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  • Soundwatch Music Film Festival: Celebrating music through film

Film

Soundwatch Music Film Festival: Celebrating music through film

Indie street opera, Ennio Morricone, and live music at this year’s Soundwatch Music Film Festival in Berlin.

Wem gehört Lauratibor? Photo: Umbruch Bildarchiv

Now in its sixth edition, Soundwatch returns for a 13-day celebration of the music documentary genre, from cutting-edge sound-on-screen experiences to elegant tributes to famous composers.

The programme kicks off on a local, operatic and rebellious note, with Wem gehört Lauratibor? (Who owns Lauratibor?), which documents the making and success of the anti-gentrification street opera of the same name and the fight for Kreuzberg’s Ratiborstraße 14. The Jugend[widerstands]museum (Youth Resistance Museum) serves as an appropriate location for this tale of resistance in the face of neo-liberal speculation.

Ennio Morricone conducting in 2017. Photo: IMAGO / Pacific Press Agency

From Kreuzberg to Hollywood, via Rome: the much-awaited Ennio (Nov 13) is given a preview in cooperation with the Italian Film Festival. Made by his long-time friend (and Oscar winner) Giuseppe Tornatore, the film is a stunning tribute to the late Italian composer’s seminal melodies and their canonical place in film, with interviews from Hollywood giants Quentin Tarantino, Hans Zimmer and Clint Eastwood. For music, off as well as on-screen, don’t miss Rebecca Zehr’s A Sound of My Own – a film about musician Marja Burchard, band leader of ethno-jazz legends Embryo – followed by a live performance by the band themselves (Nov 5).

The programme at Lichtblick closes with TRAMPS! about the origins of the New Romantic scene and Trip, featuring The Brian Jonestown Massacre, an exploration of psychedelic music (Nov 16). Head to Zönotéka for Daniel Hasn’t Left the Building, a homage exhibition to American singer-songwriter and painter Daniel Johnston with live performances.

  • Lichtblick Kino, (Kastanienallee 77)
  • Nov 8-21
  • OV and/or English surtitles

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