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Nothing fits the music documentary format quite so compellingly as a life cut tragically short. In addition to the ready-made dramatic arc, a subject who leaves this mortal coil before their time usually also leaves a certain amount of mystery in their wake, providing ample grist for filmmakers (and the folks they interview) to chew on.

Even when the hows and whys of an artist's tragic exit are a matter of uncontroversial record, questions of "What might have been?" inevitably linger over their prematurely truncated discography — in itself a far...

At the dawn of the 1980s, a group of five working class London boys called Spandau Ballet, set out to brighten up the dark days of punk-era Britain with far-out, futuristic fashion, a love of Studio 54 disco and German synthpop.  Their danceable hooks topped the charts, with classics like "True," "Gold," "Instinction" and "Chant No. 1," while their cover boy looks graced every teen magazine.  After a twenty-year breakup, that included a famously ugly courthouse battle, the men, now in middle age, remembered what they loved about playing in the first place and began a reunion tour, but there was still much that needed sorting.  Director George Hencken's Soul Boys Of The Western World charts the band's rise, breakup, and reunion.To Cut a Long...

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Sundance Selects has acquired Us rights to George Hencken’s Soul Boys Of The Western World ahead of this weekend’s screening at Doc NYC.

Soul Boys Of The Western World premiered earlier this year at SXSW and tells of the New Romantic band’s rise and features previously unseen footage from the band’s personal archives and interviews with all five members.

The film will open theatrically and on VOD in 2015.

Steve Dagger and Scott Millaney produced the Wellingmax documentary. Search Engine Films has acquired Canadian rights.

Senior vp of acquisitions Arianna Bocco and manager of acquisitions Sean Berney negotiated the deal with Josh Braun and Ben Braun of Submarine Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers.

Name and focus changes for every section, which are now all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.

The ninth Rome Film Festival (Oct 16-25) has revealed a diverse line-up including the Italian premieres for potential awards contenders including David Fincher’s Gone Girl. the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s As the Gods Will and Burhan Qurbani’s We are Young, We are Strong and European premiere of Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind, Toronto hit Still Alice and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.

This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme will be decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.

Each section has changed name and focus for 2014 and are all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.

Italian comedies Soap Opera and Andiamo a Quel Paese bookend the line-up.

Full line-up

Cinema D’Oggi

World premiere

• Angely...

Want to know what British films are coming out this month? Then look no further than our fabulous movie calendar...

Welcome to our new, regularly updated calendar of all the British movies due for release in UK cinemas over the coming months. So if you're keen to keep up-to-date on the latest in home grown cinema - from documentaries to dramas, and comedy horror to science fiction - this is the ideal post for you. 

So here's what's coming up in the future. 

12 September 2014

Pride

Director: Matthew Warchus

Cast: Bill Nighy, Dominic West, Andrew Scott

Details: A drama about a group of gay and lesbian activists donating to people in need during the 1984 miners' strike.

Jack To A King - The Swansea Story

Director: Marc Evans

Cast: Tbc

Details: A documentary about Swansea football fans.

19 September 2014

Night Will Fall

Director: Andre Singer

Cast: Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Bernstein

Details: A documentary...

Exclusive: UK distributor nabs music doc from Metro International.

UK distributor Metrodome Distribution has picked up Spandau Ballet doc Soul Boys of the Western World from Metro International.

The SXSW title, which documents the story of the iconic ‘80s band through newsreel footage and new video content from the band’s personal archives, is directed by George Hencken.

The deal was negotiated by Metro International head of sales Natalie Brenner on behalf of the producers Scott Millaney and Steve Dagger.

Band members Tony Hadley, John Keeble, Steve Norman and Martin Kemp are in Cannes for a marche screening of the film on Friday.

The film is scheduled for an October 2014 theatrical release in the UK.

Managing director of Metrodome, Jezz Vernon, commented: “It would have been enough to have drawn together the career beats of Spandau Ballet, but George Hencken has made a genuinely special piece of film making, which pushes the medium and transports you back...

Exclusive: Metro International to screen documentary about 80s band to buyers.

Soul Boys of the Western World, a documentary about 1980s group Spandau Ballet that proved a hit at SXSW in March, is to be screened to buyers at the Cannes Marché next month, handled by UK sales company Metro International.

Members of the band, which had more than 20 hit singles such as True and Gold, are expected to make an appearance on the Croisette, five years after launching the project at the film festival.

They will be joined by first-time director George Hencken to screen the film and launch international sales, ahead of a theatrical release later this year.

The film charts the rise of the band, which formed in the late 70s and went on to sell more than 25 million records around the world. The archive-only feature tells how band members Tony Hadley, Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Steve Norman and John Keeble came together, broke...