Beat Weekend Festival
At the end of September / beginning of October 2018 a Beat Weekend documentary festival of music and contemporary culture will take place in 15 Russian cities.
The programme will include six gala premieres from Beat Film Festival 2018, featuring artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, singer M.I.A., Depeche Mode, a bunch of skateboarding girls in New York City, Instagram bloggers and independent hip-hop stars from Nas to Pusha T. As well as film screenings, there will be a series of talks with invited experts, and parties thematically related to the films.
The Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy in Moscow is supporting a special UK programme – films Matangi / Maya / M.I.A., Depeche Mode: 101, Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami and a number of wrap-around activities. In Novosibirsk Ekaterina Pavelko, curator of the Fashion course at the Higher School of Economics, will give a talk on Grace Jones – singer, model and actress, an iconic figure of the 1980s and a muse of Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. In St Petersburg at the Port Sevkabel creative space there will be a special party devoted to the screening of Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami with a DJ-set by UK musicians. In Samara local designers will present their art works inspired by David Bowie’s final album, Black Star.
Film Screenings
Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.
Directed by Stephen Loveridge 2018, UK, USA, 95 min
An intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist who went from an immigrant living in a ghetto to the star known as M.I.A.
A turbulent story of one of the most eccentric artists of the 2000s, who started her career in Brixton and reached Glastonbury, who made her first steps as a debuting director and ended up being a world famous headliner.
Depeche Mode: 101
Directed by D. A. Pennebaker UK, USA, 117 min
The iconic film about the 101st Depeche Mode concert during their 1988 world tour
A legendary film about the concert in Pasadena which was the final performance in Depeche Mode’s world tour, a celebration of their triumph in the 1980s when all teenagers from Sydney to Los Angeles knew the lyrics of their songs by heart and copied Dave’s, Alan’s and Andy’s style.
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami
Directed by Sophie Fiennes UK, 115 min
Biopic of the pop-music icon without baseless conclusions and scandalous titles
Grace Jones, whose face is better known in the Russian media than her songs, is presented in this film from a different angle. It is a 2-hour long story of a woman who sings, performs, deals with public pressure and wants to be valued for her artistic talent rather than her appearance, and who lives her own unique life.
All films are screened in English with Russian subtitles.
For more details about the schedules and ticket sales please visit the festival website.
Special events
Novosibirsk
3 October Mir cinema hall / Friends bar DJ-set and talk about Grace Jones by Ekaterina Pavelko, curator of the Fashion course at the Higher School of Economics.
St Petersburg
27 September Black Books bar Talk about Depeche Mode by Ladomir Zelinsky, art historian at the State Hermitage
5 October Port Sevkabel creative space Thematic party and a DJ set by Jamz Supernova devoted to the films Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami and Skate Kitchen
6 October Josh cafe Hip-hop party devoted to the film Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.
Samara
7 October Turbaza Vecherok club Karaoke party featuring Russian musicians devoted to the film David Bowie: the Last Five Years
Nizhnii Novorod
5 October Talk about Depeche Mode by Ekaterina Chudakova, Development Director of Nizhnii Novgorod Regional Informational Centre
7 October Mir cinema hall Talk about M.I.A. by Alexei Kostyukov, promoter and art director of Cargo Cult club
Kazan
10 October Mir cinema hall Talk about being a refugee as a creative start by Svetlana Lukyanova, founder of No Kidding Press publishing house, curator of Write Like a Grrrl course
12 October Salt bar New Wave party featuring DJ Lenar and DJ Yegor Semakov
More detailed information about the events will be published shortly on the festival website