Screening Date: Sun. Nov. 12, 2023
Time: 6:00pm
Venue: Bryant Lake Bowl
Cost: $15
Premiere Status: Midwest
Run Time/Year/Country: 72min, 2022, Switzerland
Director: Olivier Joliat & Matthias Willi
Co-presented by KFAI Radio, Extreme Noise Records, Bryant Lake Bowl
With his band Zeal & Ardor Swiss-American musician Manuel Gagneux is catapulted overnight from the underground to the big stages of the world. The bold mix of Black Metal and old work songs and field hollers by African-American slaves – his answer to a racist provocation on the internet – is politically explosive and breaking all kinds of taboos. But being praised as a new kind of leader by his fans pushes the introverted artist into an existential crisis. Will he find a way to protect his creative integrity and deal with oversized expectations?
PRECEDED BY
Film Title: Taking Back The Groove
Director: Celia Aniskovich
Run Time/Year/Country: 33min, 2023, USA
Premier Status: Midwest
Synopsis: Taking Back the Groove reintroduces the world to Bronx-born ’80s disco superstar Richie Weeks. A writer, singer, and producer who was compared to Quincy Jones at his height, Richie created quintessential New York Disco and performed in the likes of Studio 54 and Paradise Garage, all while maintaining day jobs as a postal worker and bricklayer. His mega-hit Rock Your World made it to #1 on the dance charts in the ’80s, and has since become a landmark song in the field of disco and house music. While his ingenious mixes appealed to a kaleidoscope of glitter and lamé-clad partiers, his songs were never truly his own. Like many Black artists throughout American recording history, his talent was strip mined to enrich white-owed record labels. When disco cooled down, Richie Weeks and many other artists like him faded from view. But now, a new series of previously unheard recordings, from his private trove of 300 vintage tracks, is bringing him fresh recognition. Taking Back the Groove tells the story of how Richie Weeks clawed back the rights to his own music in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and his ongoing fight to restore his legacy and share his music.
