SOUNDWATCH Berlin (Germany)
MUSIC FILM FESTIVAL
Founded in 2017, Soundwatch – Berlin Music Film Festival presents music documentaries and and explores various approaches to combining image and music, including music video, media art and narrative features. The festival strives to be a platform for audiences to discover new sounds and experience music through the moving image.
Acclaimed films such as Liberation Day – Laibach in North Korea, Here To Be Heard – The Story of the Slits, I Want My MTV, The Rise and Fall of the Clash, The Sound Is Innocent, New Order: Decades, The Go-Go’s, Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World, Fonko, Built to Last: Relics of Communist-Era Architecture, Cool Cats, Hustlers Convention, Under the Underground, Sex & Broadcasting.: A Film About WFMU, The Ballad of Shirley Collins, Boy Howdy! – The Story of CREEM Magazine, Una banda de chicas , San Remo, The Vasulka Effect, the film work of Jan Ságl and many others celebrated Berlin premieres at Soundwatch. Our program presents films which show the social contexts in which music originates and engages with. The Lichtblick-Kino, a collectively run cinema in a legalized squat is our main venue.
In addition to the annual festival days (usually during the first week of November), Soundwatch presents monthly screenings of film-themed films such as Nico, 1988, Carmine Street Guitars, Coal Country Song (Gundermann Revier) and short film programs, often with live music. In cooperation with Berlin-based musician/artist/filmmaker Marco Brosolo, Soundwatch contributes to annual live music/film events celebrating late lo-fi singer-songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston.
