Sound On Screen Music Film Festival 2023 Streaming Across South Africa From Tomorrow 31st March – 9th April
Full Line-Up & Details!
The exciting and diverse SOUND ON SCREEN Music Film Festival is in its 13th year, and their biggest yet, streaming across South Africa via Quicket, 31 March – 9 April, with 53 new movies and documentaries from around the world, across all genres, plus a special free pre-release cinema screening of new ‘70s record company biopic SPINNING GOLD. (See the full line-up below)
The Sound On Screen streaming programme includes feature films, combos, and collections of medium- & short film productions you’re unlikely to find on any streaming platform. The movie subjects look at specific genres, musicians, instruments, legendary radio stations and record labels, music’s inner-working and our connection to it, venues and music culture movements, with themes also including music-linked fiction, biopics, animation, experimental audio-visual trips, performances, musicals, dance, music videos and more.
The more than 50 movie selections are not only entertaining but also informative, socially aware, humorous, historically relevant, and cover a wide range of genres, including: Pop, Rock, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Metal, Punk, Classical, Afro House, Folk, Reggae, Electronic, Big Bands, Improvisation, World Music, Cajun, DJ-ing, singer-songwriters, Avant-Garde, Dance-themes, geographically specific sounds from around the world including Africa, Brazil, Norway and more.
Production countries include:
The United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Ukraine, Spain, Norway, Austria, Russian Federation, Germany, Chile, New Zealand, Turkey, Mozambique, Canada, Syrian Arab Republic, France, Estonia, Malaysia, Brazil, Israel, Australia, Portugal, Cyprus, Switzerland.
Quicket Streaming & Tickets HERE
Single Streaming Ticket: R25 / Full Festival Pass: R175
See the Sound On Screen Website HERE
More details and updates at :
Special Pre-Release Cinema Screening:
SPINNING GOLD
Releasing in theatres on 14 April, you can catch a special free pre-release cinema screening on April 9th with Empire Entertainment and Sound on Screen in Cape Town. Check out the trailer and see all details on getting tickets in the YouTube video description HERE
SPINNING GOLD is a biopic of 1970s record producer Neil Bogart, co-founder of Casablanca Records. With this label, Bogart helped to launch musical acts like Kiss, Donna Summer, George Cinton’s Parliament, Gladys Knight, the Isley Brothers, the Village People and Bill Withers to stardom. Along with a rag-tag team of young music lovers, Casablanca Records rewrites history and changes the industry forever, in a true excessive 1970s way.
Starring: Jeremy Jordan, Michelle Monaghan, Ledisi, Peyton List, Jason Derulo, Wiz Khalifa, Dan Fogler, Sebastian Maniscalco, Vincent Pastore
Written & Directed Timothy Scott Bogart
The SOUND ON SCREEN 2023 Streaming Movie Line-Up :
Access streaming HERE
Single streaming tickets: R25 / Full Festival Pass: R175
THE VENTURES: Stars on Guitars (USA)
This documentary will be FREE to view – Link at Sound On Screen’s Quicket streaming location.
A documentary film on the #1 instrumental rock group in the world, The Ventures. The story of their rise to fame in the 1960s right up to now, as they celebrate their 60th anniversary of playing the best guitar-rock of all time (including classics like Hawaii Five-0)
DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON FRIDAY NIGHT (USA)
From Executive Producer Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine / Audioslave) – meet former gravedigger and doorman Ike Reilly. At 40 years old he landed a major label recording contract and in true rock & roll fashion he bought his family a dream home. He took his band out on the road where they became what The New York Times called “one of the best live bands in America.” Despite 9 albums, a cult following and immense critical acclaim Reilly has failed to achieve commercial success. Academy Award winning director James Marsh says, “Ike’s stuff sounds like it should be enormously successful and it just isn’t and I have no idea why.”
StratocastAir (Switzerland) – StratocastAir will be the opener for DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON FRIDAY NIGHT
StratocastAir is the story of a man, who dares to rock his passion… and thereby unleashes something unexpected – buying an air guitar!
MUSIC POWER: The Story of Capital Radio 604 (USA / South Africa)
An eye-opening documentary on this groundbreaking South African radio station. During the South African Nationalist Apartheid regime where the government controlled all media, censored news, and banned music, a “pirate” radio station was created to inform the public by playing great music to attract listeners, and then reporting truthful and neutral news. This started a movement against the Nationalist government.
ABOVE AND BEYOND – The Global Rise of Afro House (Germany)
All across Africa, accomplished DJs are taking the continent by storm and inspiring international artists to venture into the world of Afro House. DJ collective and music label RISE invites the world’s finest Afro House DJs to the heart of Berlin’s electronic dance music scene – allowing House music to go back to its Black roots, showcasing key players of the Afro House music scene and looks at the many challenges left ahead on its way to the world stage. From South Africa to Germany, from Angola to Portugal, from Kenya to the USA and beyond: the documentary “Above and Beyond” showcases key players of the Afro House music scene and looks at the many challenges left ahead on its way to the world stage.
GOT TO BE FREE (Ukraine)
This is a true, though not documentary, musical story about modern Ukrainians during the events of the Revolution of Dignity that took place in Kyiv in 2014. The musical is based on the story of rock musician Ivan and activist Malanka. According to the script, they met during the Maidan and fell in love with each other. Together, they will spend the winter of 2013 with snowballs and shared food, constructing the barricades and opposing aggressive “titushki”. Throughout the entire musical, the couple fights for their own happiness and for dignity of their country.
500 DAYS OF SILENCE (USA)
A deep dive into how the pandemic affected musicians, via Arizona band The Black Moods. Established artists interviewed in this documentary include international artists such as Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony of Van Halen, Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon, Steel Panther, Rick Springfield, Jimmy Eat World, Gin Blossoms, The Refreshments and rock radio show host Eddie Trunk. This story focuses on the bond and struggles of artists working together as a band to continue to pursue their passion and work as they rely on each other to get through difficult times.
LE MALI 70 (Germany / Mali)
In Berlin, a bigband discovers old vinyls from the Malian Bigband era, music which embodied the hope for Malian independence before a coup brought an end to the big band scene. Inspired by these songs, the Berliners travel to Mali to find the heroes of their vinyl-collection. There they research the origins of the songs, marvel at old archive footage and play jam-sessions with forgotten Malian stars, and record an album in Salif Keita’s studio in Bamako
TIMBILA (Mozambique) – TIMBILA will be the opener for LE MALI 70
Currently young Timbila players integrate it into popular music styles, creating a fusion between traditional and contemporary instruments. On the one hand, this arouses curiosity about the origin and history of the instrument, on the other, it raises the question of where the original practice of timbila has gone and whether traditional timbila groups still exist today. But there are still masters passing on the art of making, playing and dancing Timbila from generation to generation.
SHASH INSIDE (Austria)
Based on the music of the protagonists Abby Lee Tee and GC, episodes were developed and then the artists used them as inspiration for remixing the original tracks. This not only resulted in a documentation of the artists’ work, but also new music and a soundtrack. This soundtrack also works without visualization like a 60-minute DJ mix. Director D. Strauch (also a DJ) forms this mix into a pure music film with sound design by SHASH, which proves how much the audience is guided by music and sound – only two sentences are spoken.
THE ART OF TEACHING MUSIC (includes CHAMELEONS and UNSEEN)
CHAMELEONS (Austria)
You have to empathize with every given situation and adapt to it: creative, communicative and flexible – like a chameleon. The documentary focuses on the diverse work of instrumental and singing teachers in the field of tension between education and being an artist, between elementary music teaching and musical excellence. This is a film about the power of music, about the value of educational work, and at the same time a plea for freedom in artistic expression that encourages you to explore your own musicality.
UNSEEN (Russian Federation)
A visually impaired violinist, a frustrated pianist, an aspiring vocalist, and a highly patriotic accordionist are studying at Novosibirsk State Conservatory. This music documentary reveals all their dreams and fears.
THE DOGMATICS : A Dogumentary (USA)
Established in 1981, The Dogmatics might very well be the most emblematic Boston band of this half-century, that too-few people know about. This outlier status has more to do with the untimely death of their bandmate than with their catalog of kick-ass garage rock. This documentary is a four year effort by family and friends, crafted as a tribute to the Dogmatics’ late co-founder and bassist Paul O’Halloran. See how the band came into being in the early 1980s, rising out of a pocket of musical talent in the South Shore area near Boston.
STONED TO THE BONE (USA) – STONED TO THE BONE will be the opener for THE DOGMATICS
A short that focuses on a 1985 weekend field party bacchanal that took place in Montgomery County, Maryland. A cast of colorful characters are recorded using a home video camera and a CBS microphone swiped from the Reagan Inauguration earlier that year. Music included is the doom metal icons Pentagram who are interviewed as they setup for the performance.
AMAZON RASTA (Brazil)
Shot in the Amazon Rainforest, São Paulo, Ethiopia, South Africa and Chile, ‘Amazon Rasta’ is a ‘Road Movie’ documentary. The film follows the musical and spiritual journeys of Carlos Pereira Marques, known as “Ras Kadhu”, musician, composer and leader of the band JAH I RAS. In his songs he affirms the knowledge he absorbed in the Amazon Rainforest with the Santo Daime journey and in Ethiopia with Rastafarian guidance. RasKadhu’s travels through these worlds bring us surprising and exciting connections, portraying this character that could only emerge in the 21st Century.
CLASSICS IN BRAZILIAN CHORO – The Movie (Brazil)
The documentary film “Classics in Brazilian Choro – The Movie” portrays the creation of the musical project Concertando o Choro, whose undertaking consisted of composing, performing, and recording unprecedented musical arrangements that incorporated the style of the Brazilian popular genre choro into well-known works of classical music, incl. Bach, Ravel and Bizet.
MusArt (USA) – MusArt will be the opener for CLASSICS IN BRAZILIAN CHORO
Musician Randall Vemer reveals what happened when his ability to play his beloved viola was taken away, turning to painting. The film is filled with striking portraits of the people and instruments by which he’s been surrounded for much of his life. And always the educator, the hauntingly lovely music is scored and timed, not only to enhance the viewer’s enjoyment of Vemer’s classical style images but also to point out which instrument is highlighted within the rich and ethereal paintings.
IT’S JUST A LIFETIME: A Portrait of Craig Nuttycombe (USA)
Retired handyman, devoted dog dad, is in fact sixties troubadour: Craig Nuttycombe the surviving half of Lambert and Nuttycombe, the West Coast’s Simon and Garfunkel, and his present circumstances find him tucked in amongst the gentle greenery of a quiet trailer park in Central California. Following a wide-ranging, yearlong correspondence, the filmmakers lived with the musician for three autumnal weeks, documenting his musings, interactions, and memories
PHOENIX: David’s Dream (Brazil)
After helping to fight the fire that destroyed the National Museum in Brazil, a firefighter decides to look for wreckage to transform them into art. The musical instruments are made and crafted from the salvaged wood with the help of artists such as Gilberto Gil, Paulinho da Viola and Hamilton de Holanda.
FURIOUS AND FAST: The Story of Fast Music and the Patiphone (Israel)
A music documentary about the rise and fall of the independent “Fast Music” label and “The Patiphone” club in Tel Aviv from the late 90’s till the late 00’s. Two best friends against an industry – Can it work? The film also follow the global success of the band Monotonix which started at the small club.
GRAVEL ROAD (Australia)
In Australia’s remotest community of Tjuntjuntjara, lives Jay Minning – a singer-songwriter and frontman of the rock band the Desert Stars. As the band hit the road to head out on their first tour we see the trials and tribulations that beset them. From van trouble, to smashed windows, to navigating the infamous Gravel Road. On the journey Jay shares with us his passion for music, his inspiration and a rare glimpse into his Indigenous way of life.
INN OF THE DAMNED (Australia) – INN OF THE DAMNED will be the opener for GRAVEL ROAD
Three friends are in the process of putting together the ultimate rock band; INN OF THE DAMNED. The only thing they are missing is the perfect drummer. Over the course of one afternoon, at their local pub, they meet a series of drummers. None of them live up to their lofty expectations.
ROOTS OF FIRE (USA)
“If you’re not living your culture, you’re killing your culture.” – In Roots of Fire, a group of musicians honor the rich history and cultural legacy of Cajun music. The genre’s contemporary scene in Louisiana has found mainstream success with Grammy Award nominations and wins, but shuttering venues and aging fans leave some questioning the music’s longevity. Featuring electrifying performances, this vibrant documentary examines the intersection between music and preserving tradition for future generations.
OTHER WAYS OF LISTENING (France)
“Changing life” was the objective proclaimed by the politicians who came to power in France in 1981. It was this impetus that enabled the Ministry of Culture to provide the major creators of avant-garde music with the means to develop new ways of making and listening to music. Luc Ferrari seized this opportunity to create a collective structure in 1982: La Muse en Circuit. Forty years after its creation, this laboratory continues to irrigate a whole current of unclassifiable music, the common thread of which is still based on sound creation. With the participation of Heiner Goebbels, Pablo Cueco, Henry Fourès, Brunhild Ferrari, François Sarhan, Wilfried Wendling, Georges Aperghis, Maria Bertel & Nina Garcia.
TIL STEDE / from soil to soul (Norway)
“TIL STEDE / from soil to soul” takes the audience behind the scenes and conveys how it feels to be in a creative process as a musician. How a place, soil, food, people and instruments intertwine in this process. The film is based on the theme of folk music and puts old hardanger fiddle traditions from Telemark, Norway, in a new perspective. Through a meeting between three women, “Til Stede” reflects on what it is like to be human today: the need to be in contact with nature, the urge to create something of your own and express yourself, and the desire for community and feeling alive.
EPIC GANDAREZA – Epopeia Gandareza (Portugal)
Since the beginning of time to the far future, out of the metaphysical analysis to the daily life emoticons, from the threat to mother nature to the culture´s diversity – in this movie the region of Gândara is only a point of view on this guided sensorial experience through several chapters. This work has no dialogue, characters, nor traditional narration, however, it contains a history. The rhythm and tone are established by the intentional juxtaposition of sound and images, that is the language here, probably the universal one. This is a manifest, artistic, experimental and documental work, seeking to arouse sensations, touch human sensorial dimensions and relate to mankind symbolic references.
LAND MASS (UK)
A new kind of liturgy is about to begin… a Land Mass. This is a spontaneous, vocal-visual liturgy for the land, sung by a unique choir, The Improvisers’ Choir, conducted by composer Jenni Roditi, who is creating her conducting directions as the improvised music is sung. The film, by Slovenian filmmaker Sara Pozin, was created after the music, in response to each track and to the poetry.
A NEW BRITISH FLAVOUR includes JAZZ UK and ROTTEN HILL GANG
JAZZ UK: Spitting Fire (UK)
DJ broadcaster and music journalist Tina Edwards celebrates some of the most exciting talent in a new and dynamic underground music scene, featuring live performance and interviews with the next generation of jazz artistes. Tina takes us on a musical journey where each city has its own unique sound and vibe.
ROTTEN HILL GANG (UK)
This film follows the Dickensian world of the Rotten Hill Gang. They are a collective of creatives cleverly fusing rap with rock, funk and reggae into an exciting mix of classic tunes, each with a modern and diverse twist. Includes Mick Jones, legend from The Clash.
4 GLOBAL FILMS ON DANCE & MOTION incl. A FEAST THAT NEVER COMES, RICE CONNECTIONS, INHERITANCE and THE OPENINGS
A FEAST THAT NEVER COMES (USA)
Four characters inhabit cycles within cycles of contentment, discontentment, inertia, movement, desire, and betrayal. A story emerges — told through the marriage of music (Ex-Fiancée) and dance (ChrisMastersDance) — functioning as a set of nesting dolls, inviting you to uncover as many layers as you wish…
RICE CONNECTIONS (Malaysia)
This documentary is about an artistic journey of Aida Redza, a female contemporary dancer from Malaysia, and how she created a dance performance site by growing the paddy plot from scratch during the COVID-19 pandemic in late October of 2020. She is famous for creating collaborative multidisciplinary works involving rice. Aida and her co-collaborators participated in the different phases of the paddy’s life-cycle and finally created a dance performance out of this process.
INHERITANCE (USA)
Inheritance is a short film which explores the evolution of a dance from small isolated movements to the final work. This process is juxtaposed against images of environmental stress brought on by climate change. The film explores human interventions in the natural world and building an awareness of the environmental threats we face through music, dance and collage.
THE OPENINGS (Cyprus)
We, like two openings facing aware of any of each other’s ramblings. Everyday, salutation, amenities and laughter, everyday, a tryst for tomorrow, life, a mirror of heaven, but…alas shorter than the night and days of June and December now my heart is broken and tired, because one of the openings is shut. Neither the sun did sorcery nor the moon magic, Curse be upon the journey, he did it all – everything that happened.
AN IMPROVISATIONAL TRIPTYCH
includes IN THIS PRESENT SPACE, IDEA and THE SAULEP VILLAGE CHAPEL
IN THIS PRESENT SPACE (Austria)
A cinematic realization of a concert by the Vienna Improvisers Orchestra (VIO), conducted by Michael Fischer, at the Odeon Theater in Vienna. The film focuses on the musical practice of Instant Composition Conducting and follows the communicative process in the poetic moment.
IDEA – Miniatures by Improvisers (Germany)
A free-style music film, a video collage, a tour de force of improvisations by musicians from mainly the UK and Germany in an audio-visual dialogue with Ebba Jahn. The result is a video collage full of different approaches to sound and image, and the world.
THE SAULEP VILLAGE CHAPEL – a folk orchestra with a swing (Estonia)
This improvised concert took place in Tõstamaa mansion on the occasion of Arno Arrak’s art exhibition. “There are no coincidences” – We make music while playing together, from the professionals to the students and the hobbyists to the beginners, having fun freely improvising with the sounds.
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS includes RHYTHMS OF MIGRATION and TEMPO
RHYTHMS OF MIGRATION (USA / Sicily)
The documentary follows a group of African youth migrants living in Sicily as they create a musical album about their migration experiences. Working with producer Alex Polydoroff and migrant activist Ramzi Harrabi, their music touches on everything from their hopes for their new lives in Europe to the horrors they experienced as teenagers in war-torn Libya.
TEMPO (Spain / Lebanon)
A portrait of Bahaa Al Jomaa and Yazan Ibrahim, two Arab artists who, through music, merge together different worlds while embracing and exploring different realities – between Lebanon and Spain, Palestine and the Golan Heights. Although living away from their respective home lands, they strive to fulfill their essence and passion for life through the music they make and share, be it as a form of resistance and survival or as a tool to explore the world and to manifest and share their incredible talent.
MUSICAL DIVERSITY IN 15 SHORT FILMS
A collection of various music-themed shorts from around the world, across many genres, from narrative and documentary to animation and music videos :
KAOTIC DRUMLINE: Drumming With a Difference (USA)
On the South Side of Chicago, the Kaotic Drumline brings people together with creativity, energy and hope.
TERMINATRYX – “Suiker” (South Africa)
In this music video by Cape Town band Terminatryx, a businessman with bad intensions attends a private poll dancing show, but gets more than he bargained for …
PEARL (New Zealand)
In this animated short, a young girl with language issues finds her calling in the world of moving images.
BUSKERS (Turkey)
Street Musicians Selection and Placement Examination is held by the municipality to determine the places where street musicians play. Where and when each musician will be found and which songs they will play will be determined according to the results of the exam. The little girl who saves money to buy a red violin wants to take this exam, but she can’t wake up. While other musicians comfort the sad girl at the exam venue, the exam results are announced, but the musicians and the little girl realize the futility of this exam.
SLOUCH (USA)
In this animated short, wannabe musical legend Slouch is pushed by his song-writing-demon Nuffti to deep dive into his darkest emotions, while his girlfriend Lisa is pregnant and wants him to transition into a harmonic family life…
PEACE (South Africa)
This story represents the journey we go on to find peace and the lessons we learn along the way of finding it. The focus was to show how peace can get brought into our lives by others while at the same time showing how others have to go on a more difficult journey of finding it by themselves, only to realize peace was always with them to begin with.
EAT THE RICH (USA)
You are what you eat. An dark animation trip.
SARONG SONG (USA)
Sarong Song is song #2 of The Soul Fox, a song cycle composed in 2013 by Lori Laitman to a poem by David Mason, her frequent collaborator. The film alternates between a superb performance of Laitman’s melodic music by mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and pianist Simon Lepper and slow animation created from famed illustrator Ian Beck’s custom watercolors. The musical blending of these elements by director Jeremy Hamway-Bidgood creates a new kind of film — a hybrid presentation of classical song, poetry, and original art.
HYPNOTHERAPOLOGY by Hourstone (Singapore)
Who is foolish enough to interrupt a male creature of the night solemnly playing piano in his own theater? The culprit can only be a female of even darker and more mysterious dimensions. Not only does she invade his space, but then toys with him until she lets herself be found. They may both be sole predators of the night in their own right, but in the end, eternity is long and they can only be with someone like themselves. “Hypnotherapology” is about her enthralling him and is a combination of three words: hypnosis, therapy and cosmology.
FreeWorld – “D-Up – Here’s To Diversity” (USA)
Diversity. One of the foremost qualities in nature that defines our planet. Without it, all flowers would smell the same, every creature would look the same, and all people would be the same. Life would not only be incredibly boring, but virtually impossible without the multitude of diverse beings populating our world. The endless variety of colors, thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, styles, desires, hopes, and dreams just within humanity alone is astounding. It was this reality that inspired Richard Cushing, leader of the Memphis-based musical ensemble, FreeWorld, to envision the re-recording of their song, “D-Up (Here’s to Diversity)” in the fall of 2020.
FREE GOLF CLUBS – You Think We’ll Make It? (Canada)
A single shot music video for the song “You Think We’ll Make It?” by Free Golf Clubs
HIBERNATE (Syria)
A child running after his dream in a place where dreams are banned. A poor Syrian kid with a great love for music sees a young woman playing accordion, so he starts chasing her to get into a music institution where he can make his dream of being an accordion player come true.
A SHORT LOVE STORY AND TWO SONGS (Chile)
Simon (40) listens to new music in a record store. Rosa (30) enters the store, and they generate an immediate connection. Through dialogue and songs they listen and connect with a part of their past and their present, which will reveal a secret that unites them both.
BenBen – “Algorithmia” (USA)
A music video for BenBen’s “Algorithmia”, from the forthcoming EP. Do neural networks listen to simulated rock bands? Algorithms have dictated much of what we see and hear for years already; they’ve only much more recently become able to reproduce semblances of it on their own.
ONE CHANCE (France)
A young lady attends a gospel choir and will have to face her fear of the stage in order to let her light shine.
Quicket Streaming & Tickets HERE
SOUND ON SCREEN is an invigorating film festival dedicated to one of life’s essential elements: MUSIC.
With diverse feature films and short films from around the world, including everything from documentaries and biopics to musicals, concert films, narrative fiction with a music theme and much more.
Across the Sound On Screen festival history the invigorating screening selections have included:
IT MIGHT GET LOUD, SPRINGBOK NUDE GIRLS, THE HEALING NOTES, THE CREATORS, LORDS OF CHAOS, AFRICAN DRUM – Beyond The Beat, ROCK THE BELLS, THE HEIR OF LISZT, MARCH OF THE GODS, SOUND OF NOISE, PUNK IN AFRICA, FREDDY MERCURY – THE KING OF QUEEN, SOAKED IN BLEACH, FOKOFPOLISIEKAR, GOD BLESS OZZY OSBOURNE, TAKING WOODSTOCK, ONE MINUTE FOR CONDUCTORS, BJORK BIOPHILIA, MAMA GOEMA, THE HEART IS A DRUM MACHINE, PLACEBO: ALT.RUSSIA, MISSION TO LARS, live silent film soundtrack performance by THE MAKABRA ENSEMBLE and many, many more.
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Source: Flamedrop Productions
