As music fanatics, there’s one thing we love almost as much as the live experience, and that’s a compelling music documentary or film with the opportunity to watch such a feature on the big screen.
Once a year, this becomes an exciting reality, with the return of The Sydney Film Festival, one of the world’s longest-running film festivals and major event on the New South Wales cultural calendar.
The 12-day festival will run from Wednesday 3 – Sunday 14 June, screening feature films, documentaries, short films, animation and most importantly, music film from around the world in venues across the city including the State Theatre, Event Cinemas George Street, Dendy Opera Quays, the Art Gallery of NSW, the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace in Cremorne and the Skyline Drive-In Blacktown.
This year’s event has some incredible music features that we are hanging out to watch, so much so that we decided to piece together a shortlist of the must-sees at this year’s Sydney Film Festival.
Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown (Dir: Alex Gibney)
Sure, there’s plenty of James Brown docos out there, and one or two of them are pretty damn good – but one mistake the vast majority of films spotlighting the Godfather of Soul continually make is trying to squeeze too much into one documentary, this is where Mr. Dynamite has its edge.
Focusing on the star’s rise to prominence, this documentary explores Brown’s early career, from his first hit in 1956, not to mention his world class performance at The Apollo Theatre, T.A.M.I. Show and the Paris Olympia as well as featuring previously unreleased footage, interviews and photographs not to mention chats with notable artists that worked with Brown is his foundation laying days.
Check out a snippet from the exciting doco here:
Amy: The Girl Behind The Name (Dir: Asif Kapadia)
Despite the fact that her family have removed themselves from the project, condemning it for containing “basic untruths”, Amy will still hit screens around the globe.
The documentary is said to be a very up-close encounter with the troubled artist, mirroring her over-exposed life at the hands of the UK paparazzi until the day she tragically passed away.
The feature will show unseen footage of Winehouse, as well as hints at unheard music as well as a unique (and surely heart-touching) window into the rollercoaster that was her life.
Here’s the tear-soaked trailer where Amy tells a reporter “she couldn’t handle being famous” because she’d “probably go mad”:
Breaking A Monster (Dir: Luke Meyer)
Remember that crazy story about a US12/13 years-old three-piece who got signed to major label with a deal for $1.8? If not – the full story is here.
Controversial from the moment this news broke with many fearing the label, Sony Entertainment, would chew the hard rockers up and spit them out, the band are now deeply embroiled in a law suit trying to escape the binding contract.
Sadly, there’s no trailer for the doc yet, however it has been touted as a must-see, with a telling interview for the band providing interesting pre-screen insight:
Love & Mercy (Dir: Bill Pohlad)
It’s no secret, The Beach Boys are and forever will be, one of the most influential bands in the history of popular music, and their leader, Brian Wilson, is one of the important artists. However, despite penning some of the most sun-soaked enjoyable pop tunes in existence, Wilson battled serious demons – which has been immortalised in a big budget feature film.
Love & Mercy follows the story of The Beach Boys, with a heavy focus on Wilson during his creative and haunting times, exploring his mental health and the doctor who manipulated his life during this period.
Played by John Cusack and Paul Dano at two different times of his life, this is an emotional story told by some of Hollywood’s greatest.
Enjoy the trailer – we bet you’ll put on a Beach Boys song as soon as you finish watching:
Wide Open Sky (Dir: Lisa Nicol)
Not all stories of music have to be a harrowing or negative, and if you’re after a documentary that’ll have you leaving the cinema with a smile, Wide Open Sky is the one for you.
This is a true blue Australian story of a children’s choir in the Outback who, despite their isolated proximity, have got beautiful dreams of making it big from their voices.
The piece follows a group of kids closely, chronicling their journey from audition to end-of-year concert, as well as the teacher’s the trials and tribulations of running a children’s choir in a remote and disadvantaged region of the nation.
The trailer completely had us, it’s too damn cute:
Beats Of The Antonov (Dir: Hajooj Kuka)
It’s curious, the majority of these music-based films and documentaries all follow a somewhat similar story, the inner torment of the tortured artist, the ongoing battle of drug and alcohol addiction, personality clashes between band members, as real as all these issues are – they certainly feel overshadowed when a brutal story like Beats of the Antonov appears.
Set in the divided and war-torn nation of Sudan – notably, Africa’s longest-standing country at civil war, this confronting film created by a Sudanese journalist and filmmaker documents how music and culture in one of the world’s most volatile and devastated nations, survives.
Charming critics universally and taking home People’s Choice Award for Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival 2014, Beats of the Antonov is a must-see for every music fan.
Check out the captivating first peek:
