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Raindance Film Festival · 2008

Raindance Film Festival 2008

Documentaries

A selection of documentaries from across the globe. A selection of five will contest the documentary award.

Programme

29 films · 4 reviews

Jump to a film

After-Crass

Documentary about Crass members Gee Vaucher and Penny Rimbaud’s 2008 trip to California

(Country: US; Director: Marian Wallace; Stars: Gee Vaucher, Penny Rimbaud, V Vale)

Agile, Mobile, Hostile: A Year With Andre Williams

Documentary about the RnB musician.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Tricia Todd; Stars: Andre Williams) , Official site

All Together Now

Documentary charting the creation of The Beatles/Cirque du Soleil collaboration LOVE.

(Country: UK; Year: 2005; Director: Adrian Wills; Stars: Sir Paul McCartney, Geroge Martin, Ringo Starr )

Arctic Monkeys Live At The Apollo

Concert recording of the Sheffield band.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Richard Ayoade; Stars: Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Matt Helders, Nick O'Malley )

Art And Apathy

A look at the relationship between conflict and creativity in Israel and Palestine.

(Country: Canada, Palestine; Director: Jessica Habie)

Chris & Don. A Love Story

Exploration of the love story between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Tina Mascara, Guido Santi; Stars: Don Bachardy, John Boorman, Leslie Caron, Christopher Isherwood, Jack Larson, Liza Minnelli, Gloria Stuart, Michael York)

Crawford

Documentary charting the effect George W Bush had when he bought a ranch in a small Texas town.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: David Modigliani)

The End - Confessions Of A Cockney Gangster

Review preview for The End - Confessions Of A Cockney Gangster

The names and job titles might read like a Guy Ritchie synopsis, but it soon becomes clear this is an altogether darker, more sober look at the criminal life.

Jeff Robson · 3.5 out of 5
Members of the East End underworld talk about their life and times.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Nicola Collins)

Full review

Fujica Single-Date

Video diary mourning the loss of Fuji Super 8mm film.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2007; Director: Kenji Murakami; Writer: Kenji Murakami)

Gunnin' For That #1 Spot

Review preview for Gunnin' For That #1 Spot

If only more sport were filmed like this, it might gain a whole new audience.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Examination of pre-college American basketball.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Adam Yauch; Stars: Jerryd Bayless, Michael Beasley, Tyreke Evans, Donte Green, Brandon Jennings, Kevin Love, Kyle Singler, Lance Stephenson) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

Heavy Load

Review preview for Heavy Load

A moving, entertaining and inspiring documentary that really is about what happiness can be, punk or no punk.

Paul Griffiths · 4 out of 5
On the rocky road with punk band Heavy Load.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Jerry Rothwell; Writer: Jerry Rothwell) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

Hip Hop Colony

Michael Wanguhu’s lively documentary celebrates the recent emergence of hip hop youth culture in Kenya, a nation still emerging from the hangover of British colonial rule.

(Country: Kenya; Year: 2008; Director: Michael Wanguhu; Stars: Bamboo, Harry Kimani, Tedd Josiah) , Official site

Indestructible

Documentary of the director as he battles fatal neuro-degenerative disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Ben Byer; Stars: Dr. Stanley Appel, Barbara Byer, Ben Byer, John Byer, Josh Byer, Steve Byer, Daniel Gordis, Dr. Hungyun Huang, Dr. Robert Miller, Anastasia Papoulias, Annie Papoulias)

Is Faust Schon?

(Country: France; Director: Julien Perrin; Stars: Jean-Hervé Péron, Zappi Diermaier )

It's Only Rock N'Roll (But I Like Keith)

A documentary that talks about adults behaving like teenagers.Two years of shooting for a film dedicated to passion/obsession for the Rolling Stones.

(Country: Italy; Director: Piergiorgio Gay; Writer: Piergiorgio Gay; Stars: Max Stone, Marcross and Vanni) , Official site

Japanther in 3D Dino Deth Dans

This film captures JPNTHR in (3-D) which was a performance staged in Nobember 2007 as part of the Performa biennial in New York City.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Nick Chatfield Taylor, Ian Vanek) , Official site

Karosta

A portrait of the demise of the Soviet Union as seen through the eyes of the people who endured it.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Peter King) , Official site

Lay Down Your Hearts

Music documentary charting the rise to fame of the Zawose family, an East African musical dynasty.

(Director: John Simpson)

A Life In The Death Of Joe Meek

Documentary about the pioneering record producer.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Howard S Berger, Susan Stahman; Stars: Jake Arnott, Mike Berry, Charles Blackwell, Huw Bunford, Clem Cattini, Edwyn Collins, Dennis D'Ell, Robbie Duke, Marc Evans, Bobby Graham, Chas Hodges) , Official site

A Message To The World

Focusing on a day in the life of Jesse Hector. A rock n roll fan and dedicated record collector.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Caroline Catz; Writer: Caroline Catz)

Midnight Madness

Europe's first ever basketball film, charting a tournament across the UK.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Charles Henri Belleville)

Patti Smith: Dream Of Life

Review preview for Patti Smith: Dream Of Life

Some sections of the film feel like a soapbox for her to stand on, to proselytize her personal politics; to bolster her image as a radical poet.

George Williamson · 3 out of 5
Intimate portrait of the icon.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Steven Sebring; Writer: Steven Sebring; Stars: Patti Smith) , Official site

Full review

A Permanent Part-Timer In Distress (Sonan Furlita)

Iwabuchi’s documentary debut is a fine example of someone using new video technology to reaffirm his own identity and reclaim his place in society.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2007; Director: Hiroki Iwabuchi) , Official site

Running With Mum

A mother finally relives being seven years old in a town destroyed by firestorm on a September 11th sixty years ago.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Martin Greaves; Writer: Martin Greaves; Stars: Aloisia Greaves, Berthold Kopf) , Official site

Seven Signs

Possessed by a vision similar to that of the tent-show evangelists down in Dixie, Colonel J.D. Wilkes (the charismatic frontman and songwriter for the Legendary Shack*Shakers) sets off with a camera crew to prove that the older, stranger South still exists in all of its eerie, time-worn, & gothic glory...despite the expansion of the "New South's" urban sprawl.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: JD Wilkes; Stars: JD Wilkes, Slim Cessna, Scott Biram) , Official site

Today, The Same Day Is Different (Hoy El Dia Se Repite Diferente)

Takes us into a man's universe and through the last six months of his life, until the day he dies.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2008; Director: Xavier Baig, Oscar Moreno; Stars: Toni, Julio, Pruvi)

Tokyo: Wings Of Defeat

Documentary about surviving kamikaze pilots.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2007; Director: Risa Morimoto; Stars: Takehiko Ena, Shigeyoshi Hamazono, Kazuo Nakajima)

Wetlands Preserved: The Story Of An Activist Nightclub

Documentary about the formation of a nightclub in Tribeca.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Dean Budnick; Stars: Mabili Kregg Ajamu, Rob Barraco, Chris Barron, Tim Barry, Larry Bloch, Steve Bloom, Rob Bookman, Marty Bostoff, Marc Brownstein, Oteil Burbridge, Edward Cisneros)

Wild Blue Yonder

A potrait of documentarian David Maysles, by his daughter.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Celia Maysles)