The Beatles are grabbing attention at this year’s Venice Film Festival, which unveiled its 2024 lineup on Tuesday.
The legendary band, who dominated the music industry for a decade starting in 1960, have secured slots in the documentary section of the prestigious festival in various capacities. Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards’ documentary One-on-one: John and Yoko focuses on the intense and public relationship between the two artists, while What we said today Romanian Andrei Ujica’s film is a look at the band’s famous first North American tour – a film that should have been ready 10 years ago.
On John Lennon’s official website, Macdonald’s Mercury Studios feature-length documentary is described as “a moving look at the couple’s lives as they arrived in a rapidly changing New York City of the 1970s, exploring their musical, personal, artistic, social and political worlds.” Macdonald himself said: “I wanted to make a film that would surprise and delight even the most devoted Lennon and Ono fans by focusing on a transformative period in their lives and telling the story through their own words, images and music… Built around the stunning 16mm footage of John’s only full concert since leaving the Beatles, I hope the film will introduce audiences to a more intimate version of John and Yoko – while reflecting their politically radical and experimental sides.”
The Beatles broke up in 1970 after a period of great popularity. They are the best-selling music group of all time, with an estimated 600 million copies sold worldwide. In December 1980, Lennon was shot dead outside his New York apartment.
Other documentaries unveiled in Venice on Tuesday include: 2073 And Separatedthe last of the great Errol Morris (The Fog of War), as well as that of Göran Hugo Olsson Israel Palestine on Swedish TV from 1958 to 1989which documents how Swedish public broadcasters covered the Middle East crisis for three decades. Riefenstahla look at the famous and revolutionary German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, will also be screened.
From Darkness to Lighta documentary by directors Michael Lurie and Eric Friedler about Jerry Lewis’s unreleased Holocaust film The day the clown criedwhich features never-before-seen footage from the legendary lost film, will be screened in the Venice Classics section dedicated to documentaries about cinema.
Venice opens on August 28 with the world premiere of Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceThe sequel to Tim Burton’s hit 1988 horror comedy, screened out of competition. Joker 2, MarriedAnd Wolves will also premiere at the festival.
Discover more from The Times Of Update
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
