films at the festival
factory: manchester from joy division to happy mondays
Director: Chris Rodley
(UK, 2007, 90 minutes)
Sunday 28 October, 4.45pm, at FreeDM Studio, Roundhouse
[an error occurred while processing this directive]In a dark, northern city in the late 70s, five dreamers built a record label - Factory; 3 classic bands - Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays, and Britain's first super club - The Hacienda.
Led by Tony Wilson, they created a unique collision between conceptual art and street music. This is the story of how a TV presenter (Wilson), an out of work actor (Alan Erasmus), an art student (Peter Saville), a DJ (Rob Gretton) and an aspiring record producer (Martin Hannett) pioneered Britain's independent pop culture, imagined a new Manchester, and blew a shed-load of money.
Featuring an extensive interview with Factory's creative genius Anthony Wilson who sadly died Friday 10 August 2007, this 90 minute documentary celebrates the triumph, tragedy and human comedy that was Factory and is a fitting tribute to Wilson's contribution to British pop culture and to Manchester.
story behind the film
Mark Cooper, Executive Producer:
"Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays is a film that's needed making for a long time. The director Chris Rodley and I waited for Tony Wilson to be well enough to give us one of his last interviews - and a substantial one - about his greatest achievement. Hopefully the film is a fitting tribute to Tony but it is also essentially a human comedy about a gang of 5 misfits, 3 great bands - Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays - and one of Britain's first superclubs.
"It's about the transformation of Manchester and that unique Mancunian blend of imagination, dry wit, flair for pop music and hatred of pretension. Where else would art school conceptualists and middle-class situationists combine with working-class Mancunian would-be musicians to such devastating effect?"
