Joy Division Documentary Trailer + Festival Showings

A documentary based on the life and times of Joy Division has made its film trailer debut online and film festival dates have been announced.

Here is the synopsis

In 1976 four young men from ruined, post-industrial Manchester, England went to see the Sex Pistols. They formed a band, Joy Division. Three years later it was a matter of art, life and death. Now thirty years later, they are enjoying a larger audience and more influence than ever before with a profound legacy that resonates fiercely in today's heavily careerist music industry and over-mediated pop culture.

Dates for showing of the documentary:


Ambulate Gira de Documentales [Mexico]
http://www.ambulante.com.mx/2008/en/home.php
February 1st – April 24th

!f Istanbul [Turkey]
http://ifistanbul.com/
February 14th – March 3rd

Film Comments Selects at Lincoln Center [New York, NY]
For tickets:
https://tickets.filmlinc.com/php/calendar.php?month=2&day=27&year=2008&sid=&cmode=0&org=#10020">https://tickets.filmlinc.com/php/calendar.php?month=2&day=16&year=2008&sid=&cmode=0&org=#10019
https://tickets.filmlinc.com/php/calendar.php?month=2&day=27&year=2008&sid=&cmode=0&org=#10020
February 16th & February 27th

ZagrebDox [Zagreb, Croatia]
http://www.zagrebdox.net/html/en/info.php
February 25th – March 2nd

True|False Film Fest [Columbia, MO]
http://truefalse.org/
February 28th – March 2nd

SXSW [Austin, TX]
http://2008.sxsw.com/film/
March 7th – March 15th

Ljubljana Documentary Film Festival [Slovenia]
http://www.cd-cc.si/default.cfm?Jezik=En&Kat=0204&Predstava=267
March 26th – April 2nd

Buenos Aires Film Festival [Argentina]
http://www.bafici.gov.ar/bafici_10/index_e.php
April 8th – April 20th

Independent Film Festival of Boston [Boston, MA]
http://www.iffboston.org/
April 23rd – April 29th

Jeonju International Film Festival
http://www.jiff.or.kr/
May 1st – May 9th

+ News Source

Sam Riley nominated for the Orange Rising Star Award!

Control star Sam Riley has been nominated for the Orange Rising Star Award. It’s an open award so the public can vote for it so go to the address below to vote for him!

http://bafta.orange.co.uk/home/OrangeRisingStarAward/

Control Headed to DVD in 08

The Joy Division film 'Control' is set for release on DVD next year.

The biopic about the band’s frontman Ian Curtis is out on February 11.

This movie focuses on a profile of Ian Curtis (Riley), the enigmatic singer of Joy Division whose personal, professional, and romantic troubles led him to commit suicide at the age of 23.

The movie was directed by the band’s visual collaborator Anton Corbijn, who has also worked with the likes of U2 and Depeche Mode, and was based on the book ’Touching From A Distance’ by Curtis’ widow Deborah.

Along with the film starring Samantha Morton and former singer Sam Riley (pictured), the DVD release features extended scenes, a director's commentary, a making of film and Corbijn’s ’Atmosphere 88’ video among the extras.

Source Link

Control Wins BIG at British Independent Awards

uk.reuters.com
Anton Corbijn's "Control" was the big winner at Wednesday night's British Independent Film Awards, walking off with best movie, director and a pair of actor awards.

Corbijn's black-and-white film, based on the short life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, scooped a total of five awards, including the evening's big two: best British independent film and best director.

Corbijn's biopic exorcised the threat of "Eastern Promises," "And When Did You Last See Your Father," "Hallam Foe" and "Notes on a Scandal" to secure the evening's best picture nod.

Corbijn beat Anand Tucker ("And When Did You"), Sarah Gavron ("Brick Lane"), David Cronenberg ("Eastern Promises") and David Mackenzie ("Hallam Foe") to the punch as best director.

The Dutch director also secured the Douglas Hickox Award for best debut director for his film.

The movie's Sam Riley earned the most promising newcomer nod for his turn as the enigmatic singer-songwriter, who committed suicide at age 23, just as his band began breaking into the big time.

Best supporting actor went to Tony Kebbell for his swaggering interpretation of Joy Division band manager Rob Gretton. Kebbell was nominated for a best newcomer BIFA in 2004 for his role in "Dead Man's Shoes."

Viggo Mortensen's performance in Cronenberg's "Promises," which includes an infamous naked knife fight in a sauna, secured best actor honours, while Judi Dench earned the best actress nod for her barnstorming turn as a jealous, lonely teacher who resorts to blackmail to keep a friendship in "Notes on a Scandal."

Writer Patrick Marber secured the screenplay award for "Notes on a Scandal."

The winners of the 10th annual BIFAs also included a best documentary award for Julien Temple's "Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten."

BIFA organizers noted that the awards -- presented at the Roundhouse in London for the first time in the event's 10-year history -- have grown "to celebrate the increasingly diverse range of talent out there."

This year's Richard Harris Award for outstanding contribution by an actor to British film went to Ray Winstone.

The winners were chosen by a jury composed of veteran industry executives, filmmakers and actors.

Interview with Anton Corbijn, director of Control

Here is an interview with Anton Corbijn, director of the biopic Joy Division film 'Control'. He of course is famous for his work in crafting the image of Depeche Mode and is making his directorial debut.

Interview with Anton Corbijn, director of Control

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Control US Theater Upcoming Dates

In case you are wondering since its initial limited release on October 5th, the Joy Division biopic will be hitting some more theaters in the next few weeks. Here are the official dates and cities + check out trailer below: (More dates to come)

10/19
Los Angeles- Landmark NuArt 500 seats

10/26
Canada (selected theatres)
Los Angeles- The Landmark (moves over from NuArt)
Chicago- Music Box
Philadelphia- Landmark Ritz
San Francisco- Landmark Lumiere
Berkeley- Landmark Shattuck
Boston- Landmark Kendall Square
Detroit- Landmark Main Art
Seattle- Landmark Metro
Denver- Landmark Starz Filmcenter
St. Louis- Landmark Tivoli

11/2
Dallas- Landmark Inwood
Washington DC- Landmark E-Street
Atlanta- Landmark Midtown
Minneapolis- Landmark Lagoon
San Diego- Landmark Ken
Houston - Landmark

11/9
Pittsburgh - Squirrel Hill

Joy Division Resurgence

Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times
By Chris Lee.
MORE than three decades have passed since Joy Division emerged from the cultural rubble of post-industrial Manchester, England to rechannel punk rock's sound and fury into something more sublime.

Over the group's fleeting, three-year existence, its lyrics connected with fans by conveying emotional isolation and existential despair while the music arrived with the visceral impact of shattering glass. Just 50 Joy Division songs were recorded in all: darkly propulsive rock anthems and atmospheric soundscapes that demonstrate a kind of glacial grandeur, both serene and severe.

Now, 27 years after the group's charismatic lead singer and songwriter, Ian Curtis, hanged himself at age 23, the band is having a "moment." Which is to say, after years as a cult phenomenon, Joy Division's influence is suddenly turning up all over pop culture.

But why Joy Division? Why now?

In an era that has post-punk cultural touchstones such as skinny ties, danceable rock and distrust of the government making a comeback, many of those participating in the band's revival seem more apt to frame debate around what Joy Division isn't than to provide a new raison d'être for its current resurgence.

"When people revisit it, there's no cultural kitsch. It's so pared down, it's not retro," said Grant Gee, director of the new documentary "Joy Division." "Everything about the band has a minimalism that doesn't age."

Added Anton Corbijn, director of the elegantly shot Curtis biopic "Control": "Joy Division doesn't feel fashionable in any way. It defined an era but it doesn't really come from that era."

On Oct. 19, "Control" will begin its Los Angeles theatrical run. Co-produced and directed by the music-video ace and art photographer, it traces Curtis' internal conflicts as a married family man who struggled to reconcile his fragmented existence as a rock star and closet intellectual prone to devastating epileptic seizures.

"Control" cleaned up at last year's Cannes Film Festival, winning the Regards Jeunes prize for best first or second directed feature and the Europa Cinema award for best European film being shown out of competition for the Palme d'Or.

Last month, music-video helmer Gee's rockumentary -- which details the group's fast rise and sudden end from the perspective of band members and those close to them -- was acquired by the Weinstein Co. at the Toronto Film Festival. Although a release date hasn't been set, "Joy Division" has caused a stir among band faithful for including a first-ever interview with Annik Honoré, Curtis' mistress during his final days.

Moreover, it's become almost impossible to turn on modern-rock radio without registering the sonic debt owed Joy Division by a who's who of buzz bands -- most notably, the Killers, She Wants Revenge, Interpol, Bloc Party, the National and Moving Units.

"It's not like the hipsters have united and decided, 'This is the best band,' " said Brian Aubert, singer-guitarist of Silver Lake indie-rock group the Silversun Pickups, which covered Joy Division's "Shadowplay" on an early demo tape. "It's always been the best band. A band you found out about through other people. It was never pushed on you."

Until now, that is. Cashing in on the interest, Rhino Records is releasing deluxe editions of Joy Division's studio albums, "Unknown Pleasures" and "Closer," and "Still," a compilation of rare recordings; Joy Division ringtones, a special vinyl box set and the soundtrack to "Control," which contains unreleased music by the Killers and New Order, the band composed of Joy Division's three remaining members.

Tom Atencio has managed New Order in North America for more than 20 years in addition to administering Joy Division's catalog on this continent and executive producing "Joy Division." He places the band's purity of purpose against the disposable nature of most pop music today.




"We live in a time of 'American Idol' where, if you're a kid, you are being force fed pop music that is a direct descendant of a hit from six months ago," Atencio said. "Yet here's a band you could trust. They weren't seeking the idolatry of a rock stage. This music was something they needed to express.

"Then there's something so moving in the sound of the music that people just want to identify with. Something in Ian's deeply felt lyrics and delivery that's unbelievably honest. It's that dog whistle of instant recognition -- in an era of branding, here's a brand you can trust.

A pop-music cipherCHRIS Ott, who wrote the book "Unknown Pleasures" about the making of Joy Division's epochal 1979 debut album, places Curtis' reclaimed relevance in a different context: alongside fellow rock casualties Jim Morrison and Sid Vicious. "Because Ian Curtis killed himself, people can project whatever they want onto his life and music," Ott said. "He's not around to tell them otherwise."

To wit, "Control" arrives on the heels of an earlier Joy Division movie: director Michael Winterbottom's "24 Hour Party People" in 2002. Depicting Manchester's "Madchester" alternative music scene as it revolved around mogul Tony Wilson's Factory Records, Curtis is portrayed as a brooding, erratic control freak. But the film angered some Joy Division purists by providing scant motive for the singer's decision to commit suicide.

Blame the dearth of archival Joy Division information -- largely because of the notoriously press-averse, socially circumspect Curtis' habit of singing his mind rather than speaking it -- for its continuing mystique. "Bands now, you know every biographical detail," said Gee. "With Joy Division, there was one audio tape and one major print interview -- there are gaps around everything they did. If you're discovering [the group] now, you have to work to fill in the gaps with your imagination. The image draws you in."

Toward that end, look no further than the fashion runway for evidence that Joy Division's military-inspired, minimalist "look" -- buttoned-up shirts, trench coats, suit trousers and apparent contempt for anything casual or synthetic -- is indisputably now.

But while rock, film and fashion have been in lock step for decades, the band's influence has been popping up even further afield. This year, the U.K. Japanese restaurant chain Yo! Sushi began offering a boxed meal named in honor of Joy Division's most famous song. The Love Will Tear Us Apart salmon and tuna box set includes a selection of nigiri, maki and sashimi as well as a salad topped with a piquant sunomono dressing. And even more incongruously, in April, the sportswear company New Balance commissioned artist Dylan Adair to design two pairs of limited edition Joy Division running shoes, one featuring the iconic pulsar wavelength artwork from the "Unknown Pleasures' " album cover. Not necessarily the roll-out you'd expect for a band that takes its name from concentration camp brothels for Nazi soldiers.

She Wants Revenge frontman Justin Warfield isn't convinced, however, that Joy Division's resurgence is as sudden as it might appear. He ticks off other similar comebacks in recent years for influential underground bands including the Velvet Underground, the Ramones and Gang of Four. Still, Warfield allows that it's not a coincidence that popular music -- and especially indie rock -- should take a turn away from frivolousness during wartime.

"To me, this is a dire and ominous time, and if Joy Division influences music in no other way than to add a touch of darkness, that's a great thing," Warfield said. "There's so much bright and shiny escapist music right now, we need music to reflect and inspire other emotions."

"I love dark music. But why is Joy Division popular? Because they're a great band that's been overlooked for a long time. And great music stands the test of time."