#documentaryfilm

Becoming Led Zeppelin - Directed by Bernard MacMahon (2025)

Becoming Led Zeppelin takes a clear, streamlined, chronological approach to the band’s formation and early rise. With first-hand interviews from Page, Plant, and Jones, (Bonham, who died in 1980, is represented by a previously unreleased interview with clips) plus tons of archival footage and performance clips, it gives a clear sense of how the band came together and why they hit so hard so fast.

The film is strongest when it focuses on the music—the influences, the studio work, and the live shows. It’s less interested in the personal drama or darker chapters, which makes the story feel somewhat one-sided. But as a portrait of the band’s creative drive and momentum, it works.

English summary: Marokon Kauhu, the docufiction that I directed, on Finnish war hero Captain Aarne Juutilainen (1904 – 1976), is now streaming in Finland on Elisa Viihde.

Marokon Kauhu -dokumentti on nyt katsottavissa Elisa Viihteessä.

https://elisaviihde.fi/elokuvat/49837/marokon-kauhu

Demelza sent through this article after the pitch so I've read it and taken some quotes that sounded cool/might translate visually.

Quotes from the article ‘Treading Water’ by Jo Croft:

"‘imagining the sky weighing down on the sea and the sea holding up the atmosphere," - where the sea meets the sky, mirror images

"ebb and flow" - in and out, contrasts

"The sight of water, even if it is through the glass walls of the Leisure Centre, seems like an invitation: ‘Come on in. The water’s lovely." - just like this phrase

"And so the Liverpool Bay Tide Timetable becomes my slightly off-kilter metronome, replacing the boundaries set by my local pool’s opening times (‘public swim – 12 to 3pm’) with another equally insistent timeframe" - metronome, routines

"forms of oscillation – patterns of feeling involving a kind of affective ‘back and forth’ – between movement and stasis ... states of dissipation, hesitation and ambivalence."

"idea of the swimmer as abject spectacle" - want to avoid making the camera into a voyeur

Photos from trips to Portabello beach, taken Nov. 2021

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Quotes from 'swims', a long poem by Elizabeth Jane Burnett:

From The Prelude:

"-Swimming is continuous, only the rivers are intermittent."

Other feedback on the pitch:

water is connected to femininity in so many cultures

water is connected to motherhood, "water of the womb", we're making a film about Peer's mother

Inktober # 15:

I’m going to see the new Velvet Underground documentary today so thought I’d draw my fav band in it’s original form. I read there’s not much of Lou in the doc, so I assume he’d be calling bull shite in the afterlife.

..

"Slice of Life – The Future of Food Documentary" – Engineering a New Vegan Earth through Film, Part 1 of 2

This powerful 2019 documentary (@sliceoflifedoc) showcases the urgency for an all-encompassing vegan lifestyle to be instituted across the planet. Written, directed and produced by first-time documentary filmmaker, and dedicated vegan, Mr. Mahesh Kothamangalam, “Slice of Life” brings us yet another poignant and compelling media production aimed toward the awakening of human consciousness with regard to our dietary choices and its future impact on the planet. The documentary was an official selection for the 2019 Kraków International Green Film Festival in Poland. Mr. Kothamangalam gave of his valuable time for a special interview with Supreme Master Television at the premiere of his work in Vancouver, Canada.