Bunch of Kunst, the debut feature from German film maker Christine Franz on British punk duo, Sleaford Mods, will be exclusively screened in Dublin at the Light House Cinema, Smithfield, it has been confirmed. Concurrent with the music documentary’s UK release, the music documentary opens on April 21st.
The band’s sweary rants about modern England have dubbed them “the voice of Britain” by their fans, “Britain’s angriest band” by the Guardian and “the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band” by Iggy Pop. The music documentary, which is being released through UK distributor Munro Films (Northern Soul, Cobain: Montage of Heck, Svengali), follows the band from bedroom recording sessions to chart success.
Over a two-year period in the UK and Europe, director/producer Franz, a Berlin-based music journalist, filmed former chicken factory worker Jason Williamson, his beatmaker band mate Andrew Fearn, and their manager, Steve Underwood, bus driver and avant-garde bedroom label owner. With candour and humour, Bunch of Kunst tells the story of three guys taking on the music business on their own terms.
“I first met Sleaford Mods for my day job as a music editor for (French-German public TV network) ARTE’s weekly music programme TRACKS. It was kind of a band crush at first hearing”, says Franz, who went on to do the band’s first ever TV interview. The film is a passion piece, not just for Franz, but for every member of the production team, who volunteered in their spare time and during holidays. It is also fully self-financed, by choice. Speaking on the creative freedom this allowed, Franz says, “My idea was to make a film that was as DIY and as rough around the edges as the band itself”.
Front man Williamson adds, “This documentary film is the perfect antidote to those sexy, racy, rock ‘n’ roll yawns most bands hide behind.”
“[the film] charts the uncompromising and self-made rise of a band who worked to their own rule book. The film captures the long bleak grind of that hard work without any hint of sentimental rose-tinted retrospect. It’s the real deal. Enjoy it. You won’t see it too often” – Steve Underwood, Sleaford Mods manager/Harbinger Sound
Bunch of Kunst had its world premiere as part of the CPH:DOX international documentary festival in Copenhagen (March 18).
Bunch of Kunst opens on April 21st at Light House Cinema, Dublin and also opens at Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast on the same day.
Tickets are available via the Light House Cinema website.