OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL in Montreal from September 30th

The last installment of Julien Temple’s trilogy of documentaries on British music of the ‘70s, OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL, will finally be screening in Quebec. The series of screenings will begin with its Quebec premiere at the Film POP Festival in Montreal on September 24th, followed by a screening at the Quebec City Film Festival on September 28th and a theatrical release at Cinéma Parallèle from September 30th. This is a first documentary release for Evokative Films.

OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL focuses on the band Dr. Feelgood, four men in cheap suits who crashed out of Canvey Island, UK, sandpapered the face of rock’n’roll and paved the way for punk rock. Featuring contributions from members of The Clash, Blondie and the Sex Pistols, OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL sets out to explore this unique time, place and social landscape, all of which were responsible for shaping the identity of the band and defined the strange cultural vacuum which existed before the coming of punk rock. Dr. Feelgood was composed of the lead and singer Lee Brilleaux, Wilko Johnson at the guitar, John B. Sparks (aka Sparko) at the bass and John Martin (aka The Big Figure) at the drums. The pub rock band was formed in 1971 and became popular for their high-energy live gigs as well as the albums Down by the Jetty (1974), Malpractice (1975) and Stupidity (1976), which topped the UK charts.

Julien Temple is a famed documentarist who has concentrated its oeuvre on rock music. He is most known for SEX PISTOLS: THE FILTH AND THE FURY and JOE STRUMMER: THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN, the two other films of the trilogy. Rather than making standard “rockumentaries”, Julien uses the music as a prism through which he examines the social and cultural conditions of the times. The films share his characteristic cinematic language, an irreverent and anarchic style of montage or archive and fictive footage, which he pioneered in THE GREAT ROCK & ROLL SWINDLE. Other rock documentaries by Temple include GLASTONBURY and ROLLING STONES: AT THE MAX. He is now working on a five-part documentary series on cities and music. The first two ones, CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION, set in Rio, and THIS IS LONDON are filming this year. The next ones will explore Tijuana, Havana and Berlin.

OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL won the Best Documentary Award at the 2011 Kermode Awards, the Vision Award at the 2010 Mojo Best Film Awards and the Cult Award for Best International Film at the 2009 Torino Film Festival. It has screened around the world, including the London, Stockholm, Dubai, Sydney, Karlovy Vary and Oldenburg International film festivals. Its Canadian premiere was at this past edition of Toronto’s Canadian Music Week.

Posted in Theatrical Releases