Festival of great musical films

Festival of Musicals and Music Films
Academy Cinema, Auckland
From August 18

A major collection of musicals, music documentaries, operas and rock concerts will be shown in a three-week programme at Auckland’s Academy Cinemas next month.

It will feature great classics such as Vincente Minnelli’s An American in Paris through to the eccentric Bob Dylan homage I’m Not There, directed by Todd Haynes.

One of the stand out screenings will be the world premiere season of the feature length version of the local documentary The Sun Came Out.

This new film is an intimate behind the scenes look as Neil Finn invites world class musicians – Johnny Marr, KT Tunstal, Bic Runga, Don McGlashan, members of Radiohead, Wilco and others – to write and record an album for the charity Oxfam and put on some live shows.

The film is a unique glimpse into the working lives of great musicians, their impressions of a New Zealand summer at Piha and the camaraderie of like‐minded people thrown together under a great common cause.

One film returns from this year’s World Showcase Film Festival: Rock Steady – The Roots of Reggae will play most days throughout the festival.

The third film not already seen in a cinema is a concert film put together by fans of the group Nine Inch Nails. The band released countless hours of concert footage and the movie they created will be shown here for the first time.

Then there is the return of some favourite opera and ballet performances. These include The Royal Opera production of Puccini’s La Boheme as well as are Verdi’s Don Carlo and La Traviata.

Also debuting during the music weeks is Tchaikovsky’s The Tsarina’s Slippers, which is a joint Royal Ballet and Royal Opera show.

The programme has a number of other musicals and music films, including:

• Across the Universe – the Beatles inspired musical
• An American in Paris – Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron sing and dance their way    through 1950s Paris
• Buena Vista Social Club – a much-loved film which looks at Cuban music
• The Last Waltz and Shine a Light – two Martin Scorsese rock movies
• Control – the story of the short life of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis
• Dave Chapelle's Block Party – comedy and hip hop hit the streets of Brooklyn
• Fame! – the original film
• Hairspray Singalong – singalong with the gang from Hairspray
• I'm Not There – the story of Bob Dylan portrayed by leading actors including Cate Blanchett
• Imagine John Lennon – a documentary of the man
• La Vie En Rose – the Academy Award winning story of Edith Piaf