The United Kingdom has selected Havana Marking’s documentary “Afghan Star” as its 2009 submission for the Academy Awards, reports indieWIRE.
“Afghan Star” details how, after 30 years of war and Taliban rule, ‘American Idol’ has come to Afghanistan and is “taking the nation by storm.” For many in the country, this was their first encounter with democracy and for the contestants, they are actually risking their lives to sing. It won both Best Director and the Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in the World Documentary section.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on September 14, 2009 under Documentary, Music | Comments are off for this article
The full trailer for “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” the documentary film that tells the story of the development of what would have been Michael Jackson’s farewell concerts at London’s O2 Arena premiered last night at the MTV Video Music Awards. The film, which comes out on October 28 for limited two-week engagement, will feature never-before-seen footage of Jackson rehearsing, performing and interacting with the army of dancers, singers, musicians and production staff who were working towards making the “This Is It” concerts one of the biggest spectacles in history.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on September 10, 2009 under Music | Comments are off for this article
Canadian indie distributor Alliance Films has picked up all Canadian rights to Rob Stefaniuk’s vampire movie “Suck” ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday.
Written and directed by musician/actor Rob Stefaniuk – and featuring acting turns from the likes of Iggy Pop Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins and Moby – SUCK, follows a group of rock ‘n’ roll wannabes in search of immortality and a record deal. Seemingly doomed to roadtrip doldrums and dives, the band The Winners break their slump when their female bass player disappears one night with a studly, stylin’ vampire. She returns charged with sexual charisma that creates audience frenzy and eventually ensnares the rest of the band. Their “hook” launches them to fame. But fame turns out to be a different kind of Hell than AC/DC promised.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on September 2, 2009 under Music, drama | Comments are off for this article
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley announced in August that the state is funding its first independent film production for its new incentives program under the Alabama Film Office.
The film, titled “Lifted,” which qualifies for an approximately $153,000 rebate, is directed by Alan Hunter, who previously worked on other independent films including “Johnny Flynton,” which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003.
“Lifted,” tells the story of a talented young man who inspires to become a singer despite hard circumstances, and it will take place around rural Birmingham. The film will star new talent Uriah Shelton of Mobile, Ala., Dash Mihok, former American Idol winner Ruben Studdard, country singer Trace Adkins and Alan Hunter himself.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on May 13, 2009 under Music, Short Films | Comments are off for this article
A short film for Bob Dylan’s “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” has been filmed by AFI and Sundance Film Festival award winning director Nash Edgerton, and can be seen exclusively on the IFC Channel and on IFC.com, from yesterday, Tuesday, May 12 until Thursday, May 12. The video made its broadcast premiere last night on the IFC Channel.
Watch the video, starring Amanda Aardsma and Joel Stoffer, here: www.ifc.com/dylan.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on May 12, 2009 under Documentary, Foreign Film, Music | Comments are off for this article
Chai Vasarhelyi’s “I Bring What I Love: Youssou Ndour”
Chai Vasarhelyi’s “I Bring What I Love: Youssou Ndour,” a music-filled documentary about the Senegalese musician will be available in the U.S. thanks to Shadow Distribution.
Vasarhelyi followed Ndour for more than two years in shooting the pic. A devout Muslim, Ndour is shown working on his “deeply personal and religious” album, “Egypt,” which he hoped would help promote a more benign portrait of Islam. “Love” also chronicles the album’s disappointing reception among Muslims in Senegal, where it is denounced as blasphemous.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on May 6, 2009 under Documentary, Music, Television | Comments are off for this article
“Iron Maiden: Flight 666,” winner of the SXSW Festival Award for Best Music Documentary, will be touching down exclusively on Saturday, June 6, (6-6) on VH1 Classic and Palladia — MTV Networks’ high-definition music channel at 9 p.m. and VH1 at 12 midnight.
On February 8, 2008, British heavy rock legends Iron Maiden embarked on the most ambitious and adventurous tour in rock history. For the first time ever the band gave full access to a film crew to document their journey and this resulted in the critically acclaimed, full-length documentary film, “Iron Maiden: Flight 666.”
Circumnavigating around the globe and five continents in just 45 days, the band flew in a specially customized Boeing 757 airliner, piloted by lead singer Bruce Dickinson. With the entire touring crew and 12 tons of music and stage equipment on board, Astraeus Airline Captain Dickinson and his air crew flew 50,000 miles, taking in 23 sold-out stadium and arena shows across Asia, Australia and North, Central and South America, performing to almost half a million fans in the process.
The plane was christened “ED FORCE ONE” by their fans, after Iron Maiden mascot Eddie, a perennial fixture in the band’s album cover art as well as in their live shows.
“Iron Maiden: Flight 666″ is an inspirational account of the chaotic and often humorous world of a band touring the four corners of the world, giving a behind-the-scenes look at what happens on and off stage. Delivering some of the most spectacular live footage ever seen of the band, “Iron Maiden: Flight 666″ takes viewers from Mumbai to Santiago, L.A. to Sydney, Tokyo to Sao Paolo and many major cities between. Through drama, excitement and fan pandemonium, the film is an honest and revealing portrait of one of the world’s most successful rock bands.
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on May 1, 2009 under Music | Comments are off for this article
Spike Lee’s “Passing Strange”
PBS’ “Great Performances” has acquired Spike Lee’s film adaptation of the rock musical “Passing Strange” from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
“Passing Strange” is the story of a young black man who leaves behind his middle-class upbringing in mid-1970s Los Angeles to travel to Europe, where he finds he can exploit his “South Central” persona. The play received seven Tony noms and won for book of a musical. [Variety]
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on April 17, 2009 under Documentary, Music | Comments are off for this article
The documentary “Iron Maiden: Flight 666,” in which the band and crew fly on a customized Boeing 757 to 11 countries in 45 days, opens in theaters in 45 countries on April 21, and rolls out on DVD one month later. “Iron Maiden: Flight 666″won best music documentary at the South By Southwest Film Festival.
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