Sound On Screen Music Film Festival in Cape Town and Joburg

Sound On Screen was created in 2010 and with it movies and music in a cinema environment are united, resulting in not only entertainment, but also enlightenment and education. In its fourth year, the event will screen at The Labia Theatre from with two of the key films (Mission To Lars and Sound Of Noise) also screening at The Bioscope.

Sound On Screen will screen a range of feature films and documentaries dealing with this essential part of our existence: music. Most of the movies will make their African/South African theatrical premiere.

Mission to Lars

The documentary deals with Tom, a young mentally disabled man whose obsession with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has his siblings (including British journalist Kate Spicer) on a whirlwind road trip to try and have him meet his idol. This coincides with Metallica's tour of South Africa and we're awaiting word on whether Ulrich can attend the opening screening in Cape Town.

Sound of Noise

Another drum-related movie is the highly original Swedish-French film Sound of Noise, telling the tale of a tone-deaf cop battling to track down a group of guerilla percussionists whose anarchic public performances are terrorising the city.

Haxan

The unique Makabra Ensemble will perform their new original soundtrack for the silent classic film Haxan (aka Heksen/The Witch - Sweden 1922) live beneath the big screen. This detailed, visually stunning exploration of witchcraft and its misconceptions through the ages is still an amazing and vivid cinematic experience, enhanced with the powerful, moody and eclectic new, live soundtrack.

With seven movies scored thus far, the Makabra Ensemble started their cinematic/live music fusion at the South African HorrorFest Film Festival in 2006, and consists of musicians from Terminatryx, Lark, V.O.D, Mr Sakitumi, and violin genius Matthijs van Dijk, and they incorporate a wide range of acoustic and electronic instruments, methods and voice, to breathe new life into these legendary films. Live sound supplied by Point Blanc Event Tech Solutions, www.pointblanc.co.za.

More info at www.terminatryx.com/makabra

Punk in Africa

This movie takes a look at the punk genre and its various derivatives in a southern African context, covering the music, the people, its history and the tumultuous political and social impetus bringing life to the bands behind it. Featuring Suck, Wild Youth, Safari Suits, Power Age, National Wake, Koos, Kalahari Surfers, The Genuines, Hog Hoggidy Hog, Fuzigish, Sibling Rivalry, 340ml, Panzer, The Rudimentals, Evicted, Sticky Antlers, Freak, LYT, Jagwa Music, Fruits and Veggies, Swivel Foot and more.

African Drum - Beyond the Beat

African Drum is an impressionist portrait of the various social functions of the drum in West African society. The film uses a famous ode to the African drum to demonstrate its pervasive role in society over time. The drum's social functions range from use in work songs, to communication and religious rituals, through to one of its more contemporary uses, by fans at football games. It takes a special interest in the conception and nature of rhythm and, in dance, the inter-dependent relationship between the drummer and dancer by exploring the effects of drum rhythms on both.

Note: The cinematographer and some of the artists in the documentary will attend the Cape Town screening(s), introduce the film and will be available for questions afterwards.

The Heart is a Drum Machine

This documentary looks at what music means to us. Many of today's top artists and scholars grapple with the question in this cinematic look at a uniquely human obsession. Features musicians, composers, producers, engineers, scholars, scientists and record label owners, including John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Maynard James Keenan (Tool and A Perfect Circle), Matt Sorum (Guns 'n Roses, Velvet Revolver), Juliette Lewis, Charlie Clouser (Nine Inch Nails), George Clinton (Funkadelic), Kurt Loder, Gene Hoglan (Strapping Young Lad), Eddie Kramer, Bob Ludwig, Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), Bijou Phillips, Elijah Wood and many more.

Tension: 25 Years Underground

Tension chronicles the band's rise in popularity and how they stuck to their guns and refused to bow to the demands of record companies. The film leaves you wondering what would have happened to Tension if they had "sold out" and made it big, and indeed the common notion of success itself. Marty Friedman (Megadeth) and Tommy Gattis cut their teeth in this band, and the film opens a time capsule to reveal vintage video footage and unbridled interviews on subjects like how the PMRC helped and hindered 1980s' heavy metal music, and how "hair bands" of the time commercialised the public perception of the genre.

3-Triur - In Search of Musical Form

3-Triur is a creative documentary on the ongoing collaboration between three of Ireland's most distinguished musicians: Peadar Ó Riada, Martin Hayes and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, in an intimate portrait of "the act and art of making music".

Einstürzende Neubauten - Liebslieder

Einstürzende Neubauten are the undisputed originators of Industrial music, led by the magnetic Blixa Bargeld (who also played guitar for Nick Cave's Bad Seeds). Liebslieder is an in-depth documentary taking a focused look at this highly innovative German group (formed in the early 1980s), using more than mere musical instruments to create sounds, from power drills and jackhammers, to scrap metal and vocal contortions, they pushed the boundaries of conventional music to another dimension, but with a philosophy behind it.

Baron Rojo - Long Live Rock & Roll (Larga Vida Al Rock & Roll)

Barón Rojo (Red Baron) is one of Spain's biggest rock groups of all time (even making the cover of Kerrang!). This documentary follows the band's reunion once the original line-up received an offer to get together again, 20 years after their traumatic separation. The four musicians return to the road to face old demons of the past.

Screening times

Cape Town

• Friday, 26 April: 6.15pm - Sound of Noise. 8.30pm - Mission to Lars
  
• Saturday, 27 April: 2.15pm - 3-Triur: In Search Of Musical Form. 4pm - African Drum: Beyond The Beat. 6.15pm - Tension: 25 Years Underground. 9.15pm - Haxan with live soundtrack performance by The Makabra Ensemble
  
• Sunday, 28 April: 2.15pm -Baron Rojo: Long Live Rock & Roll. 4pm - Einstürzende Neubauten: Liebeslieder. 6.15pm - Punk in Africa. 8.30pm - Mission to Lars
  
• Monday, 29 April: 6.15pm - 3-Triur: In Search Of Musical Form. 8.30pm - The Heart is a Drum Machine
  
• Tuesday, 30 April: 6.15pm - Tension: 25 Years Underground. 8.30pm - Punk in Africa
  
• Wednesday, 1 May: 6.15pm - African Drum: Beyond The Beat. 8.30pm - Sound of Noise
  
• Thursday, 2 May: 6.15pm - Baron Rojo: Long Live Rock & Roll. 8.30pm - Einstürzende Neubauten: Liebeslieder

All Cape Town tickets R35, except Haxan: R50. Book at +27 (0)21 424 5927 or online at www.quicket.co.za/SoundOnScreen

Joburg

• Wednesday, 24 April: 7.30pm - Mission to Lars
  
• Thursday, 25 April: 7.30pm - Sound of Noise
  
• Saturday, 27 April: 6pm - Sound of Noise
  
• Sunday,28 April: 7pm - Mission to Lars

Joburg tickets: R40 or R100 with pizza. Book at www.TheBioscope.co.za.

All info, updates and trailers at www.flamedrop.com/sos
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SoundOnScreenFilmFest