Music docs at Flatpack

I love a music documentary and Flatpack Festival has a tradition of searching out some good’uns. At the second festival I was introduced to the wonders of Danielson and Sufjan Stevens in Danielson: a Family Movie and last year I was entranced by Vashti Bunyan: From Here to Before, the tale of Vashti Bunyan revisiting her journey she made to the Hebrides in a horse-drawn caravan in the 60s.

This year we are treated to a choice of music documentaries. I am looking forward to the The Family Jams, a film made by Kevin Barker, a musician himself (Currituck Co. and occasional member of Vetiver). The film follows Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Vetiver on a tour of America in 2004; a time when the nu-folk/ freak-folk scene was starting to gain a pace, and a scene that I was heavily into at that time. It is a very intimate film of life on tour, the musicians dealing with the highs and lows of touring and life in general. A treat.

Separado sees Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals beamed to Patagonia to trace a distant relative. The film is bound to be a funny, bizarre but fascinating film shedding light on a little-known bit of Welsh history.

I am also intrigued by No One Knows About Persian Cats, a documentary about the Iranian music scene where ‘a copy of NME would be the equivalent of the Anarchist’s Cookbook’. The film shows the lengths that musicians go to practice and put on gigs.

For more music related films at Flatpack click right here.