From 11 to 21 April 2024, the Melkweg Amsterdam will host the IN-EDIT NL International Music Documentary Festival, now in its sixth year. The festival will include the Dutch premiere of Nick Broomfield’s The Stones and Brian Jones as its closing film, along with the unveiling of a selection from the film programme. Additionally, the festival will feature the Dutch premieres of notable documentaries including The Legacy of J Dilla (2023, Esther Dere, Christopher Frierson) and Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story (2023, Nate Pommer, Eric Weinrib). The documentary Joan Baez: I am a Noise (2023, Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle) is also part of the first wave of 2024 IN-EDIT programme titles, with a preview screening on 21 March at the IN-EDIT On Tour Preview at de Schuur in Haarlem, in collaboration with Patronaat. The programme also features Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes (2023, Sam Pollard, Ben Shapiro) and They Shot the Piano Player (2023, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal) in collaboration with the Kaboom Animation Festival.
Originating in Barcelona, where it recently celebrated its 21st anniversary, IN-EDIT has since expanded globally, attracting over 100,000 visitors annually. This festival creates an atmosphere brimming with enthusiasm for film and music. More details about the programme and films will be available soon, with ticket sales starting on Tuesday, 12 March.
THE STONES AND BRIAN JONES
UK | 2023 | Nick Broomfield | 93 min | Dutch premiere + Closing Film:
One of the founding members of The Rolling Stones in 1962, guitarist Brian Jones had to leave the band in 1969 and shortly afterwards drowned in his swimming pool. As a 14-year-old, director Nick Broomfield met Jones by chance on a train. For Brian, the world was still at his feet. This film highlights the seven turbulent years in which Brian Jones had been acting completely unhinged and unpredictable for several years. Something Jones surely could not have imagined at the start of his career. With his sex appeal and charisma, he was the undisputed bandleader, even if he was not the lead singer. Alcohol and drugs ended this, and by the mid-1960s, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards formed the band’s creative core. Filled with plenty of archive material, the freedom and exuberance of the 60s is explored and Jones’ personal life is told: the problems with his parents, the many children with different women, to his eventful relationship with Anita Pallenberg. With a nice guest role for ex-Stones bassist Bill Wyman.
THE LEGACY OF J DILLA
USA | 2023 | Esther Dere, Christopher Frierson | 70 min. | Dutch premiere
Influential hip-hop artist and producer J Dilla (aka Jay Dee) died of a rare disease at the age of 32, just after the release of the classic Donuts (2006). With material from family archives, it dives into the musical mindset of a rhythm machine and sampling virtuoso who created unforgettable music and beats from his basement in Detroit for artists such as De La Soul, The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes. As the heart of the “neo-soul” collective, The Soulquarians, he also produced for The Roots, D’Angelo and Q-Tip. All the while, J Dilla stayed out of the limelight to the point where his legacy has become a legal battle.
SCREAM OF MY BLOOD: A GOGOL BORDELLO STORY
USA | 2023 | Nate Pommer, Eric Weinrib | 99 min | Dutch premiere
The heady journey across the world of Ukrainian immigrant and frontman of Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello Eugene Hütz runs through the last days of the Soviet Union, via pre-September 11 New York to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A history that shaped the band, along with the cultural roots of their music. The documentary – which was awarded Best New Documentary Award at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival (special jury mention) – shows their performances’ raw and energetic atmosphere, both on and off stage.
MAX ROACH: THE DRUM ALSO WALTZES
USA | 2023 | Sam Pollard, Ben Shapiro | 82 min
The life and ambitions of legendary drummer and pioneering cultural activist Max Roach were severely tested by social inequality during his 70-year career. The documentary shows his musical achievements, deep personal struggles and the price he paid for his outspoken views. Set against the backdrop of revolutionary jazz from the 1940s to the years of the African-American civil rights movement and experiments with Hip-hop and multimedia.
THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER
Spain, France, Netherlands | 2023 | Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal | With: Jeff Goldblum | 103 min – in collaboration with Kaboom Animation Festival
How did Brazilian jazz pianist Tenório Jr. mysteriously disappear in Buenos Aires in 1976? Fictional New York music journalist Jeff Harris (Jeff Goldblum) sets out to discover the truth. This colourful animated documentary, infused with infectious music, recounts the rise of fascist regimes in Latin America and how a musical revolution broke down due to military violence. With interviews with Brazilian music icons such as João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Vinicius de Moraes and Milton Nascimento. Oscar winner Fernando Trueba (Belle époque) once again joins forces with talented artist and cartoonist Javier Mariscal.
JOAN BAEZ: I AM A NOISE
USA | 2023 | Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle | 103 min – also to be seen 21 March during the IN-EDIT On Tour Preview at the Schuur in Haarlem, in collaboration with Patronaat
Her breakthrough at the age of 18, her relationship with Bob Dylan, her involvement in the civil rights movement and her protest against the Vietnam War. This documentary follows iconic singer Joan Baez (1941) – honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, among others – on her farewell tour of America and Europe. She played at Woodstock, performed with Bono and Peter Gabriel and remains one of the most prominent members of the protest generation. The film brings the past to life with unique archive material, conjuring up a picture of a not-always-so-happy family. Baez also talks candidly about these unknown dark sides of her life.
