Opening Night Film
Twenty Feet from Stardom
DIRECTED BY MORGAN NEVILLE
USA, 2012, 89 MIN
Called “One of the Best” of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM spotlights the untold story of a group of gifted and diverse back-up singers, whose vocal talents helped shape the narrative of popular music yet still remain in the margins of history. Following each singer’s unique and complicated journey, the film traces the history of back-up singers from the 1950s to modern day. It serves as a rousing tribute to their passion, sacrifice, and desire to strive for perfect harmony and brings them to a place of prominence once and for all. TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM includes interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Elton John, Bette Midler, and the relatively unknown singers who support them, such as Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, Claudia Lennear, and Tata Vega, whose remarkable voices helped define countless popular songs that would make up the soundtracks of our lives.
Preceded by
Combustion
DIRECTED BY RENAUD HALLÉE
CANADA, 2011, 4 MIN
SOUTHEAST PREMIERE
(Also screens as part of International Shorts)
Visual rhythms and musical cadences further ignite flickering flames and fiery dances in this mesmerizing experimental short.
