Doc'n Roll Festival: an interview with the Subcultures Interest Group
- Written by
- Published date 13 November 2022
Post-Grad Community's Subcultures Interest Group sits down with Vanessa Lobon, co-Director of London's annual Doc'n Roll Film Festival.
LIGHTS
Who are you?
My name is Vanessa Lobon and I am the co-director of Doc'n Roll Film Festival, the UK's Music Doc Festival.
CAMERA
What is it and why is it necessary?
Doc'n Roll began life in 2013, when we (Colm and I) launched the UK's Music Documentary Film Festival as a music discovery film fest, convinced it was time to show some love to under-the-radar indie music documentaries and subcultures that were all too often ignored by risk-averse film programmers.
Our mission is to celebrate music subcultures by providing a unique platform to support creative, compelling and unforgettable documentaries that celebrate the performers, labels, scenes and stories.
We champion marginal voices in the music industry; we are passionate about independent film and music of all genres.
Eight years on, via our now UK-wide annual festival, one-off events and special screenings, we provide our audience with the opportunity to watch these killer documentaries in ace cinemas, as they were designed to be watched: LOUD.
In 2019, we launched another UK first, Doc'n Roll TV, our worldwide on-demand streaming platform that allows us to present a host of new and classic music documentaries to viewers at home.
ACTION
Where and when is it taking place?
Doc’n Roll Film Festival 2022 returns to big screens nationwide this autumn for its 9th London edition, and a 13-city tour – Birkenhead, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield – offering a truly UK-wide programme of premiere music documentaries.
An experience-led festival, Doc’n Roll brings its events to life with live Q&As with directors and musicians, special DJ sets, after parties and post-screening gigs.
This year Doc’n Roll will screen a hand-picked selection of 22 feature-length documentaries and 9 shorts from around the globe, with both in-cinema and online offerings, and multiple world, European, UK and London premieres of highly anticipated films.
A programme of musical discovery highlighting major artists and unsung heroes, cult icons and underground subcultures, Doc’n Roll puts a dazzling range of rhythms, musicians and music scenes in the spotlight, and showcases stories from the worlds of electronic, folk and punk to the landscapes of soul, psychedelia and jazz.
Do you accept pitches from wannabe filmmakers?
“We don't have an industry event, but next year we will start doing that so filmmakers can pitch their ideas.”
FIN
“I love music documentaries and I hope to bring that love to more women. As we see from the projects submitted to Doc’n Roll for consideration, we are still far from gender equity in terms of music documentary directors and subjects,” she notes. “This year, we are ensuring that our UK touring programme has a 50/50 gender balance, as part of our commitment to helping first and second-time female directors tour their films in the UK. I hope this plays a part in inspiring female filmmakers to see that music documentary-making isn’t just a man's world. Everyone is welcome to celebrate the power of music.”
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