Elektro Moskva
That’s right, platinum (or china, if you’re a traditionalist): Sheffield Doc/Fest turns 20 this year. Weird that platinum is 20 while gold is 50, whereas a platinum album denotes greater success than a gold album … but then, the music business is weird too, one of the things that makes it such a ripe film subject.
Which is a very roundabout way of getting to the music documentary lineup at Doc/Fest Platinum, which starts today in England’s Steel City with, yes, a music doc as the red carpet opening night attraction: Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer, Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s electric account of the last year’s show trial of the radical Russian art-punk group. (The filmmakers will be here in person, Pussy Riot defendant Katia Samutsevich via Skype.) MusicFilmWeb will be around as well throughout the five days and nights of Doc/Fest, so if you’re in Sheffield come say hello, at one of the starred screenings below or, like as not, one of the festival bars.
Here’s the complete music-doc schedule to print ‘n’ save ‘n’ put in your pocket or fill out your calendar app. There’s venue and ticket info at the festival Web site. Click the links to find out about the films at the Music Film Database; an asterisk means MFW is moderating the post-screening Q&A. And don’t forget, we’ll also be taking part in the panel discussion Just Don’t Call It a “Music Doc” (with filmmakers Lerner, Jeanie Finlay, and Anthony Wall and Hot Docs programmer Charlotte Cook). Yes, it’s at 10 o’clock Saturday morning, but if we can make it so can you.
June 12
8:30pm: Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer
June 13
1:15pm: Elektro Moskva
*1:15pm: How We Played the Revolution
*7:30pm: Basically, Johnny Moped
June 14
*2pm: Elektro Moskva
7pm: Notes from the Inside with James Rhodes
June 15
10:30am: How We Played the Revolution
6:15pm: Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer
8:45pm: Muscle Shoals
9pm: Elektro Moskva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v2UalO2hEA
June 16
3:30pm: Elektro Moskva
*3:45pm: Basically, Johnny Moped
A couple other music + film experiences very much worth attending: The Big Melt, a journey into the heart of Sheffield’s iconic steel industry co-directed and scored by favorite son Jarvis Cocker (who will lead an all-star Steel City band); and an encore presentation of From the Sea to the Land Beyond (which premiered at Doc/Fest last year), which evokes Britain’s abiding ties to the briny via amazing archive footage and a score performed live by British Sea Power.
