Having its UK premiere on 28th October at this year’s Raindance Film Festival where it’s been officially nominated for the Best Music Documentary, Topowa is an uplifting story following the Brass For African band from the slum villages of Katwe in Uganda as they embark on a journey to fulfil their unimaginable dreams of travelling abroad to the UK and playing music at London’s prestigious Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival along with New Orleans’ Grammy Award winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.
Opening Friday 23rd October at Everyman cinemas for a very limited period only this is an opportunity to see this feature length documentary about the famous London Jazz Club and the man behind it with rare performances and unseen footage. Book tickets at one of the exclusive Everyman cinemas who are redefining the cinema experience.
Ronnie’s is a nostalgic retrospective that brings us right up to the current day, put together with loving care by writer and director Oliver Murray. The number of stellar artists we see performing and sharing their memories shows just how much people love and revere this place. It is a great piece of UK history to learn about the man behind one of London’s most famous establishments who brought the best jazz artists to the UK.
Situated in the heart of the West End Ronnie Scott’s seems to have been there for ever and a day (over 60 years now having opened in 1959) but the man himself is somewhat of an unknown mystery along with the story of how his magical music venue came to be.
The film traces Ronnie’s life from his early childhood as a working-class Jewish boy growing up in the East End of London during World War 2, who had a passion for music handed down from his saxophone playing estranged father. He would become an accomplished sax player himself joining different bands and formed his own dance band. He started performing on cruise ships so he could travel to America to experience the thriving New York jazz scene first hand. But it was difficult finding work and venues to play at in the UK, because of jazz’s questionable popularity and despite this being a very good reason not to start a jazz club, he decided he had to start his own scene.
The film shows some amazing rare clips from some of the best jazz musicians there have ever been including Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone. The list goes on and on and the magic from such performances still jumps off the screen and makes you wish you had been there.
We should be grateful that such rare footage has survived including interviews with Ronnie himself, which are used perfectly to help narrate the documentary even though he passed-away sometime ago. These included TV and radio interviews on chat shows such as Parkinson’s and also fabulous old celluloid of Ronnie and his friends hanging out on the streets of Soho.
Ronnie had created the jazz club he always wished for along with his business partner Pete King, who Ronnie befriended in his early band days. Pete has to take a lot credit for running the club but it was Ronnie who was the headline act. His comedic comparing before the shows were a huge part of the charm and allure of the club and listening to this cockney raconteur you can easily see why, a real character from a bygone era with a love of women, cars and gambling but above all a love for playing music.
Ronnie and Pete had to deal with constant financial difficulties and never seemed out of debt. The venue was even threatened with imminent closure but it was the love and support of the music community that would stop this legendary jazz club from disappearing. Someone once commented to Pete, “If you’d been better businessmen this wouldn’t have happened to you.” and Pete said, “If we’d been better businessmen, we wouldn’t have started a jazz club in the first place.” For a business to be running 60 years is quite an achievement let alone a jazz club.
The club continued to draw and book the top acts around but with Ronnie’s passing, it was down to Pete to secure the future of the venue and with himself advancing in years (after all the venue was 60 years old) big decisions were needed regarding its ownership and to bring the venue up to date.
Sit back and be inspired by seeing some of the greats performing in their venue of choice, a venue so intimate one person said they watched the sweat of the artist bouncing off his shoes. Whether you like jazz or not you should feel very proud that Ronnie’s is still open for business, a place where magic is often on the bill.
A new Frida Kahlo film will be appearing in cinemas from 20th October courtesy of Exhibition On Screen, the art documentary experts, who use their unique connections with galleries, museums and artists around the world to deliver onto the big screen outstanding biographical accounts of the world’s leading artists, this time providing a newly detailed story of the iconic female artist from Mexico.
This is a polished account of the life of one of the world’s most recognizable faces and even though you might not be quite sure why you recognise her, you’ll almost definitely be astounded by her life story which is quite remarkable for a Mexican girl, the daughter of a German immigrant photographer, who would become a globally iconic figure as instantly recognisable as Van Gogh and with a turbulent life story to match.
Directed by Ali Ray who has put together this inspiring story, which trails a life full of love, passion, pain and suffering by showing her paintings, photographs and narrating some of her letters and diary exerts. These are all joined together alongside interviews from family relatives and the expert art world figures, here, from the galleries and museums entrusted with her work and legacy in Mexico. We’re given a blow by blow account of how she and her work evolved with rare insights into the hidden symbolic meaning that is like a feature length video guide that gets you so close to the action you can almost smell the paint.
It’s an engaging portrayal that peels back the layers that make up her incredible life from a young girl growing up in a suburb of Mexico City, in the now famous ‘Casa Azul’ family home built there by her father. He would pass on a lot of his artistic portrait knowledge and skills to Frida, although she wasn’t initially destined for all of that. Originally accepted at a leading school in Mexico City studying to become a doctor, she was already mixing with the intellectual elite of an aspiring, European influenced city, but she would be struck by tragedy. A near fatal accident would strangely seal her destiny towards artistic greatness. The accident leaving her bedridden would make her return to her childhood interest in painting.
She remained socially and politically engaged and through the family’s artistic and intellectual circles she would meet her artistic mentor and future husband Diego Rivera who was her love and inspiration but also long-term tormentor. After the Mexican revolution there was a lot of cultural and social change with the birth of a new Mexican pride that would play an important part in Frida’s life and work. Diego was a well known figure in the development of murialism art at the time and politically active himself, he took Frida to America where they lived for several years and where she would sadly depict her miscarriage in one of her paintings, the first ever thought to have been done of its kind and an example of her purely visceral style of work. After Diego’s continual infidelities Frida began her own with both men and women and was famously rumoured to have had an affair with a high profile political figure who was seeking refuge in Mexico at the time.
This is a fantastic journey to be taken on about the extraordinary life of Frida Kahlo, an artist who leaves everything on the canvas, told with such warmth and sentimentality that will leave anyone who doesn’t know her story totally astounded. She will be remembered alongside the great artists for her iconic self-portraits with those famously adjoining eyebrows, upright figure and piercing gaze, which the film goes a long way to help explain.
Having its world premiere at this year’s 64th BFI London Film Festival, Rose: A Love Story, starring Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders, Gentleman Jack) & Matt Stokoe (Cursed, Jamestown), follows a young couple living alone in the woods. Sam (Stokoe) and Rose (Rundle) live a quiet life in their remote woodland farmhouse, they spend their days far from the prying eyes of the outside world. In another life, their world would seem idyllic; but Rose’s mystery illness has clouded any sense of normality that the couple may achieve.
The 2020 BFI London Film Festival will be the first ever edition of the Festival to be widely accessible across the UK, with 50 Virtual Festival Premieres to be enjoyed at home. In the most accessible version of the festival to UK audiences yet, film lovers will be given an opportunity to connect for a unique and innovative festival experience, enjoying both live and digital screenings across the 12 days of the Festival (7th to 18th October).
Rose – A Love Story is the feature directorial debut for multi-award winning shorts director Jennifer Sheridan who, for the last ten years has been honing her storyteller skills through her work as an editor on shows such as Cuckoo and League of Gentleman.
Schemers is an autobiographical account of UK music industry promoter Dave Mclean’s rise from the working class streets of Dundee promoting up and coming bands (including Scottish band Simple Minds) culminating in the Iron Maiden concert in 1980. These gigs were all organised by ‘Davie’ and his pals, as the young likely lads growing up in the city, and it all started when he put on a disco to impress a girl. He would go on to work with artists such as Nirvana, the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam before finding and managing Placebo to truly cement his place in music history.
The film starts with a quote from Hunter S Thompson about the music industry which sets the tone for Davie’s story about his money making schemes that test the boundaries of legality, getting into debt and mixed up with some unsavoury local gangsters as well as the local authorities trying to escape the harsh realities of the streets of Dundee, have a good time and take things to “the next level”.
Written, produced and directed by Dave Mclean himself, there are some similarities with Trainspotting – the film is narrated in the first person and starts with some stop-start editing and heavy guitar music that gives it that energy but overall it feels much more like a love letter to his home town and whilst it will appeal to the youthful generation with plenty of Scottish wit and humour throughout it should attract a much wider adult audience too. Being autobiographical you’re left with a real sense of wonder at his achievement, especially knowing who he would go on to work with. The comical soft touches distract in a way from its cultural significance but this is no doubt a reflection of his own modest sentimental style.
Davie is played by Connor Berry, a young unknown actor originally from Edinburgh, whose Scottish authenticity, like the rest of the cast, is so good that on occasions you might require subtitles to help with the dialect and accent. There is of course a great collection of songs throughout the film with some notable 80s classics and a cameo appearance from Kit Clark as Davie’s father who is amongst the collection of Scottish talent featured in the movie.
Filmed with the back drop of Dundee including inside the very same Caird Hall where Iron Maiden played that night. There’s a nice scene with the venue’s proprietor who tells the lads the story of how he booked the Beatles for £30 before they were big and lost money! It’s hard to imagine but without these people like Davie risking it all for their music passion, wanting to escape the 9 to 5 factory work life and bring live music to venues, breaking new acts, there wouldn’t be the music industry we know and love.
If anybody wanted proof that making it in the music industry was a possible dream then look no further than this story about a man who momentarily changed the face of live music in Dundee and would become a forerunner for the grunge punk scene around the world.
Film: Schemers
Run time: 1hr 31min
Director: Dave Mclean
Genre: Comedy / crime / drama
Stars: Connor Berry, Sean Connor, Grant Robert Keelan, Tara Lee
Released in UK Cinemas from 25th September, Schemers is based on the real life events surrounding heavy metal band, Iron Maiden’s concert in Dundee, Scotland in 1979/1980; telling the true story of a likely entrepreneurial youth and his pals who get caught up in the murky world of music promotion.
This action feature film starring Bruce Willis, Jesse Metcalfe and Lala Kent has all the ingredients for a blockbuster but unfortunately falls into the early Christmas turkey category. No doubt made largely in homage to Bruce’s mega Die Hard franchise you can find many similarities in the formula, but like its title, it doesn’t quite match up to it.
The tell tale signs are there from the beginning with the slow-mo action shots of troops under heavy fire that sound and look as realistic as you’ll get in the movies but the illusion is somewhat taken away when cover is taken behind some well placed office furniture in an empty warehouse (you know the art department must be struggling when they have to resort to some wooden pallets and even cardboard boxes).
Normal service is resumed with the arrival of Bruce in probably the largest limousine you’ll ever see without it being categorised a bus. The classic megalomanic plot is revealed, as some newly developed technology has got into the wrong hands causing a plane crash. Fortunately there is a fail safe trigger on the device to stop any further harm with only Chalmers (Bruce) able to reactivate it making him the prime target of the ‘terrorist revolutionaries’ . This is Bruce taking a backseat role as the ex-army now corporate CEO with the majority of the action to be taken up by Miller (Jesse Metcalfe, Desperate Housewives, John Tucker Must Die) and his crack squad of vigilante troops assigned to look after Chalmers.
The plot and the script seem to have all the right pieces but unfortunately aren’t quite assembled properly. Like when the hardcore team of mercenaries find out they have been betrayed as they reach the warehouse destination and discover they now have to do what seems like exactly the same mission they agreed to do in the first place – protect Bruce from the terrorist revolutionaries for a lot of cash.
The psychopathic leader of the terrorist revolutionaries is ‘The Pardoner’ (Sergio Rizzuto) who is convinced he is doing society a service by using the new technology to bring it down. ‘The Pardoner’ isn’t just a cool sounding villain’s name there’s also a nice Chaucer reference with his Pardoner’s story on greed to go with it. Which all seems to be upsetting this Pardoner quite a bit whilst he wields a particularly large golden gun that doesn’t easily go unnoticed.
There’s also strong female characters too with Eva (Lala Kent) who is Chalmer’s daughter and the cause of all this trouble as the designer of ‘Project 725’. A smart woman with a social conscience who only wanted to see her technology used properly to help people but mistakenly hands it over to ‘The Pardoner’ after she had found out the corporation only wanted it for military purposes.
From there on in there’s the hostage, siege, rescue melees with a strange mix of jumped scenes and clanging dialogue that would, despite all the violence, be better suited for a lower aged audience to find its true appeal. In the end a below par ode to the real McClane Die Hard movies, held together by the man himself.
Film: Hard Kill
Run time: 1hr 38min
Director: Matt Eskandari
Genre: Action / Thriller
Stars: Jesse Metcalfe, Bruce Willis, Lala Kent, Natalie Eva Marie
This UK feature film is going to be shown for FREE on YouTube on 10th September to coincide with National Suicide Prevention Day and will run for a whole month until 10th October which happens to be Mental Health Awareness Day.
Directed by Cristian Solimeno, notorious for his character in ITV’s series Footballer’s Wives, it’s a deeply thoughtful portrayal of someone who we discover has already tried to commit suicide once and his best friend’s attempt to stop him from trying it again.
This is a hard watch of course and some credit must go to Cristian here for his creative storytelling which draws upon a lot of the mental health threads we would associate with suicide such as cutting yourself off, loneliness, depression, alcohol and disillusionment. It’s cleverly told through Al (Gary Grant) a struggling artist who lives alone and when he discovers all his paintings have gone missing returns home with a large bottle of alcohol and to a draw full of pharmaceuticals. He’s been ignoring calls from his friend Daniel (Cristian) who’s tried everything to get in touch and after Daniel leaves a DVD under the door as a last attempt, Al is reluctantly compelled to watch it. The DVD turns out to be a documentary video diary about Al’s life told by his friends, family, ex-girlfriends and the like put together by Daniel in the hope of persuading him not to do anything stupid again.
This was Daniel’s gift that he made for his friend in the hope of showing them that he cares about them, something which took on a whole new meaning during the filming when, before the film’s completion, one of the cast committed suicide themselves giving rise to a hashtag campaign and ‘I Made This For You’ movement www.imadethisforyou.com). The movement started by Cristian is asking people to take the time out to make something for somebody they care about.
The film’s heart is in the right place, although watching a series of talking heads from so many family and friends telling someone what a good bloke they are might make you wonder what Al’s problem is exactly but we pick up on some of the clues along the way as to why.
It’s a very brave and creative approach to the subject matter using filmmaking with some simple but effective techniques like using colour and black and white to differentiate between the different states of mind. The aim of the film was to be of help to people and can certainly encourage a healthier discussion about suicide and mental health, which sadly has become more prevalent in recent times and with the current pandemic outbreak, social distancing and lockdown measures, mental health is at the forefront of people’s minds for themselves and their loved ones. It seems strange that there is still such a stigma related to this sensitive subject especially when, rated 15, you can watch films of the same rating showing extreme violence and murder without even batting an eyelid.
If you’re looking for a cerebral alternative, have an hour to spare and don’t mind the uneasy material, this is worth a watch and it also provides avenues for further understanding and educating if wanted.
Link to trailer
Film: I Made This For You
Run time: 1hr 17min
Director: Cristian Solimeno
Genre: Drama
Stars: Gary Grant, Cristian Solimeno, Luke Sullivan, Ken Cave, Danielle Meehan, Brett Allen
For one night only on 13th August, at selected cinemas around the UK, a chance to see Elvis on the big screen one more time in this acclaimed music documentary following his Las Vegas Summer residency 50 years ago.
A fantastic opportunity to see Elvis on the big screen in all his glory as he takes to the stage in his now iconic jumpsuits for the first time and gives us the full repertoire, which many have imitated but never quite reached the full heights he did.
With behind the scenes footage of the rehearsals and build up to the concert this documentary puts together a combination of the concerts, seamlessly pieced together to give a wonderful show-stopping performance of Elvis performing live.
Of course this is for the Elvis fans but any fan of music would benefit from watching this as many already would have, to study one of the greatest entertainers of all-time. Which makes this such a fascinating insight into the man who still holds many music industry records even today, as the world’s biggest-selling artist. Knowing his story like so many people do, to some degree or another, makes this all the more poignant. Every song, every glance, carries ever more meaning.
And nobody can sing with more meaning, warmth and power quite like Elvis. Here he’s knocking out all the standards with the kind of energy and charisma any artist young or old could only dream of. Belting out the songs that started his career way back in the mid 50s like, “That’s Alright (Mama)” and even having fun with the not that long released, “Suspicious Minds” of the 70s. This is Elvis on stage having a good time, still at the top of his game but with an acknowledging wry smile that he was no longer the ground-breaking, cultural changer he once was.
His charm will bring an admiring smile to the most objectionable Elvis fan who the girls screamed after and the guys wanted to emulate in their billions. Here he is joking with the audience with his old familiar mannerisms and a few lesser known ones too. Once considered too shocking for TV and corrupting of the youth – how times have changed – this is the man who inspired a generation of hometown singers and an excessive amount of men playing music in jumpsuits.
Link to trailer
Film: That’s The Way It Is (1970)
Director: Denis Sanders
Stars: Elvis Presley, James Burton, Glen D. Hardin
A new short film part of a series of vignettes on Sky Arts to provide some momentary escapism during the pandemic, raising mental health awareness through Wander and the Mental Health Foundation. The brain child of Mary McCarthy the film has brought together the work of a group of street artists involved in the global street art movement and is dedicated to the creative hub of Bristol, which also happens to be the birth place of the most famous anonymous street artist of them all, Banksy.
Consummating art and film, these mini films take the audience ‘to beautiful spaces accompanied by the world’s favourite voices’. This one chooses the poetic folk lyrics of L.A. Salami read by himself and Brit actress Kaya Scodelario providing a powerful protest backing track taking you around some of the best street art in Bristol spanning 4 decades. The biggest compliment you can give the street art is, for most of the far too brief 5 minute play time, you would find it hard to separate the graffiti from the streets of Bristol from the graffiti of New York. It’s a welcomed distraction from the pandemic crisis and even ends with some tips to stay on top of your mental health.
Despite the questionable legality of some of these street artists sometimes it’s just reassuring to see and hear the vibrancy of talent expressing itself in ways only it can, challenging the social norms, bringing colour and art into people’s everyday lives; especially when it’s this good.
The film can be seen at http://www.vanguardstreetart.com. and is also part of a wider art exhibition, Vanguard: ‘Bristol Street Art: The Evolution of a Global Movement’, which will be held at Bristol Museum MShed in 2021, exploring the creative history and legacy of Bristol, its underground scene and the wider global phenomenon of Art on the streets.
Trailer Link
Film: Vanguard: ‘Bristol Street Art: The Evolution of a Global Movement’
The Language of Film 