films they should be seeking out across the city.
As well as hosting a number of high profile movies, including the world premier's of Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs biopic, Steve Jobbs, the festival also includes a number of captivating features and documenatries concering the ever evolving music industry.
Spanning across the genres of punk, hip-hop, indie, country, rock n' roll and many more, there's a great deal on offer at this year's BFI for both casual and die-hard music fans. Take a look at our picks.
The American Epic Sessions: Directed by Bernard MacMahon
This film is a spectacular combination of both past and present, helmed by legendary musicians Jack White and T Bone Burnett, as well as being executive produced with Robert Redford. Before MP3’s, digital file sharing, Cd’s, tapes and vinyl, an incredible feat of analogue engineering operated by weights and pullys played a crucial role in pioneering the recording of American music, the Western Electric.
One was lovingly restored in an old Hollywood studio, with a swell of influential artists eager to cut a record in the three minutes provided by the Western Electric. Jack White oversees performances from Elton John, Nas, Willie Nelson, Alabama Shakes, Steve Martin, Ana Gabriel, Merle Haggard, Taj Mahal and many more, with glorious results.
Elephant Days: Directed by James Caddick, James Cronin
James Caddick and James Cronin’s film charts The Maccabees' creative process as they record their fourth album, ‘Marks To Prove It’, working in focused solation in an anonymous studio in London’s Elephant and Castle.
Richard and Lyla create gardens in strange spaces; local musician Natty is having a suit tailored, the Peckham Prides basketball team are working hard for success and Arments Pie and Mash shop is a lasting local institution.
All of these tales weave throughout the band’s experimentations, doubts and collaborative musings as they create what is their most seminal album to date.
Danny Says: Directed by Brendan Toller
Focusing on The Ramones' manager, Danny Fields, this riveting documentary follows the influential figure and his involvement in some of the biggest music moment in the 1960's and 70's. He ignited the Beatles’ ‘bigger than Jesus’ controversy, made himself The Doors’ press officer, worked with the Stooges, Lou Reed and MC5, as well as boosting the careers of Patti Smith, Television and The Modern Lovers. It's a wonderful portray of a witty, warm and undeniably prolific figure in the music world.
Stretch And Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives - Directed by Bobbito Garcia
In 1990, Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia started broadcasting on New York’s WKCR. The pair flooded the airwaves with their relentless passion for Hip Hop, undeniably infectious chemistry and great senses of humour. Presenting exclusive demo tapes and live in-studio freestyles from artists who were then unsigned but now serve as some of the game's legends, the Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show quickly became an influential mascot for the genre of rap.
This superb documentary following their huge influence contains previously unreleased footage and contributions from Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang, Big Pun, Rosie Perez, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Q-Tip, Jay Z and many more. In lamens terms, this is a must watch for any hip-hop fan.
Let's Dance: Bowie Down Under - Directed by Rubika Shah
Rubika Shah's short documentary takes a peak behind one of the most celebrated and acclaimed music videos of all time, digging deep into the story behind David Bowie's biggest hit record, and "how an unlikely journey, deep into the Australian outback, led to its success." Bowie himself described the political video as a "very simple, very direct" statement against racism and oppression.
Hot Sugar's Cold World Directed by Adam Bhala Lough
Hot Sugar (Nick Koenig) creates powerful, dreamlike music, his incredibly individual electronica seeping with endless melancholy. The artist has won a great deal of acclaim by combining an unrelenting amount of sounds in various, off-time and captivating sound signatures. He's also been referred to as the modern day Mozart of the electronic music genre.
In Adam Bhala Lough’s film, Hot Sugar is followed through a moment of crisis. A very public break up with his rapper girlfriend, Kitty, results in a pensive trip to Paris where he obsessively samples the sounds of the city of love, manipulating looping and chopping them into music that portrays his angst, creating a genre he has titled 'associative music'. The film captures an incredibly talented, intricate artist very much in his prime.
Fresh Dressed : Directed by Sacha Jenkins
In this directorial debut, Sacha Jenkins tells the story of the colourful characters that emerged from urban roots to hustle the oversized trousers and graffiti-emblazoned jackets from New York discount stores, soon influencing both the fashion world’s catwalks and middle America’s shopping centres.
Forged through an engaging collage of original interviews, archive footage, gloriously ‘fresh’ stills and funk-inducing hip hop, Jenkins’ film creates firm connections between style, self expression and identity politics. Transitioning from pre-civil war slavery to the South Bronx in the 1970s and the niche cultures of today, Fresh Dressed is the tale of freedom of expression through the voices of disenfranchised and oppressed communities.
They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music In Exile - Directed by Johanna Schwartz
This haunting doucumenatry focuses on Northern Mali in 2012, when Islamic Jihadists took control of the area and banned all forms of music, radio stations being destroyed, instruments burned and acclaimed musicians facing torture and death. For her feature debut, Johanna Schwartz follows the musicians forced into exile, capturing their intense desire to keep their music alive.
The score was composed by the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Nick Zinner and and there is music from a great number of artists, including Khaira Arby, Fadimata ‘Disco’ Walet Oumar, Amkoullel and Moussa Sidi.
A Poem Is A Naked Person: Directed by Les Blank
Amazingly, this film has been practically unseen for four decades. Between 1972-74, Les Blank spent time with musician Leon Russell, filming countless hours of live performances and interviews, both in his studio in Oklahoma and at an incredible live show. Due to legal issues and creative differences, Blank’s debut was forced into obscurity. Now, his son Harrod has overseen a stunning restoration of the film, with Russel's blessing.
Blank captures the talented musician at his very best, the camera intensely close-up and intimate. But the music is only half the story, the director's focus moving beyond his subject to take in a series of spontaneous interludes that paint a picture of the Oklahoma community and psychedelic times of a now practically vanished world.
