Music, youth, resistance, drugs, hallucination, disease, chaos, death. IndieMusic draws the portrait of some of the most brilliant musical talents. The savage chaos of The Parkinsons, that took them to stardom as quick as devoured them from the inside, arrives to us in sounds and images gathered in the documentary by Caroline Richards A Long Way to Nowhere (April 22, Friday, 21h15, Cinema São Jorge). The director will be at the screening. The punk band from Coimbra will play after the screening in the context of IndiebyNight, from 23h00, in the Catacombs of Camões High School.
Jaco Pastorius also oscillates, in his compositions as in his life, between order and chaos. He is one of the most outstanding bassists of his time, a finished product of the crazy jazz scene of the seventies that is the subject of Jaco (April 22, Friday, 19h00, Culturgest). Another figure of the twentieth century, Leon Russell, the multifaceted folk musician that worked with several bands, is the main subject of the posthumous film by Les Blank A Poem is a Naked Person (April 24 and May 1, Sunday, 23h45 and 19h00, Cinema São Jorge).
Emocean (April 23 and 30, Saturday, 23h45 and 19h15, Cinema São Jorge) is a musical documentary high on the music by the pop psychedelic band Fenster, that tells here, in home made mode, how much hallucinated was the adventure behind the recording of their third album.
The electro-pop Portuguese music is looked at – and heard – in Tecla Tónica (April 30, Saturday, 21h30, Culturgest), the most recent film by Eduardo Morais. This film is based on the precious interventions of some notable personalities, as such as DJ Vibe, Vítor Rua and José Cid. The screening is followed, at 24h00, by the closing party of the festival, that returns to the garage of Culturgest. Ghost Hunt, W.A.S.T.E. Club, Nunchuck DJ set and Lena Huracán VJ set are part of the music program conceived by Eduardo Morais.
Two talents disappeared early in their lives because of drug abuse: Janis Joplin and Mark Linkous. The first one reveals herself, beyond grave, in a group of letters that she sent to her parents, friends and collaborators. In Janis: Little Girl Blue (April 22, Friday, 21h30, Cinema São Jorge), the secret words of Joplin are read by Cat Power over the images of the “queen of rock and roll”. The second talent, the singer of Sparklehorse, took a “sad and beautiful” life struggling against depression and drug abuse. The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse (April 21 and 30, Thursday and Saturday, 21h30 and 23h45, Cinema São Jorge) is a film made by people that got along with Linkous until March 6 2010, the day when he decided to end his life. Directors Bobby Dass and Alex Crowton will be at the screening.
Miss Sharon Shones (April 26, 21h45, Cinema São Jorge) is the most recent documentary by the Oscar winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, U.S.A. and American Dream). This is the inspiring story of the singer of The Dap-Kings, who is fighting against a pancreatic cancer while trying to enjoy the success that escaped her over life.
In Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson (April 22 and 25, Friday and Monday, 23h45 and 15h00), the rock star Wilko Johnson is also too occupied living to think about death. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013, “Dr. Feelgood” doesn’t let the disease beat him, looking at it as an opportunity to develop even more his art.
Sonita (April 23, Saturday, 18h00, Cinema São Jorge) stands up not to a disease of the body, but a disease of the society in which she lives. She is a 18 years old Afghan immigrant that lives illegally in Iran. Sonita turns the obstacles of a conservative Iranian society into the main motive for inspired rap themes that defy the patriarchal order. Another story of struggle against intolerance and injustice: Mali Blues (April 30, Saturday, 18h00). This film gathers the best of Malian culture for an “on the road” journey all over country that is at the risk of seeing its own cultural expression gagged by Sharia rule.
It’s life, and everything that it has to offer – which it seems to be a lot -, that weights on the back of the three kids of Breaking a Monster (April 24, Sunday, 16h00). They are Unlocking the Truth, a band that in 2014 opened the concerts of Guns N’ Roses, Motorhead and Queens of the Stone Age. Have the success arrived too early?
At last, a school of veterans: Journal d’hérésie (April 20 and 25, Wednesday and Monday, 21h45 and 23h15, Cinema São Jorge and Cinema Ideal). The documentary director Benoît Bourreau draws a portrait of three artists that share experiences under the same roof, in an artist residence. In the manner of One+One by Jean-Luc Godard, where the swiss director shot Rolling Stones during the creation process, Bourreau reveals the artistic backstage of the French “sound poet” Anne-James Chaton, the guitar player of the band The Ex Andy Moor and the founder of Sonic Youth Thurston Moore. An irresistible gathering of talent. The director will be at the screening.