film

The new documentary, “IT’S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY,” offers a poignant look into the musician’s life. Directed by Amy Berg, the film draws on unseen archives and intimate interviews with Jeff Buckley’s mother, former partners, and bandmates. It chronicles his meteoric rise and enduring legacy, shaped by his only studio album, “Grace.” The documentary features never-before-seen archival footage, watch the film trailer here.

From director Athina Rachel Tsangari, Harvest is a spellbinding, folk horror-inflected tale. Over seven hallucinatory days, a remote village’s traditional way of life is upended by the arrival of outsiders and the trauma of modernity. Led by a striking performance from Caleb Landry Jones, this atmospheric and deeply immersive film chronicles a community on the brink of irrevocable change, crushed by forces that masquerade as progress.

In the hands of film producer James Mangold, there is a very real probability that the definitive Bob Dylan film has finally arrived, with the man himself nowhere to be seen but his spirit and very essence seeping into every frame.

What To Do, How To Live? is the debut album from Lakiko, sung almost entirely in Bosnian using a vocal technique from the Sevdalinka tradition. The release is accompanied by a short film, Lakiko – A Hybrid Idea, directed by Manfred Borsch which premieres on Folk Radio today.

Heading West, the remarkable new documentary film about Shooglenifty, one of the most ground-breaking Scottish music bands ever formed in the 1990s, is to tour cinemas throughout Scotland from 30 January 2023.

During the summer of 2021, Northern collective ‘Harp and a Monkey’ worked on a commission to capture an aural representation of everyday life for inhabitants of the Peak District in Derbyshire. Watch the accompanying video ‘Birdsong and Bells: The Peak Sound Project’.

EFDSS return once again with one of our favourite video series “In The Archive With…”. Their guest is Peggy Seeger who gets to hunt out some choice folk music from their archive. Peggy has also just announced her first Farewell Tour for Spring 2022.

A Broken House is a moving documentary that tells the story of Mohamad Hafez who comes to the U.S. on a single-entry visa to study architecture, and, when he realizes that he can’t return to his home country, conjures home in his art.

We rewind the clock to 1974 and the Cambridge Folk Festival. Watch archive footage featuring Planxty, Loudon Wainwright III, Arlo Guthrie and more. From the canvas tents to the impromptu laid-back performances, this short video is dripping in gorgeous folk nostalgia.

ITMA take us behind the scenes of Lisa O’Neill’s research into Arthur Griffith, as she prepares for Treaty: Songs at the NCH in December – a Concert commemorating the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

A new Sky Arts documentary, ‘Set The Night On Fire’, examines both the life and music of Ewan MacColl featuring interviews with Peggy Seeger and contributions from the likes of Billy Bragg, Barbara Dickson, Harp & a Monkey, Stick In The Wheel and more.

Written by Scottish composer and artist Erland Cooper for the women of the Chorus of Opera North, a new live score for the elemental 1928 silent film The Wind receives its world premiere at Sage Gateshead on 24 February 2022. 

Martha Tilston has written, directed and stars in a film called ‘The Tape’ in which she plays a disillusioned songwriter drifting through life…until she finds inspiration at an atmospheric Cornish cliff-top house and records an album. Watch the film trailer.

Watch ‘The Cunning Man’, a short film inspired by John Harries (1785-1839), a physician and ‘Cunning Man’ from Carmarthenshire – a healer who uses folklore magic.

A new film featuring music inspired by the wild and remote landscapes of Scotland is set to premiere online at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe alongside incredible live performances from Scottish composer and percussionist Oliver Cox, with award-winning Gaelic vocalist Julie Fowlis.

In partnership with Cambridge Folk Festival, BFI curators William Fowler and Vic Pratt have put together a selection of folk-related films to watch for free on the BFI website including documentaries featuring The Watersons, Kathryn Tickell, Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull and more.

This year’s Folk Film Gathering has a fantastic online programme including Director interviews and screenings that include Pat Collins ‘Silence’ + musician interviews: Bonnie “Prince” Billy in conversation with Mairi Campbell and Brían Mac Gloinn (of Ye Vagabonds) in conversation with Alasdair Roberts.

Watch a cut from NOA, a striking 45-minute-long film collaboration between Taylor Rogers and filmmaker Lillian Walker. This extract features Chicago-based performance artist Alana Parekh and her powerful dance interpretation of “N.A.”