For its third annual edition, three feature-length documentaries will take pride of place at the Cameo Picturehouse from 5 to 11 November, with 13 more full-length films and 8 shorts screening online UK-wide from 7 to 14 November.
Following Doc’n Roll’s first Scottish offerings in late 2018 and 2019, and a lockdown-imposed hiatus last year, 2021 sees the UK’s Music Documentary Festival back in Scotland with a bang. We’ve got cinematic portraits of art-pop icon St. Vincent, acerbic No Wave pioneer Lydia Lunch, and classical/electronic sonic adventurer Matthew Herbert. (And a note for those outside Edinburgh: Doc’n Roll Scotland promises to be back in Scotland in spring 2022 to take a great roster of docs to more cities.)
Turning from the big screen to home screens: for this year’s online offerings, the on-demand streaming service Doc’n Roll TV will spotlight a dazzling breadth of scenes, eras, genres and stories. You’ll see rebels and romantics, outliers and outlaws, DIY labels and fabled studios, Turkish composers and Marseilles rappers, a Québécoise club-culture subversionist and Native American heavy metallers, and the enduring mystery of a pioneering 1950s singer-songwriter who simply disappeared.
The Cameo in Edinburgh will host screenings of:
The Nowhere Inn: St. Vincent, starring real-life friends Annie Clark (a.k.a. Grammy-winning artist St. Vincent) and Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Sleater-Kinney) in a mischievous, metafictional and frequently laugh-out-loud funny account of banding together to make a documentary about St. Vincent’s music, touring life and on-stage persona. (5 November)
Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over, the first career-spanning documentary to cover New York City’s preeminent No Wave punk icon’s compelling, confrontational and inspirational artistry. (8 November)
A Symphony Of Noise: Matthew Herbert Taking the viewer on a dazzling journey with Matthew Herbert, the revolutionary British musician and composer. We explore the mind of an artist known for his political pieces, and a passion to create music derived from real life sounds combined with politically sensitive issues.(11 November)
Tickets for big screen and home screenings from www.docnrollfestival.com
Doc´n Roll Film Festival is supported by the BFI using National Lottery funding.
Jim Welsh
Radio Summerhall Arts 