Dear Friends and Music/Film Lovers,

We are thrilled to announce the 12th annual FILMUSIC Festival, which will be held from Thursday, June 27th, through Sunday, June 30th, at The Film Center in Vineyard Haven. The festival is sponsored and supported by Vineyard Wind and Mass Cult Council. 

The FILMUSIC Festival is a weekend filled with films, musical performances, and Q&A’s, all celebrating the convergence of music, culture, and film. 

The festival opens at 6:30 on Thursday, June 27th, with a reception in the Film Center lobby and live music from Leesa Sklover. This will be followed by a showing of Bob Marley: One Love at 7:30. The film celebrates the life and music of an icon and was made in partnership with the Marley family.

Scroll down for the complete program.

You can now purchase an All-Access Festival Pass. This pass gets you in to all seven films playing during the festival. Or you can purchase individual tickets. Please scroll down for those links. 

Thank you for your support, and see you at the movies!

CLICK ON A FILM FOR MORE INFORMATION

BOB MARLEY

ONE LOVE

Thursday June 27th @ 7:30pm

Before the film, join us for an opening reception in our lobby starting at 6:30pm, with live music from Leesa Sklover 

BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE celebrates the life and music of an icon who inspired generations through his message of love and unity. On the big screen for the first time, discover Bob’s powerful story of overcoming adversity and the journey behind his revolutionary music. Produced in partnership with the Marley family and starring Kingsley Ben-Adir as the legendary musician and Lashana Lynch as his wife Rita.

"Kingsley Ben-Adir shines as the misunderstood reggae legend." - MEMPHIS FLYER

MR. JIMMY

Friday June 28th @ 4:00pm



Akio Sakurai has dedicated his life to honoring Jimmy Page. For 30 years, he recreated vintage Zeppelin concerts note-for-note in small Tokyo clubs, until the real Jimmy Page stopped by one night, and Akio’s life changed forever. Inspired by Mr. Page’s ovation, Akio quits his “salary man” job, leaving behind his family to move to L.A. and join “Led Zepagain.” Soon cultures clash, and Akio’s idyllic vision of America meets with reality. An auditory delight for music fans everywhere, this enthralling film received Led Zeppelin’s blessing to feature music from more than twenty-five of their songs as performed by Mr. Jimmy. Prepare to be inspired by MR. JIMMY, an extraordinary story of passion, music, and the pursuit of dreams.

"An incredible take on identity, artistry, projection, passion and trying to inspire others to follow an impossible dream of second-hand perfection. Some distributor needs to pick this up immediately." – DAVID FEAR, ROLLING STONE

THE 9 LIVES OF

BARBARA DANE

Friday June 28th @ 7:30pm



Followed by a discussion via Zoom with the director, Maureen Gosling

In this exuberant dance of a documentary, familiar movements in the 20th-century get a high-energy shakeup in the story of a powerhouse blues/jazz/folk singer, activist, feminist, record producer, and committed troublemaker.

Pick a 20th century social justice movement, and this unsung hero of American music was probably there. Standing strong with her singular confidence, Dane emanated the people-powered connectivity of folk, the defiance of blues and the elemental cool of jazz, while propelling major historic events with boldness and subversion that cut through commercial artifice and earned her a 5” FBI file.

THE 9 LIVES OF BARBARA DANE is an underground history of a singer-agitator overlooked by many storytellers of American history. Overlooked, that is, until now. Dane’s unbending principles guide her through notoriety, obscurity, and finally, music legend.

Through the lens of a recent concert tour, we examine an outspoken and tireless artist whose devotion to music and social justice showcases the vigor and spirit at the heart of American dissent.

Maureen Gosling has been a documentary filmmaker for 50 years. She has worked as director, producer, editor, sound recordist and distributor. Producer/Director credits include the feature doc THIS AIN’T NO MOUSE MUSIC! (premiered SXSW), with Chris Simon, on the legacy of American roots music record producer, Chris Strachwitz; and the feature doc BLOSSOMS OF FIRE, on the Isthmus Zapotecs of Oaxaca, Mexico (HBO Latino). Gosling edited PLEISTOCENE PARK (VICE); THE LONG SHADOW (PBS); A NEW COLOR (PBS) and many other docs. She is best known for her 20-year collaboration (as co-filmmaker, editor, sound recordist) with the late Les Blank on more than 20 films, including BURDEN OF DREAMS (BAFTA for Best Documentary 1982). For the last 20 years, she has worked with Producer Jed Riffe on nine films, including CALIFORNIA’S “LOST” TRIBES, of the PBS series CALIFORNIA AND THE AMERICAN DREAM. Gosling is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences.

WHERE DOES THE MUSIC COME FROM?

Saturday June 29th @ 4:00pm

Special Live Presentation – Book signing beforehand with complimentary glass of wine!

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Creating Film Scores

With film clips from

Star Trek, National Geographic, and Stephen King’s Silver Bullet

Presented by

 Emmy Award-Winning Composer, Jay Chattaway

&

Producer and Author, Terri Potts-Chattaway

Please join us for a very special afternoon, including a (wine & cheese) reception starting at 3:15PM, and book launch by Edgartown Books of Ms. Chattaway’s book.

Join Jay Chattaway and learn about the world of film scoring and the creative choices and other factors involved in bringing motion pictures to life through musical scoring. Chattaway won an Emmy for the musical score for Star Trek: Voyager and also scored over 200 Star Trek episodes of over 16 years. His credits also include 30+ motion pictures and documentary scores. Chattaway will share clips from Star Trek, National Geographic films, and other projects and discuss the making of each.

Edgartown Books will be selling a new biography of Chattaway, “Journey to the Inner Light: The Life and Musical Voyage of Jay Chattaway, Star Trek, Jazz, and Film Composer,” by Terri Potts-Chattaway.

ENNIO

Saturday June 29th @ 7:30pm

Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the beloved Cinema Paradiso, turns his camera on his longtime collaborator Ennio Morricone (1928 – 2020) in a moving and comprehensive profile of the indefatigable composer. Tornatore’s documentary portrait examines the breadth of the maestro’s career, from his early Italian pop songs to the fistful of unforgettable film scores that he wrote, including The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, The Thing, Days of Heaven, and hundreds of others. Packed with insightful commentary from Morricone’s collaborators and contemporaries, Ennio affords the master one last chance to recount his career and deconstruct his artistic process.

Featuring interviews with Clint Eastwood Quentin Tarantino John Williams Hans Zimmer Quincy Jones Dario Argento Bruce Springsteen Joan Baez Wong Kar-Wai and many more!

“… Ennio is another cinephilic paean …. There’s much to see and to hear, most of it delightful …. Morricone turns out to be a total charmer, a low-key showman with a demure gaze that he works like a vamp and an impish smile that routinely punctuates one of his anecdotes.” – Manohla Dargis, New York Times Critic’s Pick

“Tornatore’s loving Ennio Morricone documentary suggests late composer is worthy of comparison to Mozart and Bach. A star-studded and compelling look at his musical genius.” – David Ehrlich, Indiewire

LUTHER

NEVER TOO MUCH

Sunday June 30th @ 4:00pm



Followed by a in-person discussion with the director, Dawn Porter

“Luther: Never Too Much,” the documentary film, chronicles the story of a vocal virtuoso. Using a wealth of rarely seen archives, Luther tells his own story with assistance from his closest friends and musical collaborators including Mariah Carey, Dionne Warwick, Valerie Simpson and Roberta Flack. The film relives the many stunning moments of Luther’s musical career, while exploring his unrequited love life, health struggles, and a lifelong battle to earn the respect his music deserved.

Dawn Porter is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has appeared on ESPN, Netflix, HBO, PBS, and Discovery.

CABIN MUSIC

Sunday June 30th @ 7:30pm

This event includes a in-person conversation with filmmaker/musician/subject James Carson.

After walking away from the New England Conservatory in Boston, James Carson backpacks overland from Spain to Japan. At the center of the story is the unusual off-grid cabin in the Canadian wilderness that James designs and builds by hand upon his return. It is here, away from everything, that the lived experiences and myriad threads interweave and a new form of music emerges.

“A supremely immersive experience.” — American Society of Cinematographers

“A lyrical, genre-defying feast for the senses, Cabin Music is a testament to the twin transcendent powers of music and nature.” — DOC NYC

“A stunning musician.” POV Magazine

“A quest to create sounds that reflect the magnificence of nature.” — Times of India

Pianist James Carson has developed a new form of music and over the last twelve years has produced and directed Cabin Music, a feature film, to share it with the world.

A childhood prodigy born with perfect pitch, Carson composed complete songs at age four and had his music performed by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at age sixteen, leading him to be called “one of the most gifted rising stars” by the Edmonton Journal. When he attended the New England Conservatory, however, his studies with Joe Maneri, Cecil Taylor, and the poet Robert Creeley led him to a dramatic life change: he walked away from music and spent two years backpacking and farming overland from Spain to Japan. After his return to Northern Alberta, Canada, he then spent five years designing, building, and practicing in a remote strawbale cabin. The musical result was multilayered, detailed, meditative, and harmonious. “I wanted to play the whole piano at once,” says Carson, “in the same way that a single breeze can cause the entire forest to dance and tremble in unison.”

Our Festival Sponsors and Partners

The Martha's Vineyard Film Society, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit cultural arts organization celebrating 20+ years of service. Although our main activity consists of the operation of the award-winning Martha's Vineyard Film Center, our programming offers much more than films. We produce special community events in collaboration with numerous Island non-profits, host live performances, stream MET Opera live from NYC, and offer Youth Programming year-round, including our Summer Camp with MVTV and Featherstone Center for the Arts. We hope you, our patrons and members, found this newsletter a glimpse into our continued efforts to fulfill our mission and enliven our Island’s cultural arts scene.