Spandau Ballet film to show at Rome Film Festival
Rome- Documentary Soul Boys of the Western World by George Hencken, about the iconic 1980s band Spandau Ballet, will be presented at the 9thRome Film Festival (October, 16 – 25, 2014, Auditorium Parco della Musica), directed by Marco Müller.Thanks to the collaboration with Nexo Digital and Feltrinelli Real Cinema, on October 20th the five members of the British band – Tony Hadley, Steve Norman, John Keeble, Martin and Gary Kemp – will walk the red carpet of the Festival and present the documentary to the audience of the Auditorium Parco della Musica.
This debut film by George Hencken – producer of award-winning music videos, concert films, documentaries on key figures of the modern and contemporary music scene such as Jimi Hendrix, the Sex Pistols, Madness, and Dr. Feelgood charts the meteoric rise to fame and successive decline of the Spandau Ballet, a band of London working-class boys who became the symbol of an entire generation. The band members themselvestell their story thirty years after their greatest hits, in this archive-only feature documentary, which combines newsreel footage with never-before-seen video from the band’s personal archives, alongside candid interviews. The result is a journey into the music, culture and history of the 1980s seen through the eyes and the songs of a group that rose to the top of the world’s charts, with 23 hit singles and over 25 million record sales worldwide.. Spandau Ballet’s classics have been featured in the soundtracks of films and television series such as The Simpsons, Spin City, Charlie’s Angels, The Wedding Singer, Ugly Betty and in television commercials for some of the biggest brands in the worlds; their songs have also been covered by artists as diverse as Nelly, Paul Anka, Lloyd & Lil Wayne, and the Black Eyes Peas.
The new album collection “The Story-The Very Best Of Spandau Ballet”, including three new songs produced by legendary record producer Trevor Horn, is released on 13 October.
Soul Boys of the Western World
Directed by George Hencken, United Kingdom, 2014, 106’
Cast: Tony Hadley, John Keeble, Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Steve Norman
A journey into the heart of the 1980s with one of that decade’s most defining bands, Spandau Ballet. This unique film tells the story of a group of London working-class boys who created a global music empire, but at a price that none of them would ever have imagined. Spandau Ballet became the pioneers of a new era of pop music that would spread across the world: they became world-famous stars in the mid-1980s, along with Duran Duran, Sade, the Culture Club, Wham! (and dozens of other British bands). This film takes the viewer into the heart of that era, delving into the cultural and political scene that was the backdrop for the history of the band. This is a film intended not only for Spandau Ballet fans, or those who cultivate their nostalgia for the 1980s, but for anyone who has ever experienced true friendship and the pain you feel when it ends.
Rome Film Festival | Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma
October 16-25, 2014
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