Ginger Baker looks back on his musical career with Cream and Blind Faith; his introduction to Fela Kuti; his self-destructive patterns and losses of fortune; and his current life inside a fortified South African compound.

Starring: Anne Dorval, Xavier Dolan, François Arnaud, Suzanne Clément, Patricia Tulasne, Niels Schneider

Surly 16-year-old Hubert doesn’t make life easy for his mum, loudly contradicting or objecting to virtually all she says or does. Understandably, in return, she barely pays attention to his constant negative barrage.

Starring: Vinnie Bilancio, Wendy Winburn, Elizabeth Barris, John Goff, Tim Gannon, Curt Swobel, Daniella Green

Broke college student Bob Martin rents a room from the alluring Crystal Traum, who introduces him to her New Age belief system, Crystalnetics. As Bob embraces the teachings, his health and mindset dramatically improve. But when a detective reveals a string of mysterious deaths tied to the cult, Bob uncovers the chilling truth behind the religion — and its terrifying, inhuman leader.

From veteran indie auteur Jeff Leroy (Creepies, Rat Scratch Fever) comes a razor-sharp, unapologetically bizarre takedown of a certain star-studded New Age religion (you know the one). This twisted tale brims with a sense of doom, draped in shadowy femme fatales and is dripping with grotesque, gooey stop-motion creature chaos. Leroy doesn’t pull any punches, layering the film with satirical bite and underground grit, ultimately shaping a surreal fever dream that pays homage to pulp horror while taking aim at the power and absurdity of cult celebrity.

Starring: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, James Gandolfini, Gina McKee

Introduction and post-screening book sales and signing by Jason Bailey, author of the new biography Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend

James Gandolfini displays his impressive but unappreciated flair for comedy in this 2009 political satire from director Armando Iannucci. Spinning off of his British television smash The Thick of It, and including several of that show’s funniest characters (particularly the Prime Minister’s Director of Communications Malcolm Tucker, played with foul-mouthed zeal by Peter Capaldi), Iannucci skewers relations between the U.S. and the U.K. in the run-up to the Iraq War. The film would serve as the bridge between The Thick of It and Iannucci’s U.S. hit Veep, featuring several of the latter show’s stars as well (including Anna Chlumsky, Mimi Kennedy, David Rasche and Zach Woods). The Academy Award-nominated screenplay was penned by Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong (who would go on to create Succession), Simon Blackwell (Peep Show) and Tony Roche.

When a group of students at Columbia University in New York launch a movement protesting the war in Gaza, they spark a nationwide uprising in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Encampments spring up at hundreds of campuses as students object to their own university’s investment in the US and Israeli arms industry. Featuring detained student activist Mahmoud Khalil, The Encampments takes viewers inside America’s student uprising with incredible intimacy and urgency. Professors, whistleblowers, and student activists shed light on a moment that captivated the nation’s attention and continues to make headlines today.

Plus Guy Maddin Rare Shorts, selected by Guy Maddin for live accompaniment by The Flushing Remonstrance

This special program of films was personally selected by Guy Maddin for all-new scores composed and performed by The Flushing Remonstrance, NYC’s premier group devoted to live film accompaniment.

Maddin’s 2003 gothic silent film/ballet Dracula: Pages From A Virgin’s Diary is “arguably the finest adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel ever filmed … A gorgeously expressionistic fantasia that will appeal even to viewers with zero interest in ballet.” (Mike D’Angelo, AV Club).

Dracula is presented here along with three rare Maddin shorts – Odin’s Shield Maiden, Only Dream Things and Saint, Devil, Woman [Séance] – all with live accompaniment.

“What an unearthly experience, these new scores! The flow! The darkness! The beauty!
 A dreamy-dream-dream! SUBLIME!” – Guy Maddin

Doc N Roll Film Festival Presents

Having Fun with A**h*les: The Greatest Band No One Knows tells the story of The Giraffes, a native New York City band. The documentary delves into their nearly 30-year career, highlighting their raw beginnings, tumultuous experiences, and unwavering passion for creating and performing rock and roll music. Despite their dedication and drive, the band has not achieved the same level of success as similar artists they shared the stage with, such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes, Interpol, and many others from the early 2000s New York City music scene. Yet, The Giraffes continue to record and perform all over the country, with a small but loyal fan base showing up.

The documentary captures the essence of what it means to be a passionate musician in an ever-changing industry. It celebrates the spirit of perseverance and the joy of making music for the love of it. Having Fun with A**h*les is a testament to the band’s enduring legacy and their relentless pursuit of their rock and roll dreams.

Doc N Roll Film Festival Presents

Amidst Soho’s flourishing folk scene of the mid-60s, Jackson C. Frank released a masterpiece album, produced by fellow American expat Paul Simon. Jackson was close to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel and was a vital musical influence for so many, like Bert Jansch, Nick Drake, Counting Crows, Graham Coxon, John Mayer and Laura Marling. However, after the release of his album, he disappeared without a trace.

With physical disabilities and severe PTSD as a result of a childhood tragedy, his mental health deteriorated. While absent, his musical influence greatly increased over the years. That’s when a young music fan decided to seek him out. This film follows in Frank’s footsteps to unknot the threads of a unique artist with a dire fate.

Doc N Roll Film Festival Presents

The first-ever feature documentary on acclaimed London-born artist Chris Gollon (1953 – 2017), Life in Paint explores his pioneering use of music to create new imagery; from lyrics by Bob Dylan, Neil Young or Talk Talk, to direct collaborations with musicians such as Yi Yao, Eleanor McEvoy and Thurston Moore, who has hailed Gollon’s “creative and modest genius.”

A sensitive and innovative painter of women, Gollon also expressed a powerful common humanity via his androgynous figures, and there has been a surge of interest in his work since his untimely death just seven years ago. Via found footage and BBC clips, the film shows Gollon disarmingly revealing his creative process and innovative techniques. Moving montages of Gollon’s images, combined with music by artists including The Skids, Gavin Bryars, Sleaford Mods, Yi Yao and Eleanor McEvoy, provide insights into how Gollon fused the two art forms, and how each energized and changed the other.

Doc N Roll Film Festival Presents

After paying tribute to and introducing the photographic and pictorial work of Peter Christopherson (1955-2010) and John Balance (1962-2004) to a larger audience, founding members of the cult formation COIL, Timeless editions have had the duo’s filmed archives restored, from their early films in adolescence in the early 1970s to the more accomplished works of the 1980s/90s, uncovering a first-rate cinematic body of work.

Alternating between medical art, homoerotic performances, and body horror, these short films and other moments immortalized on 8mm and 16mm film are firmly rooted within an aesthetic sense that resonates with the concerns of the emerging industrial scene in England. At the intersections of Eros and Thanatos, these images assembled by Maxime Lachaud and Reivaks Timeless into a raw, hallucinatory, and immersive film evoke the spectres of Georges Bataille, J.G. Ballard, Jean Genet, Derek Jarman as well as the Viennese Actionists. Underpinned by a number of previously unpublished compositions by the duo, A Way to Die is a unique document, sensual, disturbing, and profoundly haunted.