Sheffield Doc/Fest Trailer 2011 from Sheffield Doc/Fest on Vimeo.
This year’s programme is packed with docs about musicians and subjects ranging from Hole drummer Patty Schemel, to A Tribe Called Quest, to Genesis P-Orridge, to a record shop in Newcastle Upon Tyne, to Roma gypsies and Slovakians, to 2 men who shout a lot at each other (not so much music as a cult phenomenon), to Queen, to Justin Bieber, to Miriam Makeba, to Michael Nyman, to Siddheswari Devi to more
Hit So Hard: The Life & Near Death Story of Patty Schemel
directed by P. David Ebersole / US 2011
FRI 10 JUNE / 19:15 / LIBRARY THEATRE
SUN 12 JUNE / 18:15 / SHOWROOM 4
Aware that her rock and roll lifestyle was yielding some crazy episodes, Hole drummer Patty Schemel picked up a video camera in the early 1990s. Capturing some extraordinary scenes, including Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love at home with their baby daughter, Schemel also recorded her own descent from playing sell-out world tours to destitute heroin addict.
http://www.pattydoc.com/
Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
directed by Michael Rapaport / United States 2011
FRI 10 JUNE / 21:00 / SHOWROOM 3
SAT 11 JUNE / 19:10 / SHOWROOM 4
For longtime fans like actor and director Michael Rapaport, A Tribe Called Quest were the Rolling Stones of the hip hop scene and their breaking up felt like his parents divorcing. In this vibrant documentary, a hit at Sundance, Rapaport follows them on a reunion tour while looking back at their remarkable career.
http://www.atribecalledquestmovie.com/
Shut Up Little Man: An Audio Misadventure
directed by Matthew Bate / Australia 2011
THURS 09 JUNE / 18:00 / SHOWROOM 3
San Francisco, 1987. When Eddie and Mitch move into a new apartment, they find that their aging neighbours Peter and Raymond spend alcohol-fuelled evenings screaming insults at each other. Eddie and Mitch soon decide to record their shouting matches, creating one of the first viral audio sensations.
http://www.shutuplittlemanfilm.com/
Bombay Beach
directed by Alma Har’el / UK 2011
THURS 09 JUNE / 15:15 / SHOWROOM 2
FRI 10 JUNE / 18:40 / SHOWROOM 2
Deep in rural California, Bombay Beach is a forgotten holiday oasis on a salt-laden sea. Music video maestro Alma Har’el delivers up a vividly original feature doc debut by using improvised dialogue and dreamlike choreographed dance sequences to tell the stories of its residents.
http://bombaybeachfilm.com/
Mama Africa
directed by Mika Kaurismaki / Germany, South Africa, Finland 2011
WED 08 JUNE / 18:15 / SHOWROOM 2
THURS 09 JUNE / 18:15 / LIBRARY THEATRE
When the South African government exiled rising star Miriam Makeba for appearing in a documentary about apartheid in 1959, little did they realise they were pushing onto the world stage a unique singing talent and budding civil rights activist. Throughout her turbulent life “Mama Africa” mesmerised onstage with her songs, influencing generations of African musicians.
Mama Africa will also screen at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (15-26 June).
The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
directed by Marie Losier / US 2011
FRI 10 JUNE / 14:250 / SHOWROOM 2
SAT 11 JUNE / 18:15 / SHOWROOM 2
When the groundbreaking musician and performance artist Genesis P-Orridge married Lady Jaye, they eschewed the traditional exchange of rings, vowing instead to become one pandrogynous being. In Marie Loisie’s creative, multi-award winning film, he tells us the story of his remarkable career and greatest love of all.
http://www.balladofgenesisandladyjaye.com/ballad/
Sound it Out
directed by Jeanie Finlay / UK 2011
WED 08 JUNE / 15:30 / LIBRARY THEATRE
SAT 11 JUNE / 15:00 / LIBRARY THEATRE
Stockton’s Sound It Out Records is the Northeast’s last surviving vinyl shop. Director Jeanie Finlay, who grew up in the area, gets to know its quirky regulars, almost all of whom are men in this gentle and funny homage.
http://www.sounditoutdoc.com/
Sound It Out will also screen at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (15-26 June).
Jarvis Cocker’s Musical Map of Sheffield
Audio documentary / 2008
THURS 09 – SAT 11 NOV, 10:00 – 17:00, CROSS-PLATFORM CENTRE, SITE GALLERY
If you are in here at Doc/Fest with no knowledge of Sheffield, be sure to take time out for Jarvis Cocker’s intimate audio tour of his hometown. He takes us through the Sheffield of his childhood – and an embarrassing lederhosen episode – as well as the huge changes to the city in the past two decades. He also introduces the music of Sheffield stars, including Joe Cocker, Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League and Artery.
A Certain Band Called Queen
directed Matt O’Casey / UK 2011
FRI 10 JUNE / 18:05 / ODEON
Forty years after getting together as university students to form a band, Queen continues to sell records like hotcakes. For the first time ever they tell their story from the massive highs to the catastrophic lows, with plenty of humour and painful honesty.
Cigarettes & Songs
directed by Marek Sulik, Jana Kovalcikova / Slovakia 2011
WED 08 JUNE / 12:45 / SHOWROOM 2
THURS 09 JUNE / 16:45 / SHOWROOM 1
A group of Roma gypsies and Slovakians have come together to record a CD of ancient Roma songs in new compositions. During breaks, they chain smoke and joke with the film crew about their lives, in a stirring film about the unifying, therapeutic power of music.
http://www.dokweb.net/en/documentary-network/east-european-docs/-cigarettes-and-songs-4540/
Mrs Carey’s Concert
directed by Bob Connolly, Sophie Raymond / Australia 2011
WED 08 JUNE / 18:15 / LIBRARY THEATRE
SAT 11 JUNE / 10:15 / SHOWROOM 1
Karen Carey is coaxing, cajoling and bullying every student at the Sydney girl’s school where she teaches to perform in a classical concert at the Sydney Opera House. Veteran v?©rit?© director Bob Connolly and Sophie Redmond follow Mrs Carey and her charges during the rocky lead up to the big concert, in an absorbing coming of age tale.
http://mrscareysconcert.com/
Nyman in Progress
directed by Silvia Beck / Germany 2010
WED 08 JUNE / 12:45 / LIBRARY THEATRE
FRI 10 JUNE / 12:00 / SHOWROOM 2
Michael Nyman is one of the UK’s most original, talented and celebrated composers. Silvia Beck follows Nyman during an extremely rich period in his professional life where he reveals a long-held passion for video art and photography.
http://www.aktis-film.com/ny.html
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
directed by Jon M Chu / USA 2011
THUR 09 JUNE / 21:15 / ODEON
In 2008, almost overnight, Bieber went from being a cute kid posting songs on YouTube, to a global superstar and the most popular child on the planet. Jon Chu’s film on Bieber is one of the top grossing documentaries of all time, taking $30 million in its first weekend alone.
http://www.justinbieberneversaynever.com/
Siddeshwari Devi
directed by Mani Kaul / India 1990
THURS 09 JUNE / 09:45 / SHOWROOM 4
Is it even a documentary, you could ask? Siddheswari Devi is so colourful, so full of craning cameras that at times it looks like Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard. Its subject is clear enough – the life and music of Varanasi-born Siddheshwari Devi (1907-1976). Siddheshwari’s forte was the Indian classical singing style thumri, a romantic mode often addressed to the god Krishna. Krishna is blue and so is Kaul’s film – beautifully, heavenly so. He uses real footage of the singer, but combines it with recreations of her childhood, tracking through buildings, shots attached to boats and the aforementioned cranes, in which his imagery seems to soar as Siddheswari’s voice soars. Like many of Kaul’s films, Siddherswari needs to be restored. It is a documentary reverie, rare in film history.
Bob and the Monster
directed by Keirda Bahruth / US 2011
SAT 11 JUNE / 19:15 / SHOWROOM 4
SUN 12 JUNE / 15:15 / SHOWROOM 2
Bob Forrest, cool-headed counsellor on Celebrity Rehab, revisits his heyday as charismatic front man and lyricist for indie band Thelonious Monster, and his struggle with the ultimate rock accoutrement: heroin. Bob and the Monster is a heady mix of claymation, rare archival performance footage, home video and interviews with seminal L.A. artists like the Circle Jerks, Fishbone, Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N’ Roses and Courtney Love.
The full Sheffield Doc/Fest programme can be viewed here: www.sheffdocfest.com.
Public tickets go on sale Monday 9 May. Screenings take place at venues across Sheffield. Tickets can be bought from Sheffield Showroom box office http://www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/
