Okayplayer.com is proud to co-sponsor the 2nd Annual XPN Music Film Fest produced by the Philadelphia Film Society kicking off in the City of Brotherly Love tonight. The festival scheduled to run from April 11th to the 14th is the first in Philadelphia dedicated solely to films about music - films included in the festival span all musical genres. The schedule of events features 26 screenings, and includes the standout films Muscle Shoals, Kinshasa Kids, Once In A Lullaby: The P.S. 22 Chorus Story and the festival's closing film Twenty Feet From Stardom - the Morgan Neville film about the dynamism of back-up singers that was a hit at Sundance.
Click through to view trailers, venue information and screening times for those films.
Muscle Shoals
Director Greg "Freddy" Camalier presents the 2012 documentary Muscle Shoals - a patchwork of performances, interviews and archival footage that examines the story of the legendary music studio used music to bridge the divide between the races at a very tenuous time in American history during the civil rights movement in the south. The documentary takes us behind-the-scenes to see how the studio worked and the who's who of acts it produced - Wilson Pickett, Simon and Garfunkel, The Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin among it's many talents.
Schedule: Saturday, 4/13, 7pm
Venue: Annenberg-Prince
Price: $12 / $8 XPN/PFS Members
Run Time: 111 minutes
Once In A Lullaby: The P.S. 22 Chorus Story
The 2012 film directed by Jonathan Kalafer chronicles New York City's P.S. 22 Chorus on the eve of their biggest performance yet, at the 2011 Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California. The film documents the students' creative differences, technical difficulties and homesickness in a documentary celebrating youth and art at their finest.
Schedule: Saturday, 4/13, 2pm
Venue: Annenberg-Prince
Price: $12 / $8 XPN/PFS Members
Run Time: 89 minutes
Kinshasa Kids
In a mash of documentary filmmaking and fiction, director Marc-Henri Wajnberg employs live-action scenes and animation to tell the uplifting story of Congolese street kids in the film Kinshasa Kids. After being cast out of society and accused of witchcraft, the children attempt to fight back by forming a band.
Schedule: Friday 4/12, 8:30pm
Venue: Annenberg-Prince
Price: $12 / $8 XPN/PFS Members
Run Time: 85 minutes
Schedule: Saturday, 4/13, 2:45pm
Venue: Annenberg-Montgomery
Price: $12 / $8 XPN/PFS Members
Run Time: 85 minutes
Twenty Feet From Stardom
Director Morgan Neville presents the 2012 Sundance smash Twenty Feet From Stardom - a film chronicling the struggles, triumphs and massive impact of backup singers. Considered heroes of the full musical sound, backup singers are the dynamic backbone of most bands and have anchored some of the greatest voices of all-time. This documentary captures a bit of their largely untold story.
Schedule: Sunday, 4/14, 7:30pm
Venue: Mandell Theater
Price: $12 / $8 XPN/PFS Members
Run Time: 90 minutes
