All Tomorrow’s Parties

Documentary Feature, 24 Beats per Second
D: All Tomorrow’s People; with Belle & Sebastian, Grizzly Bear, Sonic Youth, Portishead, Daniel Johnston, Grinderman, Battles, Mogwai, Les Savy Fav, Lightning Bolt

The name bears a helluva pedigree: Burroughs’ book, Nico/Velvet Underground standard, alt-rock festival, and now film. Since 1999, All Tomorrow’s Parties the festival has convened at a seaside holiday camp in Camber Sands, UK. All Tomorrow’s Parties the film is culled from more than 200 sources, footage shot by musicians and fans alike, over the course of the fest’s decade in existence. Bright and colorful reels from the beach camp’s Sixties to Seventies heyday offer a feel for the place and what came before and sets the tone. It explodes into a modern-day mash-up of throbbing tom-toms and Woodstocky multiscreen mayhem. No talking heads or running commentary here; viewers soak the same corporate-free total immersion indie-rawk experience as fans, illustrating the one bit of commentary within, courtesy of a floating Sun Ra: “Everyone’s supposed to be playing their part in this vast orchestry of the cosmos.”

Saturday March 21, 8pm, Alamo Ritz

This article appears in March 20 • 2009.

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