By GREGORY ZELLER //
Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben aren’t the only fab four gracing screens this Summer.
Sights and sounds will abound in August, when the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame is scheduled to host its first-ever Music Documentary Film Festival.
Yes, caped Kryptonians, cloned dinosaurs and fantastic foursomes from parallel universes make for terrific summer blockbusters – but screen gems exploring everything from the Beatles and Public Enemy to Beethoven and Steppenwolf, plus live performances by several LIMEHOF inductees, will have fingers snapping and toes tapping for three days next month.
The Aug. 8-10 event – which features “bold, unforgettable films that capture everything from rock legends and rising stars to hometown heroes and hidden histories,” according to Music Documentary Film Festival Executive Director Tom Needham – is not LIMEHOF’s first foray into movie marathons.
In April, the Stony Brook-based museum debuted its Local Filmmaker Series, a multi-genre celebration of locally produced movies featuring monthly Saturday afternoon matinees and audience Q&As with the filmmakers.
Tom Needham: Front and center.
This time around, musical documentaries are the focus, with 24 biopics, concert films and cultural touchstones slated to be screened, beginning at 11 a.m. each day.
Among the features: “Building the Beatles,” featuring never-before-seen footage of history’s most seminal rock band, and “Cat’s in the Cradle 50th Anniversary: The Song That Changed Our Lives,” celebrating LIMEHOF inductee, legendary Long Island musician and philanthropist Harry Chapin.
Also scheduled to be screened are “Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between,” dissecting the career of the genre-jumping singer-songwriter; “Born To Be Wild,” chronicling the story of 1960s/70s sensation Steppenwolf; and “If Jack Reacher Could Sing,” tracking “Jack Reacher” novelist Lee Child as he attempts to write songs for pop band Naked Blue.
Several other docu-flicks are on the docket – as are Q&A sessions with filmmakers including “Charlie Loves Our Band: The Story of From Good Homes” director Victor Guadagno, “40 Watts from Nowhere” director Sue Carpenter and “String Theory: Guitar Obsessed” director Jarrett Bellucci.
Also expected to meet-and-greet audiences is “Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary” director Robert Schwartzman, a member of the Coppola family – true Hollywood royalty – who starred in “The Princess Diaries” and is the lead singer of rock-pop band Rooney.
Dear “Diaries”: Hollywood prince Robert Schwartzman (right), who starred in “The Princess Diaries” alongside Anne Hathaway (left) and Heather Matarazzo, is expected to grace LIMEHOF’s newest film series.
Opening- and closing-night parties and a rich schedule of live musical performances – by the likes of English pop star Billy Kramer, Guggenheim Grotto’s Mick Lynch and Public Enemy’s DJ Johnny Juice, among others – round out the first-ever festival.
More than an exciting celebration of music on celluloid, LIMEHOF’s Musical Documentary Film Festival will help put the museum and the Island on the map, according to Needham, the LIMEHOF vice chairman who headed up April’s Local Filmmaker Series.
“The highly anticipated LIMEHOF Music Documentary Film Festival puts Long Island at the center of the global music documentary scene,” Needham added.
