Next month’s Doc’n Roll is set to include numerous premieres, post-screening Q&As, live shows and after parties when it gets underway and one of those premieres will come in the form of a film on Bad Brains entitled Finding Joseph I. You can check out an exclusive excerpt of the film above.
Finding Joseph I charts the story behind the band’s lead singer Paul "HR" Hudson, taking in never-before-seen archival footage, photography and exclusive interviews to illustrate his life and work. This showing of the film will mark its world premiere and will take place on November 10 at the ICA. You can find out more information on that screening and get tickets here.
Elsewhere, Doc’n Roll’s opening night will feature a brand new full-length on the moving story of Jazz singer Gregory Porter, called Gregory Porter. Dont Forget Your Music, which followed him from his first UK tour to his rise to international acclaim. Further, events will see screenings of several films reconstructing the lives of musicians, like Cool Cats, about two American jazz musicians, Dexter Gordon and Ben Webster, moving to Copenhagen in the early 1960. There will also be presentations of Lunar Orbit: The Orb, The Colossus of Destiny – A Melvins Tale and Eat That Question – Frank Zappa in his own words, presenting the stories of numerous well-known bands and musicians.
The festival is also exploring new and innovative approaches to the classical tour diary. For example, Placebo: Alt. Russia interlaces live footage from the band’s tour through the vast country with perspectives on the state of the Russian underground, as documented through the conversations the band led with local artists and creative workers.
Another example is Blackhearts, the story of three young metal musicians from diverse backgrounds traveling to the nordic heartland of black metal, which promises to be an unconventional take on identity and unrestrained dedication to musical style. Further on the bill is a film tracing the seven-day tour of the Netherlands that Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie and his band, The Cairo Gang, did in 2014. It features footage taken from the intimate, often acoustic, concerts in unusual spaces mixed with imagery of the Dutch landscape and interviews with local residents.
The majority of screenings will take place at the Picturehouse Central in Picadilly, with films also being shown at the ICA, the Rich Mix Cinema, the Hackney Picturehouse and more. To find out more about the films, screening times and tickets, go to the Doc’n Roll website here.
