New to DVD this week:
WACKEN
Director:
Norbert Heitker
Premiere:
German cinemas (July 2014)
Select Festivals:
In-Edit, Belfast, Docville, Athens, Bergen, IndieLisboa, Krakow
About:
A 3D concert doc about a massive four-day heavy metal music festival in a small German town.
Filmed during the 24th annual Wacken Open Air metal festival in 2013, Heitker’s massive undertaking consists of several performances by both name bands – Henry Rollins, Motörhead, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Rammstein, Anthrax, Anvil, Lamb of God – and less-widely known ones, intercut with footage of the campgrounds and brief profiles of a handful of fans and of unknown international bands who won local contests to face off in a competition in Wacken. Amongst the general music fest partying is a lot of talk of and appreciation for the sense of community engendered by the event. It’s a self-selecting project – non-fans of the music genre or performers features won’t likely be interested or get much out of the film – but it’s professionally done for what it is.
what (not) to doc 