There are always TONS of great films each year at the FullFrame Documentary Film Festival here in Durham. The festival has become known as "the Cannes of documentary film festivals." Good stuff.
This year, there are a number of cool music-related films on the agenda. I volunteered to help the staff out in promoting these events, so here ya go:
Advance sale tickets are on sale now through the “box office” section of the FullFrame website.
Advance sale tickets guarantee you a seat in the film screening, and a limited number of advance sale tickets will be released for each event and for each film. This may be a great advantage for many people, as the other way to buy individual tickets is to stand in line at the box office the morning of the show. As Full Frame gets more and more popular, film screenings do frequently sell out. There are also a very few passes to the festival left, but those are selling quickly.
A Stravinsky Portrait
The 2006 Career Award: Richard Leacock
Full Frame honors the work of legendary filmmaker Ricky Leacock.Colleagues D.A. Pennebaker and Ross McElwee will join Full Frame in recognizing Leacock’s outstanding career as a director and cinematographer. The tribute includes a screening of Leacock’s A Stravinsky Portrait, an intimate look at composer and conductor Igor Stravinsky.
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 12pm
In Search of Mozart
(2006. UK. 128 min. Directed and Produced by Phil Grabsky)
This film is a deeply satisfying gift to the viewer in honor of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday. The composer's personal life and music are laid out in chronological order and animated with remarkable chamber, orchestral, and vocal performances. Modern day street scenes of European cities visited by Mozart and well-chosen excerpts from his correspondence add to the visual and aural feast. Musicians such as Lang Lang and Renée Fleming discuss artistic choices and their personal relationship to Mozart's art. Historians, conductors and other experts weigh in when needed, but the film allows the music to come first.
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2:00pm
The Refugee All-Stars
(2005. USA. 80 min. Directed by Zach Niles, E. Banker White. Produced by Zach Niles)
The civil war in the West African nation of Sierra Leone displaced hundreds of thousands of people from 1991 to 2002. Most found themselves in refugee camps in neighboring Guinea, many without any knowledge of the fates of their families and friends. Seeking a way to rebuild relationships and express the varied emotions engendered by the war and devastation, several Sierra Leoneans form an Afro-pop band called the Refugee All-Stars. Their songs of hope and loss bring solace to their countrymen. Their music may pave a way for the band members to survive in the post-civil war landscape of their homeland. An infectious score and compelling personal stories suffuse this look at a band of survivors determined to use music to establish a new community.
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 5:15pm
SAZ
(2004. Israel. 50 min. Directed and Produced by Gil Karni)
When rap and the intifada get caught in a hand that holds a mike, songs that yearn to be heard beyond the ghetto walls of Israel emerge. The rage, the poetry, the girls, the confusion, the temptations of global media, and the idealism: they are all here in SAZ, the story a year in the life of 20-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Samekh Zakhut (aka Saz). This fresh, coming of age film brings to the screen all the complexities of what it means to be young, talented, angry, and above all, idealistic in a place of fragmentation and separation. Saz believes his art can not only change the world and inspire millions to reclaim their homeland. And it may also free him from the ghetto, out of his mindless car mechanic job, and into the lucrative stage of global pop music. You’ll go up and down with Saz and while you do, you’ll meet his 80-year-old grandfather. Beneath the silence of his grandfather’s garden, after heated minds have spoken, if you listen closely, you’ll hear the unrelenting wheels of history churning and turning us ever so slowly into the uncharted fields of the 21st century.
North American Premiere
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 12:15pm
Air Guitar Nation
(2006. USA. 80 min. Directed by Alexandra Lipsitz. Produced by Jane Lipsitz, Dan Cutforth, Cedric Devitt, Kriston Rucker, Anna Barber)
"The axes are invisible; the chops are for real:" the art of air guitar centers on the elusive quality of "airness." Covering the US Air Guitar Championships in Los Angeles and the World finals in Oulu, Finland, the film appreciates the enthusiasm of the fans and the weird sweetness of the performers. It's also a friendly send-up of the genre of "count-down" competition documentaries. Proponents of air guitar knowingly acknowledge its metaphysical nothingness while a blistering soundtrack of guitar-heavy hits keeps the focus on rock and roll.
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 10pm
“two headed cow” is about the Flat Duo Jets, and Dexter Romweber is going to be there as a special guest. This is a world premiere for the film, and the filmmakers will also be there to talk with the audience. The film will be shown, and then there will be a musical performance by Dexter, followed by a Q & A with the filmmakers and Dexter.
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 10:30pm
There is also a performance by the Branford Marsalis Quartet in Fletcher Hall on Friday, April 7th at 5 p.m. Part of the proceeds from this will go to benefit a Hurricane Katrina charity, and there will be about 50 of our local Hurricane Katrina Neighbors who have settled in Durham after the hurricane will be the special guests of Full Frame. After the film “New Orleans Brass” is shown, there will be a panel discussion with Branford Marsalis and then Branford and Ellis Marsalis will perform. After the Branford Marsalis Quartet performs, the TBS Brass Band will lead folks out into the plaza, where the crowd will be waiting for the Al Franken program. It should be great fun.
two headed cow
(2005. USA. 85 min. Directed by Tony Gayton. Produced by Lisa Mae Fincannon, Bill Cody)
Dexter Romweber and the Flat Duo Jets performed on and off stage with an unprecedented level of intensity and dynamism. This film helps the audience understand where that hard core rockabilly music Dexter and drummer, Crow, played came from. In an utterly candid engagement with the camera, Dexter bares his darkest, most extreme self. Intercut with old black and white footage of the band as they toured through the South, the recent video footage of Dexter speaks volumes about how much and how little life has changed for this radical and uneasy musician. The black and white footage of countless performances treats the audience to truly vibrant and original music. Meet a wildly talented local musician who changed the national soundscape. – SW
World Premiere
Special Guest- Dexter Romweber
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 10:30pm
Center Frame: For New Orleans with special guests Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis III, and St. Clair Bourne
New Orleans Brass
As a highlight of our Southern Sidebar Series and in honor of all those affected by Hurricane Katrina, we present a special program featuring Branford Marsalis and Ellis Marsalis III. The program begins with St. Clair Bourne’s New Orleans Brass, a cultural history of the city of New Orleans framed through the development of the brass marching band. A discussion with Bourne and the Marsalis brothers will follow, and the event will conclude with a performance by the Branford Marsalis Quartet.
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 5 pm
Several of the Hurricane Katrina films also deal with music (for obvious reasons – New Orleans is city with such an important and rich musical tradition.) As a very special treat, the TBC Brass Band (see film description below) is actually going to be there performing. After the “For New Orleans” event, after the performance of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, the TBC Brass Band will lead people out of Fletcher Hall and into the plaza. It should be great fun and very special to see them in person. I believe they are all teenagers, and their story is so inspiring.
New Orleans Music in Exile
(2006. USA. 115 mins. Directed by Robert Mugge, Produced by Robert Mugge, Diana Zelman and Michael Ruggiero. )
Like their neighbors, the legendary New Orleans music community was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Music documentarian Robert Mugge creates an emotional portrait of horror, heartbreak and hope as the musicians who lived through the disaster pick up the pieces and try to rebuild their lives. Performances and interviews with New Orleans artists Dr. John, Cyril Neville, Kermit Ruffins, Irma Thomas, the Iguanas, Cowboy Mouth, and the ReBirth Brass Band demonstrate how Katrina, broken levees, floods, looting, black mold, and their consequences wreaked havoc on music and life in this colorful city.
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 3:15pm
Putting the River in Reverse
(2006. USA. 33mins. Directed by Matthew Buzzell, Produced by Brian Gerber)
Music legend Elvis Costello journeys to New Orleans to celebrate the songbook and spirit of the hurricane-battered city’s Renaissance man, Allen Toussaint. With the Katrina-exiled Toussaint at the piano and the two gentlemen’s bands merged, their efforts yield not just a joyous musical meeting but the revelation of a profound stoic hope and the realization of the first major recording session post-Katrina to take place not just in the city of New Orleans but on the edge of the 9th ward. Their relationship to their music and to each other infuses this performance piece with a special tenderness that will be remembered well after New Orleans has been rebuilt.
SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 11:45am
To Be Continued: The Story of the TBC Brass Band
(2006, USA, Canada, 90mins. Directed by Jason DeSilva and Colleen O’Halloran)
This exuberant film follows the inspiring story of a nine piece New Orleans Brass Band as its members recover from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and embark on the journey to find each displaced band mate, all who have sought refuge in cities across the American South.
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 5pm