For the past ten years the best in music-centric films has come out of the North by Northeast (NXNE) festival – Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, This Movie is Broken, and Stones in Exile, to name a few – and this year is no different.
The NXNE festival will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in Toronto with 40 screenings from June 13 – 19 at the National Film Board of Canada’s Toronto Mediatheque and the Toronto Underground Cinema. NXNE has announced the first round of its film programming with three Canadian premieres.
Kunst-Camera: J.X. Williams’ Cabinet of Curiosities will be the gala film of the festival. Looking at the work of avant-garde director J.X. Williams (acknowledged to be an influence in the work of Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese) the film has become infamous for sparking a police crackdown at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival.
Color Me Obsessed is a unique film about one of the most influential (but underappreciated) rock bands of the 80s – The Replacements. Instead of a traditional behind-the-scenes look with interviews from members of the group, the film is composed of fans, friends, and acquaintances arguing why the band is greatest group most people haven’t heard of. If the fans are convincing enough, audiences may just find a new favourite rock band.
Better than Something: Jay Reatard, is an intimate portrait of the Memphis-based artist shot during April 2009 just months before his untimely death. Using interview footage with colleagues, friends, and family the film charts the young musician’s vibrant life – with dozens of a records released over a fifteen-year career that began in his mid-teens – to the shocking news of his death at 29.
A complete film schedule will be announced over the coming weeks. For more information on NXNE 2011, visit their website at nxne.com.
