Music documentary films on Morocco and on Pentagram’s singer Bobby Liebing win Barcelona's In-Edit 2011

Barcelona (ACN).- The ninth edition of Barcelona’s International Music Documentary Film Festival, known as In-Edit, ended last Sunday with a large number of spectators that exceeded by 5.000 the number of people who visited the last edition. During this year’s In-Edit, which was sponsored by Beefeater, 54 productions were shown. Besides, ten films competed in the International section and three more in the national one. The National Prize went to a music documentary about Morocco and its musical evolution, called ‘Next Music Station: Morocco’. It was produced by Al-Jazeera television network and directed by the Basque singer Fermín Muguruza. In the International section, the festival awarded ‘Last Days Here’, a film on the life of Pentagram’s singer, Bobby Liebing. This latest edition of the In-Edit Festival also wanted to honour Murray Lerner’s trajectory as a director showing seven of his works on the festival screens. Another great surprise of this annual meeting was the presence of the musician Michael Nyman, author of ‘The Piano’ soundtrack and many other films. A documentary screened focused on Nyman’s activity as a composer. The festival ran from October 27^th to November 6^th.

Lluís Hidalgo, artistic Director of In-Edit, summarised the essence of the festival in just four words: journalism, stories, memories and classics. “Journalism, if well put, explains good stories that are usually based on memories. And memories, when solidified and ‘marble-built’, become classics”, explained Hidalgo. The organisation of the festival’s programming and the increase in the number of people attending are the main differences in this year’s In-Edit. The 54 films on show over the 11 days of the festival shared the same theme of displaying the lives of not very well known artists. “This is a festival of music documentaries, but documentary goes first and how the stories are told is what interests us”, assured Hidalgo. In fact, Hidalgo defends In-Edit’s decision to not judge the documentaries by the importance of the artists that appear in them.

5,000 more visitors than last year’s edition

The festival coordinators see the increase in the number of people attending as a result of the new online ticket selling system, which has meant a rise of more than a 30% in tickets sold compared to the 2010 edition. The possibility of visualising In-Edit’s archives, which permitted contact between producers, distributors and programmers from all over the world, was one of the parallel activities that helped to attract new people, a difference of 5.000 spectators compared to last year’s edition.

54 music documentaries

In-Edit, a Catalan film festival born in Barcelona in 2003 and sponsored by Beefeater, put on 54 films in what is its ninth edition. Some of the works that competed in this year’s In-Edit are: ‘Blaze Foley: duct tape messiah’, a documentary about Foley’s country music; ‘Michel Petrucciani’, by Michael Radford, about the jazz pianist that succeeded despite his small stature; or ‘Bröntzman’, by René Jeuckens, Thomas Mau and Grischa Windus, which wants to evoke the German saxophonist’s memory through his current testimony.

Catalan productions

Catalan directors also had a spot in this festival and participated with three different productions: 'Quiero tener una ferretería en Andalucía' ( meaning in English ‘I want an ironmonger’s in Andalusia’), directed by Carles Prats, and ‘To de re per a mandolina I clarinet’ (in English ‘Re tone for mandolin and clarinet’), made by Jordi Turtós. The third production is ‘Agustí Fernández – Los dedos huéspedes’ (in English ‘Agustí Fernández – The guest fingers), a film about the pianist and directed by Lucas Caraba.

A film produced by Al-Jazeera won the National Prize

The winner of the ninth edition’s National Prize was ‘Next Music Station: Morocco’, a documentary directed by Basque singer Fermín Muguruza and produced by Al Jazeera television station. The film travels through the musical traditions of the North-African country. The jury highlighted its way of “portraying Morocco’s social diversity and how the work of musicians already announced the political changes that the country is now experiencing”.

International presence

The International section awarded ‘Last Days Here’, a film that shows the life of Pentagram’s singer, Bobby Liebing, at his octogenarian parents’ house. A special mention went to ‘O Samba Que Mora Em Mim’, a production about a group of samba dancers that leaves “a taste of sun and hope”.

The festival offered other international works that tackled more popular artists such as George Harrison, David Bowie or Bob Dylan. This year’s In-Edit welcomed Michael Nyman, ‘The Piano’ soundtrack composer, who stars in a documentary about his own music career. Nyman and Silvia Beck, who directed this film, were present at the festival’s opening. The movie shows some of Nyman’s concerts, and travels with the composer to his native Poland, to trace his origins.

In-Edit festivals in Chile, Brazil and Berlin

The Barcelona International Music Documentary Festival, which has other editions in Chile, Brazil and Germany (in Berlin), also used this edition as a way of honouring director Murray Lerner for his work in documentary and live film productions.