Copehagen’s CPH:DOX kicks off this Wednesday, April 21, 2021, and goes online and in select Danish cinema through May 12. One of the premiere documentary events on the continent, CPH:DOX also hosts a strong music documentary programme, featuring many films that go on to have long festival lives – some, like American Rapstar and Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan – also find their way to us. As they themselves describe it, CPH:DOX Sound + Vision is for “music films with a room for the offbeat and the false notes”.
A Song Called Hate
Anna Hildur / Iceland / 2020 / 91 min
The Icelandic band Hatari is used to provoking everyone and everything, but at the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel they are facing a dilemma.
A Symphony of Noise
Enrique Sánchez Lansch / Germany / 2021 / 96 min
What does it sound like when you deep-fry a trumpet as a commentary on Brexit? Composer and master sampler Matthew Herbert will give you an answer.
American Rapstar – Screening at IN-EDIT NL
Julian Staple / USA /2020 / 74m
A new scene of troubled, lo-fi young rappers has emerged from Trump’s America, utilizing the SoundCloud streaming platform to quickly become the most culturally disruptive force in hip hop, shocking the world with their rambunctious antics, prescription drug use, facial tattoos, and rebellious punk energy.
American Utopia
Spike Lee / United States / 2020 / 105 min
Experience David Byrne in Spike Lee’s concert film, where Byrne elegantly and originally shows us that music is (also) art.
Crestone
Marnie Ellen Hertzler / United States / 2020 / 73 min
Mirage or reality? Welcome to a SoundCloud paradise in the Colorado desert, where the inhabitants make hazy music for the internet.
Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan – Opening Film at IN-EDIT NL
Julien Temple / United Kingdom / 2020 / 124 min
Follow the bold but troubled life of legendary Irish singer and songwriter, Shane MacGowan, frontman of The Pogues – the iconic Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band that combined traditional Irish folk with the raw energy of punk rock music.
Disintegration Loops
David Wexler, David Wexler / United States / 2021 / 45 min
William Basinski’s groundbreaking ambient elegy on 9/11 becomes relevant again on its 20th anniversary as the soundtrack of the lockdown.
Karen Dalton: In My Own Time
Richard Peete, Robert Yapkowtiz / United States / 2020 / 85 min
Nick Cave and Bob Dylan idolise her, but personal struggles and an escape from fame became Karen Dalton’s destiny.
Narcissus Off Duty
Renato Terra, Ricardo Calil / Brazil / 2020 / 83 min
The Tropicalia star Caetano Veloso talks about his time in prison during the dictatorship in a simple and moving film with a great singer and storyteller.
Other, Like Me
Marcus Werner Hed, Dan Fox / United Kingdom, United States / 2020 / 80 min
From performance art to deafening industrial music. The story of the pioneers Throbbing Gristle, told for the first time on film by the artists themselves
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
Paul Sng, Celeste Bell / United Kingdom / 2020 / 93 min
With a fearless fuck you-attitude and anti-fascist battle cries, Poly Styrene was at the forefront of one of the greatest punk bands of the 1970s: X-Ray Spex.
Sisters With Transistors
Lisa Rovner / France / 2020 / 89 min
The history of electronic music from the point of view of the overlooked female pioneers in a film with style and substance, told by Laurie Anderson.
Tehran Blues
Javier Tolentino / Spain / 2020 / 80 min
The city’s musicians and poets take us on a musical tour of Iran’s capital in a charming film about a music culture rarely heard of in the West.
Tina
Dan Lindsay, TJ Martin / United States / 2021 / 118 min
One of the most hard-working women ever in show business reveals her inner battles in a sensational film with clips from 60 years in the spotlight.
Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Me
Mary Wharton / United States / 2021 / 89 min
Unique original footage from the recording of ‘Wildflowers’ depicts the singer Tom Petty at a musical and personal crossroads.
*All descriptions courtesy of CPH:DOX Sound & Vision programme
