Tue 15 Jul 2008 04:27:37 PM EEST
This year eight films were chosen to compete in the International Music Film Contest, MusiXine. The contest selection parades an international line-up of documentaries that open new viewpoints to music, making music and music related phenomena. The entries that qualified for the contest show uncompromising artists at their work, examine the relationship between art and politics, and introduce musical genres from Romanian electro to alternative rock, and to Spanish popular music.
The Musixine films will be screened twice during the Oulu Music Video Festival on August 20-24 2008. The contest entries are screened at the Finnkino Plaza 4 film theater from Wednesday to Saturday. The MusiXine Awards are presented at MusiXine Award Brunch on the Festival Closing Picnic on August 24 at Lammassaari Island Festival Tent. The contest Jury awards the winner with a main prize of 5000 euros, donated by the Oulu Music Video Festival.
1.
Electro (dir. Matei-Alexandru Mocanu)
Romania - 2007 - 52min - Betacam SP
Deprived of popular culture during the Communist regime, Romanian adolescents have now discovered electro as a hip hobby. Lately electronic music has received plenty of attention in music documentaries, but Electro takes a fresh look at the topic from the viewpoint of a more isolated country. In the film passionate DJs and clubbers analyze electro culture-related issues from piratism to substance abuse. The film is illustrated with animated videos and experimental graphics familiar to the genre it documents.
SCREENINGS: Wed 20 Aug 2 p.m., Fri 22 Aug 8 p.m. (Plaza 4)
2. It's Hard to Be a Rock 'n Roller (dir. Gunhild Asting)
Norway - 2006 - 90min - 35mm
The film is set in a small Norwegian village where an actively rehearsing and performing ten-piece band fusses about in a service and activity centre for the mentally disabled. Inspired by the local success, the band's vocalist Tor dreams of rockstardom in a metal band - while the rest of the band tries to bring him back to the ground by appealing to the preservation of the band's group spirit. The film offers a warm-hearted reminder of the healing and connecting power of music.
SCREENINGS: Wed 20 Aug 4 p.m., Fri 22 Aug 6 p.m. (Plaza 4)
3. Joaquin Sabina - 19 days and 500 nights Joaquin Sabina - 19 dias y 500 noches (dir. Ramon Gieling)
The Netherlands - 2008 - 86min - DigiBeta
A skillfully constructed documentary about the deified Spanish poet and singer whose fans include Fidel Castro and Pedro Almodovar. After suffering a stroke Sabina retired from the world, and this film sets his friends, lovers and colleagues into a studio staged as his home to tell of his influence on their lives. The story of Sabina's life is intertwined with a concert at a sold-out bull fighting arena after his recovery from the stroke.
SCREENINGS: Wed 20 Aug 6 p.m., Fri 22 Aug 4 p.m. (Plaza 4)
4. Punksters & Youngsters Punk - Tauti joka ei tapa (dir. Jouko Aaltonen)
Finland - 2008 - 90min - 35mm
Edited to a frantic rhythm, this documentary tells the story of Finnish punk rock from the 1970s to the present day from both musical and social angles. The film conveys the persistent appeal of the ideology through interviews and live performances: there is a whole new generation of punk rockers, but also the old veterans keep pressing on with the course they have once chosen.
SCREENINGS: Wed 20 Aug 8 p.m., Fri 22 Aug 2 p.m. (Plaza 4)
5. The Red Elvis Der Rote Elvis (dir. Leopold Grün)
Germany - 2007 - 90min - Digibeta
During the Cold War era Dean Reed, the Italowestern actor and singer who turned into a Communist, became a celebrated popstar in the Socialist countries. In addition to examining art and politics by presenting 1970s leftist kitsch the documentary shows a bleak picture of the price of success.
SCREENINGS: Thu 21 Aug 2 p.m., Sat 23 Aug 6 p.m. (Plaza 4)
6. Sanctuary: Lisa Gerrard (dir. Clive Collier)
UK - 2006 - 90min - Digibeta
The Australian-born Lisa Gerrard's incredible voice is an institution among fans of alternative music. Ever since forming the band Dead Can Dance in the 1980s, Gerrard has enchanted audiences with her emotional music - and more recently also as an awarded film score composer (Gladiator, Whale Rider). The powerful visual narration of the film compliments both the artist's and her audience's musical experiences.
SCREENINGS: Thu 21 Aug 4 p.m., Sat 23 Aug 4 p.m. (Plaza 4)
7. Scott Walker - 30 Century Man (dir. Stephen Kijak)
UK, USA - 2006 - 95min - 35mm
Scott Walker - 30 Century Man is an arresting story of the mystical composer's artistic development from a professional entertainer to a decade of silence, and the emergence as a guru of modern avant-garde. Walker's admirers include a host of prestigious rock musicians from Jarvis Cocker to David Bowie. The document also takes us to see Walker's unique creative process in the studio.
SCREENINGS: Thu 21 Aug 6 p.m., Sat 23 Aug 2 p.m. (Plaza 4)
8. Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake (dir. Michael Albright)
USA - 2006 - 84min - Digibeta
The documentary is an excited journey by seven youths into the live show and backstage of Sonic Youth, the popular icon of alternative rock. The band is clearly relaxed at the company of the film crew and the kids manage to find the essential topics with their heartfelt approach. The film is a welcome breath of fresh air into the motley of live documentaries. It is a part of Project Moonshine, founded by the director, and aiming to introduce young people into the world of filmmaking by giving them an opportunity to document events of personal importance.
SCREENINGS: Thu 21 Aug 8 p.m., Sat 23 Aug 12 a.m. (Plaza 4)
Tickets for the MusiXine film screenings are sold at Cultural Centre Valve Ticket Office, Hallituskatu 7, tel. +358 8 5584 7575. The sale of tickets starts on Friday 1 August 2008. In July the tickets can also be booked by e-mail: ennakko@omvf.net.
MORE INFORMATION: WWW.MUSIXINE.COM
