This year’s edition focuses on a genre closely associated with the 16mm format: music documentaries, including the popular subgenre of rockumentary. The breakthrough of Direct Cinema techniques and the heyday of music culture in the 1960s led to the production of films documenting musical performances and the fast-paced, hedonistic lifestyles of music stars and their entourages. As this was a time of cultural change, the majority of music documentaries about musicians, concerts, and festivals soon moved beyond music — politics and social commentary became integral elements of the genre. This selection reflects a desire to include a variety of musical genres, emphasizing their geographical, cultural, and aesthetic diversity to explore the social changes and struggles of the 1960s to the 1980s. The programme will include titles such as Festival (Murray Lerner, about the Newport Folk Festivals), Right On! (Herbert Danska, with The Last Poets), Wattstax (Mel Stuart, with Isaac Hayes, Albert King, Carla and Rufus Thomas), and The Decline of Western Civilization (Penelope Spheeris, with Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Germs and X).

Curated by Karl Wratschko