Well, I’m in Sheffield so that makes it almost mandatory that I post this new video for Jarvis Cocker’s single “Further Complications.” Cocker, the former frontman of Sheffield natives Pulp, is also one of the subjects of a documentary called The Beat Is The Law which is screening here at the festival. This song is my favorite track from Cocker’s latest album of the same name, and the video is swell:
On Thursday night at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, attendees gathered at a roller skating rink for the announcement of this year’s Cinema Eye Honors For Nonfiction Filmmaking, which gives awards to outstanding documentary features from the last year of festivals. The big titles from this year’s nominees include October Country, The Cove, and Burma VJ. You can get the full list of nominees over at indieWIRE. Meanwhile, here are the films nominated for “Outstanding Achievement In Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking” (a.k.a. the big prize):
Burma VJ
Directed By Anders Ostergaard
Produced By Lise-Lense Moller
The Cove
Directed By Louie Psihoyos
Produced By Paula Dupre Pesman And Fisher Stevens
Food, Inc.
Directed By Robert Kenner
Produced By Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
Loot
Directed and Produced By Darius Marder
October Country
Directed and Produced By Michael Palmieri And Donal Mosher
The 2010 Cinema Eye Honors will be held on January 15, in New York.
(The view up the street from the train station in Sheffield, UK as I made my way to the hotel early Wednesday afternoon. After flying to Manchester via Rekjavik, I took the train into town just in time to settle in before picking up my badge and guide for the annual Sheffield Doc/Fest. It’s my first time in Sheffield, which already strikes me as a nice college town. Gotta get moving, despite the foggy jet lag, because there’s work to be done.)
A documentary I’ve been following for over a year now, is Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas’ American: The Bill Hicks Story. The film screens at the Sheffield Doc/Fest this weekend, and I’m excited to scope it out. Bill Hicks, like Outlaw Country music, is one of those things that Brits and Texans have in common. Hicks, who died of pancreatic cancer in 1994, was an underground sensation in the comedy clubs of central Texas. He was smart, abrasive, political, and hysterical. Bill Hicks was the original Lewis Black or David Cross, and he was more than just an inspiration to Denis Leary (who is believed to have stolen chunks of Hicks material for his own No Cure For Cancer album). Hicks was a popular guest on David Letterman’s NBC show, and made the usual TV rounds, but his real success came in the UK. You mention Bill Hicks’ name in America, maybe 1 out of every 10 people know who you’re talking about. In the UK, it’s more like 7/10. In honor of Hicks, and the latest episode of Mad Men, here is one of his popular (and relatively less offensive) subjects: the JFK assassination…
Kinda surprising that this song isn’t part of the rock-heavy Twilight: New Moon soundtrack. Was it rejected? Whatever that reason, Australian retro-rockers Wolfmother have returned with some new members but the same welcomed snarl:
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