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 Wednesday sees the opening of the 14th Raindance Film Festival, with the Tony Grisoni-penned conjoined twin punk film Brothers of the Head.
Other festival highlights include a Stanley Kubrick retrospective, a
music documentary filmed a few days before Johnny Ramone's death,
discussion panels and the infamous Live!Ammunition!
pitching event.
From the festival press release
The
festival opens on Wednesday 27 September with the London premiere of
Brothers Of The Head. Having previously directed various making-of
films, this is directing duo Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s debut
feature. Based on a story by sci-fi writer Brian Aldiss, and with a
screenplay by Tony Grisoni, it’s a dark and twisted mocumentary that
follows a 1970s music promoter as he plucks conjoined twins Tom and
Barry Howe from obscurity and grooms them into a freakish rock’n’roll
act. It took top honours at last month’s Edinburgh Film Festival where
it won the Michael Powell award for best new British feature film, so
you won’t want to miss its London debut.
Another
British highlight is Mark Hammond’ s Johnny Was. Starring Vinnie Jones
as Johnny Doyle, a man whose efforts to escape a violent past in
Ireland by lying low in Brixton are thwarted when a former mentor
(Patrick Bergin) breaks out of Brixton Prison. Questioning race,
morality and loyalty, this gangsta flick features a Rastafarian reggae
pirate radio station, Yardie crack dealers, a brilliant soundtrack, and
an eclectic cast that includes former ER star Eriq La Salle, boxer
Lennox Lewis, actress and pop star Samantha Mumba, former footballer
and TV presenter John Fashanu, and The Who’s Roger Daltry.
Rock
music has long been an integral part of Raindance, and this year is no
exception with a handful of music documentaries that supplant some of
the decades most significant live performances onto celluloid. Too
Tough To Die: A Tribute To Johnny Ramone is a rocumentary capturing an
unforgettable benefit concert that took place on September 12, 2004,
just two-and-a-half days before Johnny Ramone’s death. Joined onstage
by a group of musicians and friends – including Deborah Harry, The
Dickies, X, Eddie Vedder, Joan Jett, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers –
the concert was staged to celebrate The Ramones 30th Anniversary and to
raise money for cancer research. This world premiere screening,
sponsored by HMV, will be introduced by Marky Ramone, followed by a
Q&A with Marky and Mojo’s Kieron Tyler.
When
Neil Young played Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium in August 2005,
after successfully undergoing lifesaving surgery to remove a brain
aneurysm just months earlier, his performance was captured by
Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme. The resulting feature, Neil
Young: Heart Of Gold, is a unique collaboration that has its UK
premiere at Raindance. Another UK premiere is Leonard Cohen: I’m Your
Man, a biographical snapshot of one of the greatest poets of popular
music. Taking the recent “Came So Far For Beauty” tribute concert as
its starting point, the film splices live performances of Cohen’s songs
by artists like Nick Cave, Beth Orton, and Rufus and Martha Wainwright,
with behind-the-scenes interviews that reflect Cohen’s quietly gripping
presence and dry humour.
Taking
its name from the bands key philosophy, There Is No Authority But
Yourself is a documentary following British anarcho-punk band Crass
from 1977 to 1984 and through to the present day. This screening will
be hosted by Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher. Unauthorised and Proud of
It: Todd Loren’s Rock’n’Roll Comics examines the life and death of
publisher Todd Loren, who spearheaded unauthorised comic book
biographies of rock, pop, and rap stars. Beginning with Guns &
Roses in 1989, he was famously sued by New Kids On The Block, and more
famously murdered in 1992 – the principal suspect being serial killer
Andrew Cunanan who later murdered Gianni Versace.
The
14th Raindance Film Festival is privileged to celebrate the work of
maverick director Stanley Kubrick with a 35th anniversary screening of
what is possibly his most notorious work, A Clockwork Orange. Festival
filmgoers will also have a rare opportunity to see Kubrick’s sci-fi
masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen. Rounding off this
Kubrick retrospective is the acclaimed documentary Stanley Kubrick: A
Life In Pictures, which will be hosted by the films director Jan Harlan
– also Kubrick’s long-time executive producer and brother-in-law.
>From
Australia comes the subversive and sexually explicit documentary
Liberty In Restraint, which follows fetish photographer Noel Graydon as
he explores the BDSM community via rope artists, adult babies,
electro-torture, and blood play enthusiasts. The result is a
provocative, erotic, and graphic exploration of sexual desire and
freedom of expression.
>From
China comes the intriguing Little Red Flowers by Yuan Zhang, this years
Director In Residence. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize
at Sundance, and took home the C.I.C.A.E. award at Berlin. It follows
four-year old Qiang, deposited in a kindergarten in post-1949 Beijing
by his travelling parents. But the kindergartens sunny rituals and
carefully organised regime, designed to train each child to be a good
member of society, doesn’t sit comfortably with Qiang’s rebellious
nature. Someone else who doesn’t fit in is Rodney Miller, the
protagonist of offbeat American comedy Fat Girls. This shy and awkward
school student in a small Texan town loves the theatre and dreams of
being on Broadway, hence only his theatre teacher (played by
award-winning documentary filmmaker Jonathan Caouette) understands him.
This heartfelt and often very funny gay film was written, directed by,
and stars 19-year old Ash Christian. This will be its international
premiere.
A London premiere is
Wristcutters: A Love Story, by debut director Goran Dukic. The film is
set in a strange afterlife reserved for those who have committed
suicide, and stars Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon, and rock singer Tom
Waits. One of the most intriguing films to emerge from Eastern Europe
is Serbian debut director Stevan Filipovic’s Sheitan’s Warrior. A group
of secondary schoolchildren find an old esoteric book that can be used
to summon a demon but, this being a dark Harry Potter-type tale, it
falls into the wrong hands...
The
festival closes on Sunday 8 October with the World premiere of British
comedy Scenes Of A Sexual Nature. This debut feature from former
Raindance film course student, Ed Blum, was shot in less than a month
for a budget of under £500,000. Following seven couple as they explore
love, sex and relationships one sunny afternoon on Hampstead Heath, the
film boasts a stella British cast that includes Ewan McGregor,
comedienne Catherine Tate, Oscar-nominated actress Sophie Okonedo,
Adrian Lester, Andrew Lincoln, Douglas Hodge, Gina McKee, Hugh
Bonneville, Mark Strong and Polly Walker. “I am so delighted that
Scenes Of A Sexual Nature has been selected as closing night film of
this year’s Raindance Festival which has always been a celebration of
independent filmmaking, encouraging young filmmakers to live the
dream,” says the films producer/director Ed Blum.
THURSDAY 28 SEPTEMBER
13:00 Only I Know
[Canada, dir Kire Paputts]
Doc about the gradual destruction and dysfunction of a family, using 21 years worth of footage
13:00 Floating Lamp Of The Shadow Valley
[Kashmir, dir Rajesh Jala]
Nine-year-old Arif supports his family, ferrying people across the Dal Lake
15:00 Dear Pyongyang
[Japan, dir Yong-hi Yang]
A Korean-Japanese daughter tries to understand her father’s sworn political loyalty to North Korea
15:15 What’s A Man Without A Moustache?
[Croatia, dir Hrvoje Hribar]
A young widow, an ex-alcoholic priest, a former emigrant and his German daughter fight the obstacles in their mind.
17:15 Bambi Bone
[Japan, dir Noriko Shibutani]
Two young friends in Tokyo hatch a revenge plot
17:30 Height of Sky
[USA, dir Morleigh Steinberg]
After moving from the lush greenery of Japan to the concrete aridity of
LA, Butoh dancer, Oguri, finds himself transplanted to an alien
environment
19:30 Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man
[USA, dir Lian Lunson]
Tribute to one of music’s most celebrated artists. Performances from
Beth Orton, Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave and U2 with Cohen himself
19:45 straight8 Showcase
21:45 Book of the Dead
[Japan, dir Kihochiro Kawamoto]
Animation, focusing on a young noble woman who is stalked by the ghost of Prince Otsu
22:00 5 and 1/2 Roofs
[UK/Austria, dir Sepp R Bruddermann]
An eclectic spectrum of inhabitants from six different London squats
FRIDAY 29 SEPTEMBER
13:00 Little Fugitive
[USA, dir Joanna Lipper]
Lenny is burdened with the responsibility of looking after his younger brother Joey
15:00 Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal
[USA, dir Kelly Duda]
Doc about how tainted blood was sold to patients in Canada, the UK and around the world during Clinton’s governorship
15:15 Penumbra
[Ireland, dir Gwynne Mcelveen]
Doc following Gwynne who travels from Ireland to Idaho to visit her penfriend Jim
17:00 Seven and a Half
[Serbia, dir Miroslav Momcilovi]
Seven stories from ‘the neighbourhood’ that also provide a mirror to the seven mortal sins
17:30 Shorts: Animated Display A
19:00 The Ballad of AJ Weberman
[UK, dir Oliver Ralfe & James Bluemer]
Doc chronicling the life, times and crimes of a notorious Bob Dylan obsessive
19:15 Neil Young: Heart of Gold
[USA, dir Jonathan Demme]
Neil Young’s two-night performance at the famed Ryman Auditorium in Nashville
21:30 A Clockwork Orange
[UK/USA, dir Stanley Kubrick]
35th anniversary screening of Stanley Kubrick’s most astonishing work
21:45 The Strange Saga of Hiroshi the Freeloading Sex Machine
[Japan, dir Yuji Tajiri]
Hiroshi lives off his single-mum girlfriend. He is drawn into the local cricket fighting craze and an epic showdown draws near.
Screening with Bitter Sweet
[Japan, dir Mitsuru Meike] A woman is hesitant about her approaching
wedding, while the man she is sleeping with doubts his own marriage
SATURDAY 30 SEPTEMBER
11:30 The 600 Second Short Film Project
12:00 Shorts: Official Selection
13:15 Panel: Framestore, Panavision & New Tech
13:45 Fat Girls
[USA, dir Ash Christian]
Off-beat comedy following an atypical Texas student who dreams of being on Broadway
15:00 SAE Award Showcase
16:00 Moon & Cherry
[Japan, dir Yuki Tanaka]
Tadokoro’s sexual encounters with Mayama become serialised in a weekly men’s magazine
16:45 Vertigo Panel: Blurring The Lines
18:00 Johnny Was
[UK, dir Mark Hammond]
Johnny Doyle escapes a violent past in Ireland to lie low in London,
until his former mentor Flynn breaks out of prison. With Vinnie Jones
and Lennox Lewis
18:30 Shooting Nick
[USA, dir Daniel Yost]
A middle-aged loser is kidnapped by a manic couple
20:15 Wristcutters: A Love Story
[USA, dir Goran Dukic]
A strange afterlife limbo that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide
20:30 Texas
[Italy, dir Fausto Paravidino]
Northern Italy is supposed to be as boring as rural Texas. Not when a slacker has an affair with a married teacher
22:15 Liberty in Restraint
[Australia, dir Michael Ney]
Doc sbout S&M subculture that follows a fetish photographer’s quest for authenticity
22:30 Disorder
[USA, dir Jack Thomas Smith]
A schizophrenic tries to capture a masked killer
SUNDAY 1 OCTOBER
12:00 Taming Of The Shrew
[UK, dir Ljiljana Kojic-Bogdanovich]
A classical ballet interpretation
13:15 Who Gets To Call It Art?
[USA, dir Peter Rosen]
The New York pop art scene in the 1960s, as seen through the eyes of Henry Geldzahler
13:30 Dancing for Oliver
[UK, dir Suzanne Gielgud]
Doc about the dance scenes from Oliver Stone's Alexander featuring an exclusive and intimate interview with Stone.
15:30 The Wind
[Argentina/Spain, dir Eduardo Migogna]
A farmer travels to Buenos Aires to tell his granddaughter Alina about her mother’s death
17:30 Shorts: Intimate Fiction
18:15 A Stranger of Mine
[Japan, dir Kenji Uchida]
A devastated Miyata, a tired detective, a yakuza boss, a woman with a
two-timing fiancé, and a con woman who twists men around her finger,
cross paths
19:30 Gower Boy
[UK, dir Gee Vaucher]
A gentle, exploration of the Gower Peninsula in Wales, accompanied live
in the cinema by jazz pianist Huw Warren
20:15 Little Birds
[Japan, dir Takeharu Watai]
Doc following a Japanese filmmaker who remained in Iraq once the US armed forces entered
21:30 Really
[UK, dir Daniel Mitelpunkt]
The exploits of Eleanor, who desperately wants to change her life
22:15 True, True Lie
[UK/ Romania, dir Eric Styles]
Released from a mental asylum after 12 years, Dana returns to the
outside world, haunted by images of a disturbing past yet convinced she
was never insane
MONDAY 2 OCTOBER
13:00 HDFest: Mars Underground
[USA, dir Scott J Gill]
Doc about the possibility of life on Mars
14:00 Shorts: Surreal Encounters
15:00 HDFest: Shorts
16:30 Shorts: Mystery Tales
17:00 HDFest Panel: Digital Special Effects
18:30 Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures
[UK, dir Jan Harlan]
Pictures, clips, old home movies and commentaries including Jack
Nicholson and Scorcese. Followed by Q&A with Jan Harlan
18:45 HDFest: Expiration Date
[USA, dir Rick Stevenson]
Charlie Silvercloud III’s grandfather and father were killed on their
25th birthdays by milk trucks. He turns 25 in eight days time
20:45 Next: A Primer on Urban Painting
[Canada, dir Pablo Aravena]
Doc exploring graffiti as a worldwide cultural phenomenon
21:45 Octopus Alarm
[Austria, dir Elizabeth Schrang]
Doc following Alex, identified as male on his birth certificate, by age
two reassigned as a girl
TUESDAY 3 OCTOBER
13:00 The Last Monk
[India, dir Sudipto Sen]
Newly-married Swapna is mesmerised by a mystical culture
13:15 Unauthorized and Proud of It: Todd Loren’s Rock & Roll Comics
[USA, dir Ilko Davidov]
Doc about murdered controversial publisher
15:00 Suruwat
[Nepal, dir KP Pathak]
The problems with the caste system in a remote rural village
15:15 Shorts: Documentary
17:15 The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief
[Japan, dir Jake Clennell]
The extraordinary world of Osaka's Café Rakkyo
17:15 Shorts: Battle Zones
19:30 Live!Ammunition! Followed by party
19:15 Hounded
[Germany, dir Angelina Maccarone]
A middle aged probation officer is drawn into an S&M relationship with a teenage boy
21:15Get Thrashed
[USA, dir Rick Ernst]
Doc tracing the rise, fall and impact of thrash metal bands
21:30 Night People
[UK, dir Adrian Mead]
A journey across the city of Edinburgh on a cold October night
WEDNESDAY 4 OCTOBER
13:00 Yahaan
[India, dir Shoojit Sircar]
A love story amidst the death that visits the Kashmiris everyday
13:00 Karaula
[Croatia, dir Rajko Grlic]
A lieutenant discovers he has a sexually-transmitted infection and so
declares a state of national emergency
16:00 Not a Photograph: Mission of Burma
[USA, dir Jeffrey Iwanicki & David A Kleiler Jr]
Doc charting the the seminal post-punk band
15:00 The Mozambique Poo Tour
[UK, dir Phil Turner]
Doc following bands Massukos, and Empty Boat, touring sanitation projects in Mozambique
18:00 Tiscali Award Showcase [and drinks]
17:00 Shorts: Pulp Fictions
19:15 Welcome Home
[Spain, dir David Trueba]
Young Samuel struggles at a magazine company, while girlfriend Eva
harbours a secret: Samuel’s son
19:00 Too Tough to Die: A Tribute to Johnny Ramone
[USA, dir Mandy Stein]
September 2004, two days before Johnny Ramone’s death from cancer, a
group of musicians and friends stage a benefit concert. Followed by
Q&A with Marky Ramone
21:30 Cocaine Angel
[USA, dir Michael Tully]
A grinding and tragic week in the life of a drug addict
21:45 The Heirloom
[Taiwan, dir Leste Chen]
James inherits a property twenty years after the inexplicable mass
suicide that took place in the Yang Household
THURSDAY 5 OCTOBER
13:00 Huldufólk 102
[Iceland/USA, dir Nisha Inalsingh]
Beneath the quiet veneer of Iceland lies an invisible nation of hidden people: its elves
13:15 Shorts: Canadian Bacon
15:00 Gradually
[Iran, dir Maziar Miri]
Mohmoud learns that his mentally unstable wife has gone missing, so he
leaves his factory job and goes to find her
15:00 Tomorrow Morning
[Serbia, dir Oleg Novkovic]
An émigré’s return to Belgrade to get married becomes the occasion for drunken reunions
17:15 Rahil’s Secret
[Italy, dir Cinzia Bomroll]
Rahil walks balancing on the railroads in the direction that will carry
her to become a woman
17:00 Shorts: The Best of UK
19:00 Kodak Cinematography Masterclass
18:30 2001: A Space Odyssey
[UK/USA, dir Stanley Kubrick]
Kubrick’s masterful exploration
21:15 Uprooted
[France/USA, dir Donia Mili] Doc exploring issues of resistance in the
permanent war zone of the West Bank and East Jerusalem
21:45 Sanctuary
[UK, dir Clive Collier]
Doc about film composer Lisa Gerrard (ex-Dead Can Dance)
FRIDAY 6 OCTOBER
12:45 The Cats of Mirikitani
[USA, dir Linda Hattendorf]
Doc about a homeless Japanese-American artist who regains his citizenship
13:15
Perpetual Movements
[Portugal, dir Edgar Pêra]
Doc homage to the late Portuguese guitarist Carlos Paredes,
interspersing archival footage with the sound of his performances and
interviews
14:15
Far-Off Town: Dunedin To Nashville
[USA, dir Bridget Sutherland]
Doc about David Kilgour, who joins his friends in the band Lambchop in Nashville
15:00 Bal Can Can
[Italy/Macedonia/UK, dir Darko Mitrevski]
An army dodger drives across the border to discover that his mother-in-law has perished
16:00 Shaitan’s Warrior
[Serbia, dir Stevan Filipovic]
A group of kids lay their hands on an esoteric book which can summon ‘Shaitan’s Warrior’
17:15 El Calentito
[Spain, dir Chuz Gutiérrez]
A young, innocent girl is drawn into the punk scene of 1980s Madrid
while trying to lose her virginity
18:00 Starfish Hotel
[Japan, dir John Williams]
Mysterious atmospherics and strained sexual relations
19:30 There Is No Authority But Yourself
[NL, dir Alexander Oey]
Doc about the anarchist-punk band Crass, from 1977 to 1984 through to the present day
20:00 Alice
[Portugal, dir Marco Martins]
Every day Mário leaves home to repeat exactly the same steps he took on
the day his daughter Alice disappeared
21:45 Rampage
[Australia, dir George Gittoes]
Doc about hip-hop in the forbidden zones of occupied Iraq and the badlands of Miami
21:45 Gruesome
[USA, dirs Jeff Crook, Josh Crook]
A college student is stalked and killed by a serial murderer but she awakes alive and well
SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER
12:00 London Games Festival
12:00 Bill Martell on Subversive Cinema
12:00 Sonic City Showcase
14:00 Page 3: Bollywood Explosion
[India, dir Madhur Bhandarkur]
A look at celebrity lifestyles through the eyes of a female entertainment writer
13:45 Under the Sun
[Germany, dir Baran bo Odar]
12-year-old Viktor is ignored by his aunt’s family and forced into
extreme circumstances. Screening with The Visitors
[Germany, dir Ulrike Molsen]
Visitors turn a young woman’s life upside down
17:30 Cargo
[UK, dir Clive Gordon]
Brookes has lost faith in his capacity for good and seeks to destroy
everything that might lead him to the redemption he craves. With Peter
Mullan and Daniel Brühl
15:45 SUPRISE Screening!
18:00 London to Brighton
[UK, dir Paul Andrew Williams]
Two girls need to stay alive for 24 hours
19:30 The Trials of Darryl Hunt
[USA, dirs Ricki Stern & Anne Sundberg]
Doc about a man who spent 20 years in jail for a crime he did not commit
21:45 The Boys and Girls Guide to Getting Down
[USA, dir Paul Sapiano]
The vibe of the UK’s Human Traffic is transferred Stateside
20:00 The Right of the Weakest
[Belgium/ France, dir Lucas Belvaux]
Living in Liége, three friends look on impotently as their lives slip away
22:30 All Kindsa Girls
[USA, dir Cheryl Eagan-Donovan]
Doc about garage-punk, focusing on John Felice (ex-Modern Lovers) and the Real Kids
SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER
12:00 Bill Martell on Structural Freaks
12:00 The Making of Scenes Of A Sexual Nature
[UK, dir Ed Blum]
An in-depth documentary about tonight’s closing feature
12:00 Shorts: Animated Display B
14:00 Director in Residence:
Zhang Zuan followed by a screening of Little Red Flowers [China] A
four-year-old rebel is placed in a minutely scrutinised kindergarten in
post-1949 Beijing
14:00 My Country My Country
[USA, dir Laura Poitras]
Doc focusing on Dr Riyadh, who wants democracy in Iraq while opposing the US occupation
16:30 Shorts: Urban Tales
16:45 Mr Right
[UK, dirs David & Jacqui Morris]
A long hot London summer in the lives of four couples
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