Films & Schedules - Music

Charting the renowned jazz bassist’s life from his rural roots through his seminal collaborations with the legendary likes of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, Reto Caduff’s rollicking documentary affords the unassuming music icon the chance to take centre stage.

Music legends don’t come any more unassuming than Charlie Haden. Courtesy of Reto Caduff’s charming documentary, we discover that the affable jazz bassist’s underlying honesty and decency inform every note of his music. As Haden camps out in a studio to revisit the country music of his youth, he reflects on his rural roots and his debut crooning twangy ballads on the radio at the age of two. Through wondrous archival footage and enlightening interviews, Caduff leads us through the next six decades, detailing Haden’s seminal collaborations with legends like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, as well as his ongoing projects such as Quartet West and Liberation Music Orchestra. Just as Haden’s simple playing style masks an innate understanding of the complexities of melody and composition, so too does his placid exterior disguise a deep-seated passion that manifests itself in his art, relationships, and politics.

Filmography: Krokus (04), A Crude Awakening (06).

Sponsored by Consulate General of Switzerland, San Francisco.

84 Minutes     Digital    

Interests: Documentary Views, Music.

Valery Todorovsky's period-set musical Hipsters centers around a group of splashy young rebels living in Moscow in the 1950s.

Moscow, 1955. In the midst of strict Cold War Soviet conformity, nothing can stop a group of young “hipsters” from donning outrageous threads, adopting American nicknames, puffing up their pompadours, throwing back martinis, and reveling in forbidden jazz. Straight-laced 20-year-old Communist Youth Party member Mels finds these brazen renegades shocking until he falls under the spell of a pretty one and joins the new revolution. Soon he’s cavorting in the latest flashy fashions, sporting an enormous do, and wailing on the saxophone—all in an exuberant musical that delves into a chapter of Russian history little known to outsiders. Music and the common dream of America become a manifestation of freedom. The winner of four Nika Awards (Russia’s Oscar) including Best Film, Hipsters is universal in its celebration of self-expression and spirited opposition to conformity.

Filmography: Love (92), The Land of the Deaf (98), The Lover (02), My Stepbrother Frankenstein (04).

Sponsored by Hotel Modera.

125 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Music.

In this sensational comedy, a film composer with writer's block and a pregnant executive enter into an unusual bargain to keep a secret from the exec's conservative mother.

Ezequiel, a nearly broke film music composer, has 20 days to deliver a score. He’s just not hearing it. One day he calls his bank, and listening to muzak while on hold for Paula, an executive he’s never met, he hears a song that inspires a breakthrough. How to find that song again, among the hundreds of inane on-hold muzak tunes? Paula, meanwhile, has not told her very conservative mother that, though she is pregnant, she is no longer with her boyfriend. When mother and composer both wind up in her office, she impulsively introduces Ezequiel as the father. They each have something the other needs, and though they are not even acquaintances, Ezequiel and Paula soon enter into a strange partnership. A witty romantic comedy that has been a sensation in Argentina, Hernán Goldfrid’s breezy film features a stellar cast, including Norma Aleandro, Diego Peretti, and Natalia Oreiro.

First Feature Film.

106 Minutes    

Interests: New Directors, Narrative Feature, Spanish Language, Latino, Comedy, Music.

Jools and Lynda Topp are twin sisters and one of New Zealand's most beloved performing duos. This affectionate portrait mixes remembrances of their childhood, testimonies from friends, fans, and colleagues, and examples of what the girls do best, a mix of lesbian folk songs and anarchist vaudeville.

One of New Zealand’s most cherished and charmingly irrepressible performing duos, twin sisters Jools and Lynda Topp are immensely popular with rednecks and left-wingers alike. Although they do not look identical, their voices virtually are, melding into a yodelling, country-and-western harmony all its own. Jools and Lynda introduce themselves during a performance full of music and happy memories. Colleagues and friends proceed to shine light on the special success of the sisters’ cheerful, radical lesbian love songs and anarchist vaudeville comedy. Pooley weaves performances and home movies from their carefree farm childhood with footage of the sisters during demonstrations against nuclear weapons, apartheid, and for gay rights, to fashion an affectionate, unforgettable portrait.

Filmography: Haunting Douglas (03), The Promise (05), Try Revolution (06).

Sponsored by Q Doc: Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival.

84 Minutes    

Interests: Documentary Views, Music, Queer.

Ignacio Carrillo, a retired musician, journeys to return his supposedly cursed accordion to his old teacher. Along the way, he picks up a teenage boy who dreams of becoming a wandering musician like Ignacio. This touching odd-couple story mixes the evocative landscapes of Colombia with the magic of its music to tell a timeless tale.

Ignacio Carrillo, old and retired, has spent his life traveling through the villages of Northern Colombia playing traditional songs on his accordion, a legendary instrument that was said to be cursed because it had supposedly been won in a musical duel with the devil himself. When his wife suddenly dies, he bitterly vows to never play again and decides to make one last journey—to return the accordion to the man who gave it to him, his teacher and mentor. Setting out on his donkey, he is set upon by a young teenager with romantic dreams of becoming a nomadic minstrel like Ignacio. Reluctant to take him along, Ignacio relents, but in the course of their journey tries to convince him that the life of a minstrel can only lead to solitude and sadness. This touching odd-couple story mixes the evocative landscapes of Colombia with the magic of its music to tell a timeless tale.

Filmography: The Wandering Shadows (02).

This year’s Colombian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

117 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Global Classroom, Spanish Language, Latino, Music.