Preeminence of stories as the epicenter of narratives, little respect for the stylistic boundaries of music and a large screen to remember that before there was not so much consumption on the small one, where the shots look less. That and the offer of a structured program where you can choose titles to enjoy, or question, among equals are the arguments that make In-Edit a festival that resists the paradigm shifts in audiovisual consumption with its documentaries about music. That and the chestnuts typical of autumn that can be purchased near the Mooby Aribau cinemas where the festival will be established between October 23 and November 3, displaying a program of almost 60 documentaries.
Like all festivals, In-Edit has big names (Springsteen, Rolling Stones, Blur, Bad Gyal, Ornette Coleman, Devo, Estopa, Simple Minds, Luther Vandross, Die Antwoork, Ani Di Franco, Estopa…) of which documentaries are offered that in the worst of cases they are neat and that they will hardly disappoint their followers. Album recordings, tours or personal portraits are the most common approaches to artists who show the vicissitudes of a life that seems like a fable. Other, less striking documentaries are those that take as protagonists artists with less popularity or with a popularity that does not reach the new generations. Two examples of great pieces: that of the musician and arranger Waldo de los Ríos, a documentary that after 42 minutes has already buried its protagonist and that in the remaining hour of the footage details without fuss what it meant to be homosexual in the Spain of the seventy (and have a very domineering mother). Another could be that of Carles Sabater, a magnificent approximation to the personality of the late Catalan rock idol (25 years have passed since his death) in which his partner, Laura Jou, explains without slander or sensationalism, with a love not without pain and remarkable sincerity about what the pop idol was like and the fatal consequences that this fact had for Carles, who buried him before he got rid of Sau. Its title says what Carles longed for: “Don’t expect anything from me.”
Another portrait of a “stranger” is that of Dory Previn, a singer-songwriter and poet active between the 50s and 70s, who explains what it meant to be a woman and an artist in those years, events in which being the wife of the pianist and director orchestra André Previn had his influence. The same case of a woman in the shadows is that of June Carter, who was much more than the woman who supported Johnny Cash. According to the festival’s artistic team, a documentary that is no less interesting, and also fun, is that of the musician Jerry Williams Jr, known as Swamp Dogg. Jerry explained the reason for the alias. If Swamp came from the type of funk famous producer Jerry Wexler coined, Dogg was “because a dog can do anything, and anything a dog does is never a real surprise; If he sleeps on the couch, shits on the carpet, pees on the curtains, chews your slippers, climbs on your mother-in-law’s leg, jumps on your new clothes and licks your face, he has never gotten out of character.” Swamp Dogg defining his creative freedom. A character like this, explained by painting her pool with some friends, is as special and documentable as Jackie Shane, one of the first black trans soul and rhythm and blues singers in the 1950s!! !! , friend of a Little Richard who looked like an insurance executive next to him. And the new portrait of Genesis P Orridge, a vitriolic artist, is said to not detract from the fantastic The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, programmed in In-Edit a few years ago, thus seeming like another of the more or less hidden gems of programming.
On the political and social side, it stands out Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, the detailed description of how Western secret services took advantage of the African tours of artists like Nina Simone to destabilize the government of Congolese Patrice Lumumba. For its part, Feneen narrates the attempt to make hip-hop the professional option for young Senegalese people who are encouraged by their families to emigrate and thus avoid being considered cowards and bad sons for not searching for a better future. Barça ou Barzakh, Barcelona, the European dream, or death, summarize this horrible crossroads. Documentaries about the dancehall diaspora, Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall o about calypso setting the Trinidad and Tobago carnival, One Hand Don’t Clap, They allow us to open the focus of a festival that has another new bet in Brian Eno, since a documentary will be projected that is never the same, given that it is remixed live in each session.
