King Rocker | |
---|---|
Directed by | Michael Cumming |
Written by | Stewart Lee |
Produced by | James Nicholls |
Release dates |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
King Rocker is a 2020 British documentary film directed by Michael Cumming and written by Stewart Lee about the singer Robert Lloyd and his bands, The Prefects and The Nightingales. [1] [2] It premiered at the 2020 Sheffield Doc/Fest, before being shown on Sky Arts, with its premiere on the network being on 6 February 2021. [3] [4]
King Rocker features Frank Skinner, [5] Kevin Eldon, [6] Marc Riley, [7] Robin Askwith, [8] and Paul Morley, [9] with archive footage included of John Peel, Ted Chippington and We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It. [10] The latter two appeared with Lloyd/The Nightingales on the British Children's pop programme Razzmatazz, performing the single credited to The Vindaloo Summer Special in 1986. [11]
The film was produced by James Nicholls, who was one of the people behind music documentary The Ballad of Shirley Collins (which also featured Lee). [12] The film also features a statue of King Kong by Nicholas Monro. [6]
Nigel John Taylor is a British musician who is best known as the bass guitarist for new wave band Duran Duran, of which he was a founding member. Duran Duran was one of the most popular bands in the world during the 1980s due in part to their music videos which played in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV. Taylor played with Duran Duran from its founding in 1978 until 1997, when he left to pursue a solo recording and film career. He recorded a dozen solo releases through his private record label B5 Records over the next four years, had a lead role in the movie Sugar Town, and made appearances in a half dozen other film projects. He rejoined Duran Duran for a reunion of the original five members in 2001 and has remained with the group since.
Stewart Graham Lee is an English comedian. His stand-up routine is characterised by repetition, internal reference, and deadpan delivery.
Nightingales are a British post-punk/alternative rock band, formed in 1979 in Birmingham, England, by four members of Birmingham's punk group The Prefects. They had been part of The Clash's 'White Riot Tour', recorded a couple of Peel Sessions, released a 45 on Rough Trade and, years after splitting up, had a retrospective CD released by US indie label Acute Records.
Sky Arts is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, films, documentaries and music. The channel is available in the United Kingdom through Freeview, Freesat, BT TV, Sky, Virgin Media, and TalkTalk TV and in the Republic of Ireland via Sky Ireland, Virgin Media Ireland, Vodafone Ireland and Eir, included in most basic subscription packs, but started life as a premium service requiring an additional payment on top of the monthly Sky subscription. The channel launched on Freeview and Freesat as a free-to-air service in September 2020.
Sheffield DocFest is an international documentary festival and industry marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England.
Ted Chippington is a British stand-up comedian.
Timothy Marc Plester is a British actor, playwright, and filmmaker, best known for the documentaries Way of the Morris and The Ballad of Shirley Collins - plus a multifarious number of cameo roles for film and TV.
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. The festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 feature films and 150 short films from more than 70 countries are screened at the festival each year.
Robert Lloyd is the lead singer with The Nightingales and formerly with The Prefects. When The Nightingales split in 1986, Lloyd embarked on a solo career, initially signing to In-Tape before signing to Virgin Records in 1989 and releasing the album Me and My Mouth (1990). The album featured Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas, Andy Scott and Craig Gannon, but for the tour to promote the album, Lloyd had to recruit a new band which included former Nightingales guitarist Peter 'The Tank' Byrchmore. After Virgin dropped Lloyd from their roster in 1991, he formed a new band, Terminal Hoedown, with Byrchmore on lead guitar, Joe Crow on guitar, Eamonn James Duffy on bass and Ernie Hendricks on drums. The Nightingales re-formed in 2004.
Ossian Brown is an English musician and artist, most notable for being a member of the groups Coil and Cyclobe.
Heather Ann Croall is an international arts festival CEO and artistic director and documentary producer, best known for leading Sheffield Doc/Fest and Adelaide Fringe, and her work on live music / archive films including The Big Melt, From the Sea to the Land Beyond, Girt By Sea, From Scotland With Love, Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz is a 2014 American biographical documentary film about Aaron Swartz written, directed, and produced by Brian Knappenberger. The film premiered in the US Documentary Competition program category at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014.
The 50 Year Argument is a documentary film by Martin Scorsese and co-directed by David Tedeschi about the history and influence of the New York Review of Books, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2013. The documentary premiered in June 2014 at the Sheffield Doc/Fest and was soon screened in Oslo and Jerusalem before airing on the British Arena television series in July. It was also screened at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival and was seen at the New York Film Festival, in September, and at other film festivals. It first aired on HBO in September 2014 and was given other national broadcasts. It had a limited theatrical release in Toronto in 2015.
Mark Atkin is a British filmmaker and director at Crossover Labs. He has directed and produced films, including co-producing The Big Melt and From the Sea to the Land Beyond, and organized film festival events.
The Cinema Travellers is a 2016 documentary film about the travelling cinemas of India, directed by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya. The film is produced by Cave Pictures, India, a company co-founded by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya in 2015. It was pitched at the 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest MeetMarket. The film premiered as an Official Selection at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and won L'Œil d'or Special Mention: Le Prix du documentaire. In 2016, it was the only Indian film playing as an Official Selection at Cannes.
Lodestar is the seventh studio album by the English folk musician Shirley Collins. The album is Collins's first in 38 years, making it one of the longest gaps between studio albums.
Michael Cumming is a British director and filmmaker. He is best known for directing comedy shows such as Brass Eye, Toast of London, Toast of Tinseltown, The Mark Thomas Product, Snuff Box,The Mark Steel Lectures and Rock Profile.
Generation Revolution is a 2016 British documentary film directed by Cassie Quarless and Usayd Younis. It follows the stories of Black and Asian activists in London who aim to change the social and political landscape in the capital. The film preceded the inception of the UK's Black Lives Matter movement.
Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin is a 2023 biographical documentary film about Pete Doherty, directed by his now-wife Katia deVidas.