Sound + Vision Brings Music Docs, Live Performances, and 'Rocky Horror'

We Like It Like That – The Story of Latin Boogaloo
Mathew Ramirez Warren, USA, 2014, DCP, 81m
Boogaloo—which fuses R&B, doo-wop, and soul with mambo and other Caribbean styles and polyrhythms—is a vibrant sound that originated on the streets of New York in the 1950s and ’60s and went on to move hips all around the world. Reflective of the civil-rights struggles happening at the time, these scrappy teenage musicians openly challenged the powers that be and record labels representing buttoned-up Latin artists (who later collaborated to squash the movement). This fascinating piece of musical history is told through rare concert footage and visits to the old neighborhood with living legends Johnny Colon, Bobby Marin, and Joe Bataan.
Wednesday, August 5, 8:30pm
* Lincoln Center Out of Doors is hosting We Like It Like That! A Boogaloo Celebration with Joe Bataan, Ray Lugo and the Boogaloo Destroyers and special guests Richie Ray and Pete Rodriguez, ABAKUÁ Afro-Latin Dance Company, & DJ Turmix on Thursday, August 6, 7:00 pm at Damrosch Park. More information at lcoutofdoors.org

Y/Our Music
Waraluck Hiransrettawat Every & David Reeve, Thailand/UK, 2014, DCP, 81m
Thai with English subtitles
Shot over two years amid political turmoil, Waraluck Hiransrettawat Every and David Reeve’s documentary features interviews with nine musicians who perform in genres—and, sometimes, beats or sounds—that are largely unknown outside of Thailand. From an optician who plays his homemade bamboo sax to aging masters of the khaen, pin, or mor lam to indie rockers to a Bangkok DJ who blends them all together, the film offers a diverse and enlightening sampler of what Thai music truly is. With inventively shot performances, Y/Our Music is essential for any lover of world music.
Tuesday, August 4, 9:15pm

Y/Our Music

I Was There: The Music Docs of Julien Temple:
An early witness (and friend) to the first wave of English punk bands, Julien Temple’s films have always been intimately connected to music. The Film Society is proud to present a cross section of the director’s work about the seminal rockers and musical institutions he’s profiled over the years, much of which has never screened theatrically in the U.S. Illustrating the straightforward and intimate testimonies of his subjects through wryly chosen archival and performance footage, Temple’s collage-like approach to documentary manages to be rousing but never showy.

The Clash: New Year’s Day ’77
Julien Temple, UK, 1977, digital projection, 75m
Structured around the earliest existing, previously unseen footage of The Clash—shot by Temple—performing at London’s landmark Roxy club on January 1, 1977, this dynamic documentary imparts both the cynicism and hope for real change that the impending punk movement so fervently believed in. Recordings of the band just hanging out together are intercut with samples of the laughably glib BBC programming that ran on New Year’s Eve, Hogmanay, and New Year’s Day—it’s immediately apparent that nothing would be the same after punk’s annus mirabilis. Featuring Mick Jones’s Bruce Lee impersonation and a cameo by Johnny Rotten!

Screening with:

Never Mind the Baubles: Christmas with the Sex Pistols
Julien Temple, UK, 1977, digital projection, 60m
A highly digressive—and enjoyable—documentary about the Sex Pistols’ benefit for striking firemen and their families in Huddersfield on Christmas Day, 1977. At the time, the band had such a terrible reputation that they had been banned from playing any venue in the U.K., and with their subsequent, disastrous U.S. tour, they completely imploded; this concert was, in many ways, their final great achievement and perfectly emblematic of punk values. Temple’s film incorporates contemporary interviews with the band and audience members, a variety of found footage, and clips from the concert itself to discuss the event and its historical significance.
Saturday, August 1, 6:00pm (Q&A with Julien Temple)

Dave Davies: Kinkdom Come
Julien Temple, UK, 2011, HDCAM, 75m
An intimate and candid trip down memory lane with the iconic lead guitarist of The Kinks. Shot on the hills and beaches of Exmoor (which have bewitched the London-born Dave Davies since childhood) and interspersed with a wide range of archival footage, its subject narrates the struggles of growing up poor in postwar Britain, his even more tumultuous experiences in the limelight, and his sentimental but uncompromising approach to life.

Screening with:

Ray Davies: Imaginary Man
Julien Temple, UK, 2010, HDCAM, 80m
This documentary follows Ray Davies shortly after the release of his 2010 album, See My Friends, and is structured around one-on-one interviews with the former Kink. Less of a companion piece than an accompaniment to Temple’s film about Ray’s younger brother Dave, the film’s style reflects Ray’s acerbic wit and personality.
Saturday, August 1, 9:15pm (Introduction by Julien Temple)

The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson
Julien Temple, UK, 2015, DCP, 91m
Temple’s newest rockumentary follows the final months of former Dr. Feelgood and Ian Drury guitarist Wilko Johnson, a recent widower with inoperable pancreatic cancer. The film expounds on Johnson’s personal philosophy and newfound joie de vivre (cemented by his terminal diagnosis) through inventive images created for the film as well as from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and Sergei Parajanov’s The Color of Pomegranates. This energetic, sui generis portrait of one atheist’s last stand also details Johnson’s weeklong collaboration with fellow veteran rocker Roger Daltrey and features archival concert footage.
Friday, July 31, 7:00pm (Q&A with Julien Temple)

The Filth and the Fury
Julien Temple, UK/USA, 2000, 35mm, 108m
Patched together from a variety of archival footage, candid interviews with the band (shot entirely in silhouette, both to preserve their anonymity and the ideal of their youthful snarling), and key moments of Laurence Olivier’s performance in Richard III, there’s no better document of the making and unmaking of the Sex Pistols. Holding no punches while talking about manager Malcolm McLaren, the film serves as corrective to The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle (which Temple also directed), and the former band members’ testimony provides fascinating social insights into the ’70s England that the punk movement grew out of.
Sunday, August 2, 9:30pm

Glastonbury
Julien Temple, UK, 2006, 35mm, 138m
Mud, music, dancing, drugs, and free love form the crux of this holistic history of the U.K.’s greatest open-air music festival, the longest-running in the world. The film incorporates performance recordings, unbridled crowd reaction shots captured by concertgoers, and Temple’s own footage of its 2002-05 editions, cumulatively covering every festival between 1970 and 2005. Encompassing the best (and worst) aspects of the five-day fest, the documentary allows audiences to witness Glasto’s evolution, as well as the sea changes in society at large. With performances from the likes of Björk, David Bowie, James Brown, Nick Cave, and Morrissey.
Sunday, August 2, 5:00pm

Glastopia: Glastonbury After Hours
Julien Temple, UK, 2012, HDCAM, 75m
A companion piece to Temple’s earlier, comprehensive history of Glastonbury, this documentary focuses on the festival’s outlying fields, which are referred to as Shangri-La, Arcadia, the Unfair Ground, Strummerville, Block 9, and the Common. Far from the main stage area, these outer fringes preserve the festival’s radical, alternative roots.
Sunday, August 2, 7:45pm

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten
Julien Temple, Ireland/UK, 2007, 35mm, 124m
A deeply personal look at the self-described “punk rock warlord,” Temple’s film portrays the complexities, contradictions, and rebellious energy that defined his longtime friend. Pieced together with clips from home movies, television, newsreels, and the feature films that Strummer appeared in (as well as excerpts of his BBC World Service radio show), this documentary follows his well-to-do upbringing, time as an art student, the height of his fame, and his struggle to redefine himself after The Clash. With interviews from family members, friends, and artists of all stripes (from Bono to Johnny Depp to John Cusack) who drew inspiration from Strummer’s personality and music, there is no better tribute to his legacy.
Saturday, August 1, 3:30pm

The Liberty of Norton Folgate
Julien Temple, UK, 2009, digital projection, 64m
A concert film shot during a performance at London’s Hackney Empire, Temple’s inventive approach to Madness’ concept album of the same name connects the iconic ska band with their working-class British roots and a populist tradition of entertainment. The film weaves comical introductions to songs and a tour of various historically seedy London neighborhoods led by Madness’ Suggs and Carl into footage from the concert, whose audience is peppered with burlesque “types” who sometimes steal the show.
Monday, August 3, 9:15pm

Oil City Confidential
Julien Temple, UK, 2009, digital projection, 104m
A lithe and lucid look at Dr. Feelgood, a “pub-rock” band that broke up shortly before hitting the big time, which serves as a “prequel” to Temple’s other films about The Clash and the Sex Pistols. Through a series of interviews, it becomes clear how four boys from Canvey Island paved the way for punk with their prescient sound, sardonic attitude, and outlandish stage shows. As much a study of the band as of the place that shaped them, this unforgettable documentary will energize even the most jaded sprog.
Friday, July 31, 9:30pm (Introduction by Julien Temple)

Sound + Vision Live:

An Evening with Talibam!
Talibam!—the duo of keyboardist Matt Mottel and drummer Kevin Shea—seem to have been around New York forever. Though they began as an adventurous and all-inclusive improvisational free-noise ensemble, Talibam! has wormed its way through pop-rap, Billy Joel tributes, corrosive remixes of flavor-of-the-month albums, and psycho-magical public demonstrations. They’re hilarious, three steps ahead of you, and charmingly hardworking, equally skilled at making music and mischief.
It is difficult to guess what exactly the ever-slippery Talibam! might have to offer when they perform at the Film Society. Their latest work sounds like early Detroit techno. Matt Mottel might play a keytar. They might stay close to their roots and play an improvised noise-jazz set. They might do some of their rap songs. There might be costumes. But what is certain is that there will be a live performance, and the duo will also present video selections from its long and distinguished career..
Tuesday, August 4, 8:00pm

Foxes in Fiction
The sleepy brainchild of Warren Hildebrand, Foxes in Fiction has all the bleary aura of bedroom shoegaze but with more heart and more groove. On recordings, his voice is audible—soft, lovely, and distinguishable—and the rhythms, often marked by an extra-jangly tambourine, are easy to tap one’s toes to. Hildebrand’s guitar seems to unfurl in the wind and his songs are patient and sometimes kissed by a violin melody.

In addition to writing and performing music, Hildebrand manages Orchid Tapes, a record label dedicated to releasing the work of “family and friends since 2010.” It is what you might call a boutique label, specializing in somewhat limited runs of beautiful objects by such beloved acts as Alex G, Elvis Depressedly, and Ricky Eat Acid.
Deftly combining analog photography, found photos, old television sets, Tumblr, slow-motion iPhone video, scent diffusers, and the hum of laptops in the night air, Hildebrand and Orchid Tapes generally maintain a striking visual presence. Foxes in Fiction often performs with live visuals to accompany their songs, and Hildebrand will be showcasing new songs and video work in our Amphitheater.
Wednesday, August 5, 8:00pm

Preston Spurlock & Friends
Preston Spurlock’s gooey, squiggly blobs, his Katamari Damacy–esque collages, and his inflated-to-the-point-of-bursting lettering have become the predominant flavor in the visual stew of today’s DIY concert flyers. His frantic hand colorfully announces the bills of shows at various venues nearly every night of the week. Spurlock can also often be found providing live visuals for said concerts, projecting twisted, reversed, discolored, or otherwise violently distorted commercial images of dads at barbecues, used cars, dog food, jellied salads, and other VHS ephemera overtop performers. His visual world is cluttered, slimy, funny, ruthlessly indiscriminate in its appropriation, and totally vital to live music in New York.

Unsurprisingly, Spurlock also creates music. His songs—collected on the album Oh My Lard—take a page or two from the garage psychedelia of R. Stevie Moore, the absurdity of Elephant 6 groups, and the cleverness of DEVO. More recently, Spurlock released a collection of collage mash-ups that sonically approximate his visual style, with cassette-tape loops stumbling and crossfading over each other in chaotic, hypnotic style.
The Film Society has invited the artist to present an evening of his own varied work as well as a number of performances from other musicians of Spurlock’s choosing. Surprises are likely in store, and this event will probably have a really cool-looking flyer.
Monday, August 3, 8:00pm

Photo Exhibit:

Picture This: Photos by GODLIS
Godlis presents an exhibition of “greatest hits” from his photography archive, including images of the early days of punk rock at CBGB and downtown NYC in the ’70s and ’80s.