We are very excited to announce that The Beat Is The Law is being screened with Spanish subtitles in both Spain and Mexico over the next few weeks. The film will open the DOCANROL festival tonight 4th May 2012 (coincidentally on the same evening as Pulp play the SOS festival also in Spain) and is lined up with Scorcese’s ‘George Harrison’ and ‘Anvil!’ documentaries.

Spain screenings will be at:
Docanrol 4th May
Primavera Sound Festival 30th May-3rd June,
Montjuic de Nit (the festival of festivals in Barcelona)  14th July.

Mexico screening at Festival Distrital 1st – 7th June

Screening 7pm 2nd May 2012
More info here

Briefly namechecked in The Beat Is The Law by Rob Gordon, Pop Will Eat Itself made their first album, Box Frenzy, produced by Rob Gordon at FON studios in the Wicker, 1987.
25 years later Clint Mansell, one of the key members of PWEI, watched The Beat Is The Law and was kind enough to write to the director and recall life in Sheffield at the time…

Hi Eve,
really enjoyed the film – particularly as I had recorded at FON on the Wicker when I was in Pop Will Eat Itself.
We recorded our first album and a single with Rob Gordon. So we knew Dave Taylor, Ian Anderson did our artwork, Cassius,Winston & Parrott scratched on the tracks, Ruth sang on the album. She was even wearing a PWEI baseball cap in the video to ‘House Arrest’.
Anyway, they’re all good people who I haven’t seen in many years so thanks for that.

It was an exciting time for us, making our first album, but also times were changing for FON/Sheffield because, even though it was difficult times you could sense the creativity and the drive that existed round these talented people, trying to do their thing!

We heard music that was well outside our frame of reference at that time – Detroit techno, house music…even scratching was such a new experience to us…it was 1987, hip hop was hitting the mainstream – we hadn’t discovered Public Enemy yet – it was Run DMC, Beastie Boys and 12″ mixes of Madonna that we were loving. Sheffield broke us out of the indie straitjacket that had really run its course for us at that time.

The Wicker was a wasteland then, real deserted ghost town. Just the factories, a couple of pubs and a kebab shop! We were seriously broke so we didn’t venture too far from the studio anyway…on a later visit we went to Leeds for a night at Back To Basics but that was a long time later – we couldn’t afford that sort of hedonistic behavior in ’87 – it was a four pack of kestrel lager and a take away curry/kebab in the studio back then!

PWEI exists without me now. I live in Los Angeles and am a film composer – I’ve scored all of Darren Aronofsky’s films – Pi/Requiem/The Fountain, The Wrestler/Black Swan amongst others, notably Moon…I loved my time in PWEI but rocknroll is really a young persons game and that’s something I cannot be accused of!
Clint
www.clintmansell.com

more on PWEI’s first album Box Frenzy here>>

Eve Wood, the director will be attending for a Q and A session after the film with Jez Collins of Birmingham City University, who was also an Exec Producer of the Birmingham music film, Made in Birmingham/Reggae Punk Bhangra.

Over the following months The Beat Is The Law will be screening in America and Europe. Join our Facebook Page to be informed about up and coming dates.

We are pleased to announce The Beat Is The Law will be screening its first BluRay version at the North West Film Forum over 3 nights on the 6th, 7th and 8th of January 2012. More details here>>

Seattle’s The Stranger publication reviews the film as “deeper and richer than your average music doc, diving into the political and economic realities underlying the music, and it’s terrific” more here>>

We are pleased to announce this week The Beat Is The Law – Fanfare For The Common People has been chosen as one of the best music films/DVDs of 2011 by both UNCUT magazine  (NO.4) and the NME (No.6). This tops a great year for the film which has picked up some superb critical acclaim.

You can still order the DVD from our online shop in time for Christmas (last postal delivery Western Europe – Monday 12th Dec, UK – Wednesday 14th Dec).

Otherwise if you are in the UK and are doing your last minute Xmas shopping, the DVD is available in the following shops:
Sheffield:
- Rare and Racy, Division Street
- Record Collector, Broomhill
- The Sheffield Music Shop, Ecclesall Road
- The Old Sweet Shop, Nether Edge
- HMV, Meadowhall and High Street
Manchester:
- Magma
London:
- Rough Trade East
- Magma

We have put together some The Beat Is The Law offers in the SHOP which we think are great ideas for Xmas pressies all with a TBITL theme.

For those who know about our other film Made In Sheffield, our Sheffield Vision Webstore has put together some great offer packages with a Made In Sheffield theme which you may want to check out.

PLEASE NOTE:
Don’t delay ordering from us if you want to receive our products in time for Xmas as last Xmas posting using Royal Mail International Airmail is:
5th December – South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (incl. Japan), Australia & New Zealand
Friday 9th December – Eastern Europe, USA & Canada
Monday 12th December – Western Europe
United Kingdom last posting date for standard parcels is Wednesday 14th December

We are very excited to announce The Beat Is The Law will screen in the Melkweg, Amsterdam at the Play International Music and Film Festival  on 18th November 2011 at 12.30pm and again on the 20th at 01.00am.
More info and how to get tickets here>>

The location for the screenings has special significance not only for Sheffield music, bands and artists but also personally for the filmmakers themselves.

Martin F Bedford, one of the founders of Sheffield’s venue The Leadmill ( which was originally based on the concept of the Melkweg) who created amazing artwork for posters promoting the Leadmill gigs throughout the 80′s, will be exhibiting his brilliant art during the Festival as well as starring in the film. More info here>>

Various Sheffield bands featured in the film played at the Melkweg in the 80′s and 90′s:

On 24th February 1985 Hula, In The Nursery, Chakk, and Artery (well Artery is from Made In Sheffield) performed there as well as Leitmotiv. The gig was called ‘Sheffield Revisited’

Eve (who is Dutch) and Richard Wood (who is from Sheffield), the film’s director and producer,  used to live in Amsterdam during the 90′s and remember being totally blown away by the performances The Longpigs and Pulp (Different Class tour) towards the end of 1995 at the Melkweg.

Eve will be attending the Festival and doing a Q and A after the Friday screening (in Dutch and English??)

Interviewed at the Leeds International Film Festival screening of The Beat Is The Law, Candida Doyle talks about the film, Pulp, Margaret Thatcher’s 80′s and the future of music.

After the screening she did a great Q and A with the film’s director, Eve Wood. As Candida said herself, she doesn’t get much opportunity to talk, its usually the men.

The screening was a great event in such a grand setting of the Leeds Town Hall. To see the film projected onto such a massive screen and hear the sound coming back at you on such a scale was amazing. A truly memorable night for us as filmmakers. Big thanks to the festival and of course Candida.

Here’s a ‘pocket’ review of the screening by the Leeds Student magazine