Appearance by famous ’80s pop star centrepiece of Doc’N Roll film festival

Doc’n Roll Film Festival returns to Cardiff next month, giving you the opportunity to watch some incredible documentaries on the big screen as they were meant to be watched: LOUD.

Opening the festival at Chapter Arts Centre will be a film featuring the ’80s/’90s pop star Tanita Tikaram, who had major charts success selling millions of records including the smash hit singles Good Tradition and Twist in My Sobriety.

She will be visiting the Cardiff arts venue for a Q&A with the film’s director, Natasca Horn.

This is the rundown of the Doc’N Roll films you can watch:

How Tanita Tikaram Became A Liar
Tuesday 12 May, 6pm

A raw, political and personal cinematic portrait of iconic musician Tanita Tikaram.

An anti-documentary directed by filmmaker Natacha Horn, who is also Tanita Tikaram’s wife, and a cinematic portrait that reveals the maverick music icon as never before. Tikaram delivers, in her own words, a raw, political and personal account of life as a brown, queer woman growing up in the UK, echoing the themes of her new album LIAR (Love Isn’t A Right), the sequel to her multi-million selling debut Ancient Heart.

+ Q&A with Tanita Tikaram and Natasca Horn

Big Mama Thornton – I Can’t Be Anyone But Me
Tuesday 12 May, 7.45pm

A look at how the Blues lived hard, sang harder and left an indelible mark on culture.

This fascinating documentary profiles Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton as a blues powerhouse who shook American music to its core. Towering in voice and presence, she made “Hound Dog” a #1 hit before Elvis ever sang it, and her ferocious “Ball & Chain” launched Janis Joplin’s career. Defying gender norms in jeans, boots, and cowboy hat, Big Mama captivated audiences with raw energy, humour, and soul. From Alabama juke joints to European festivals, she lived hard, sang harder, and left an indelible mark on rock, R&B, and the blues.

Rave Culture – A New Era
Thursday 14 May, 6pm

The story of a movement that blended dance cultures around the world and transformed music.

In the late 1980s when society fractured, electronic music took over. A UK suffocated by unemployment and Margaret Thatcher’s policies, a generation found refuge and a voice through the rave movement. In abandoned factories and secret fields, an underground culture was born – explosions of light and sound where thousands escaped social oppression to the rhythms of breakbeat. Fusing the raw intensity of Detroit techno, the warmth of Chicago house and the energy of New York hip hop, and fuelled by samplers and synths, breakbeat shattered the rules and became the essence of nightlife in the UK. An electrifying journey in to the heart of the musical revolution from the first illegal beats in the UK to its global explosion with interviews and archival footage of General Levy, Baby D, Orbital, The Prodigy, Slipmatt, Goldie, DJ Brockie and many others. This is the story of a movement that transformed music.

+ recorded Q&A with director Eduardo Cubilio Blasco

A Way to Die – The Short Films of Coil
Thursday 14 May, 8.15pm

A hallucinatory tribute to the art of post-punk musicians COIL.

In tribute to the photographic and pictorial art of COIL’s founding members Peter Christopherson (1955–2010) and John Balance (1962–2004), Timeless Editions have restored the duo’s filmed archives to reveal a first-rate cinematic body of work. Incorporating medical art, homoerotic performances and body horror, these short 8mm and 16mm films are rooted in the aesthetic of England’s industrial scene of the post-punk era. At the intersections of Eros and Thanatos, these images assembled into a raw, hallucinatory and immersive film evoke Georges Bataille, J.G. Ballard, Jean Genet, Derek Jarman and the Viennese Actionists. Accompanied by previously unreleased COIL compositions, A Way to Die is a unique document: sensual, disturbing, and profoundly haunted. 

+ Q&A with the directors Xavier Laradii, Maxime Lachaud

Felix – Dare to Dream
Sunday 17 May, 12.30pm

A portrait of a bohemian tattooing family exploring creativity as a way of life.

Artist Felix Leu is one of the most respected practitioners on the international tattooing scene, from the Leu Family, a bohemian clan that turned freedom and creativity into their way of life. Growing up in the Paris art world in the vibrant 1960s with his partner Loretta we explore their extraordinary journey through hardship, love and commitment to artistic expression. More than just a film about tattooing, this is a meditation on independence and identity.

To find out more and book tickets visit: https://www.chapter.org/seasons/docn-roll-film-festival