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Blur's surprise reunion LP The Magic Whip will be the focus of an upcoming documentary titled New World Towers. The film, which takes its name from a song off Damon Albarn and company's first album as a foursome in 16 years, will center on three pivotal events in the reunited Britpop act's recent history: The unintended Hong Kong recording sessions that sparked The Magic Whip, Blur's 2015 homecoming show at London's Hyde Park and a return visit to Hong Kong in celebration of their comeback album.

The documentary will hit U.

Demetriou will be responsible for creating original audio-visual content with Wmuk artists and brand partners

Warner Music UK (Wmuk) has appointed Stefan Demetriou as VP, Content & Formats Strategy.

Reporting to Max Lousada, Chairman & CEO, Warner Music UK, Demetriou will be responsible for creating original audio-visual content with Wmuk artists and brand partners as well as working with media brands across TV, film and digital platforms to develop innovative formats and distribution strategies.

He will work on co-produced content as well as on projects with Warner’s own production business Electric Light Studios (Els).

He will also maintain his existing responsibilities for managing the visual content, music video, TV promotion and distribution for all artist campaigns for Parlophone and Warner Bros. Records UK, reporting to Mandy Plumb.

Max Lousada commented: “Now more than ever, visual content connected to music has real currency and no one is better placed than Stefan to capitalize on that momentum. This is an area...

Exclusive: Music giant to rep rights to Pulse’s originally commissioned film and TV music, TV shows in the works.

Sony/Atv Music Publishing has inked a deal to administer Pulse Films’ originally-commissioned film and TV music.

The rights tie-up between buzzed-about London-based outfit Pulse – producers of Gael Garcia Bernal doc Who is Dayani Cristal? and upcoming Nick Cave doc 20,000 Days on Earth – and music kingpin Sony/Atv, will include soundtrack rights to Pulse’s upcoming C4 First Cuts doc Payday directed by Fred Scott and Nick Davies (Fred & Nick), who made the Take That doc Look Back, Don’t Stare, and the score for a primetime series for a UK broadcaster, due to air next year.

At Sony/Atv, James Carslake and Jon Pugh will look to grow Pulse’s music publishing catalogue, and find creative opportunities for the company’s artists across their projects.

Pulse’s roster of directors includes Shut Up and Play the Hits and No Distance Left to Run...

★★★★☆ Following the success of their 2010 Blur concert film No Distance Left to Run, British directing duo Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace turn their attention to another historic rock gig with a legion of grateful fans and a set-list of modern classics - LCD Soundsystem's final performance. Shut Up And Play The Hits (2012), a Sundance sensation, essentially sets the gold standard by which future gig documentarians ought to follow.

Read more »...

In spite of still being at the peak of their popularity, in the February of 2011, LCD Soundsystem announced the date of their last ever show – 2nd April 2011. Tonight, Shut Up and Play the Hits, a documentary that chronicles that show, as well as the day following it, opens at select cinemas around the country.

The instantly sold out, near four-hour extravaganza did just that, moving the thousands in attendance to tears of joy and grief, with New York magazine calling the event “a marvel of pure craft” and Time magazine lamenting “we may never dance again.” Shut Up And Play The Hits is both a narrative film documenting this once in a life time performance and an intimate portrait of James Murphy as he navigates the lead-up to the show, the day after, and the personal and professional ramifications of his decision.We recently spoke to the directors of the film,...

Following on from 2010's acclaimed Blur documentary No Distance Left to Run, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace return this week with Shut Up and Play the Hits (2012), a new project detailing the final days of James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem. Despite looking like similar projects on paper, the directorial partnership's latest work is an altogether different beast to its predecessor, a concert film interspersed with a character study of Murphy, the band's leader. To mark its arrival on UK shores, CineVue was fortunate enough catch up with Southern and Lovelace for a chat about its imminent release.

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★★★★★ Following on from 2010's sublime No Distance Left to Run - an in-depth look at the formation, split and eventual euphoric reunion of Blur - directorial duo Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern return to theme of the band break-up with Shut Up and Play the Hits (2012), detailing the final day and performance in the history of James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem. Part interview, part concert movie, the duo's latest is ultimately a joyous, touching and at times moving tribute to one of the 21st century's most influential bands.

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Eschewing the normal rock-doc mythmaking benchmarks for an intensely focused record of electro-rock outfit LCD Soundsystem’s final Madison Square Garden show, “Shut Up and Play The Hits” was indeed a hit when it first premiered at Sundance, as well as the one-night-only screenings held nationwide for the film’s release last month. However, most fans will be waiting for the Blu-ray/DVD release to catch up on what they missed at those quick screenings -- while fragments of the entire Msg concert were shown theatrically, audiences will be able to experience the whole thing on the home video release of the movie. For the film, directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern ("No Distance Left To Run") lovingly assembled band frontman James Murphy’s emotions the week before, the night of, and the day after the Msg event, but for those looking for just the concert in and of itself,...

“You’re taking the fun out of everything” goes the first line of Blur’s breakthrough U.K. hit, “There’s No Other Way.” Nothing could have been more misleading: If you mention their name to any English person between the ages of 25 and 40, chances are you’ll get a big smile. The affection with which the Brits hold Blur to their hearts these days is approaching Madness or Kinks-like levels. Recent reunion concerts have been a huge draw, and they are soon to form the heart of the Olympic closing ceremony concert in Hyde Park.

Like rainy Victorian resorts and pork pie, Blur are a British institution, which has sometimes made it difficult for them to translate effectively across the Atlantic or to find a berth in the wider global marketplace. Damon Albarn’s work with Gorillaz is much more placeless—bright pop for the digital age. By contrast,...

While not all films mentioned below are necessarily guaranteed future place among the Sundance Film Festival elite, it’s certainly a step in the right direction for the filmmakers and more importantly the producers backing the future of independent film. Among the eleven project participants below selected for the annual Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit (July 30 – August 3) in the Feature Film category we find such names as future superstars in Summer Shelton (she worked with Ramin Bahrani) and receives the first ever Bingham Ray Creative Producing Fellow, Tory Lenosky (worked as an assistant to Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen) and Lucas Joaquin (second unit producer for Beasts of the Southern Wild). Here is the full press release below.

Feature Film Creative Producing Lab

The Feature Film Creative Producing Lab is a five-day Lab where narrative feature film producers work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors to develop their creative instincts,...

Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace’s LCD Soundsystem movie Shut Up and Play the Hits has a one-day-only release today through Oscilloscope Pictures (in partnership with Tugg). The following interview was conducted just prior to the film’s premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival.

Over LCD Soundsystem’s ten-year career, the band grew from early blog darlings to lauded indie stalwarts. After telegraphing the group’s demise years in advance, band-leader James Murphy officially disbanded LCD last April with a star-studded, marathon-length performance at Madison Square Garden. Now, less than a year later, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace present Shut Up and Play the Hits, a documentary that follows Murphy and his band-mates in the run-up to and aftermath of their now-legendary final performance. If the film’s trailer is any indication, Shut up and Play the Hits will serve as a great encapsulation of the excitement,...

Gersh has signed Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, whose documentary Shut Up And Play The Hits premiered at Sundance and played SXSW and was subsequently acquired for distribution by Oscilloscope. The duo directs commercials and music videos under the name “thirtytwo,” with the UK company Pulse Films, and they have directed two documentaries. The first was No Distance Left to Run, on the band Blur, and Shut Up and Play the Hits chronicled the breakup of LCD Soundsystem. Oscilloscope is slated to release this summer.

Few thought that when Beastie Boy Adam Yauch set up distribution label Oscilloscope Laboratories to put out his 2008 directorial debut "Gunning For That #1 Spot," it would turn out to be anything other than a vanity side-project. But in fact, the company has evolved over the past four years to become one of the most forward-thinking indie distributors around, having released films like "Dear Zachary," "Wendy And Lucy," "Treeless Mountain," "The Exploding Girl," "Howl," "The Unloved," "We Need To Talk About Kevin," "Bellflower," "The Messenger," "Exit Through The Gift Shop" and "If A Tree Falls," the latter three all turning out to win Oscar nominations for their trouble.

They've got some promising films coming up, including Andrea Arnold's superb "Wuthering Heights" and the Melanie Lynskey vehicle "Hello, I Must Be Going," and they've just added one more to their slate, one that seems to be close to Yauch's heart. The...

Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today that the company has picked up the North American distribution rights for the LCD Soundsystem film Shut Up and Play the Hits , which world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, with plans to release it via one-night-only engagements in theaters across the country this summer. Directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, who made the Blur movie No Distance Left to Run , the film follows the last 48 hours in the life of James Murphy's popular electronic rock band LCD Soundsystem in the time leading to and including their final show at New York City's Madison Square Garden, a four-hour spectacle that sold out its tickets within minutes. You can read our thoughts on the movie from Sundance here and here --it was...

Graham Coxon has declared that his famous solo in Blur hit 'Coffee & TV' was accidental. The 43-year-old guitarist, also acclaimed for his riffs in 'There's No Other Way' and 'No Distance Left To Run', referred to the classic song while discussing his new album A+E with NME. Explaining why he is choosing not to release any singles from the LP, Coxon said: "With A+E I feel like I've opened another door and I want to have a look through it. I love some of the songs. I don't think they can be dressed up differently either. "I think songs develop like photographs, to the point where they're so developed they can't be changed. (more)...

The following is a reprint of our review from the Sundance Film Festival.

Less of a documentary and more of a document, "Shut Up And Play The Hits" captures the week before, the day after and the very occasion of LCD Soundsystem’s Madison Square Garden farewell concert on April 2, 2011.

For the unaware, LCD Soundsystem was a Grammy-nominated electro-dance-rock outfit headed up by James Murphy, a frontman who opted to end their relatively successful ten-year run with said Msg blowout. Those looking for a full-bore origin story on the band won’t find it here – no scrappy rise to fame, no tragic overdoses, and the fellow band members hardly even speak – yet it is clearly a conscious effort by directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern (Blur doc "No Distance Left To Run") to emphasize the ephemeral nature of the event. 'Shut Up' could be about anyone, any band, any artist...

Less of a documentary and more of a document, "Shut Up And Play The Hits" captures the week before, the day after and the very occasion of LCD Soundsystem’s Madison Square Garden farewell concert on April 2, 2011. For the unaware, LCD Soundsystem was a Grammy-nominated electro-dance-rock outfit headed up by James Murphy, a frontman who opted to end their relatively successful ten-year run with said Msg blowout. Those looking for a full-bore origin story on the band won’t find it here – no scrappy rise to fame, no tragic overdoses, and the fellow band members hardly even speak – yet it is clearly a conscious effort by directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern (Blur doc "No Distance Left To Run") to emphasize the ephemeral nature of the event. 'Shut Up' could be about anyone, any band, any artist coming to terms with their success and finding themselves on the verge of...

We can't remember the last time a concert movie caused quite as much excitement as "Shut Up And Play The Hits." But given that the film is a document of the final gig of James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem, one of the most acclaimed bands of the last decade, it's easy to understand. Despite the dance-punk-glam-rock group reaching a point where they were more successful than ever before, Murphy decided to call it a day while still on top, breaking up the band after two sold-out gigs at Madison Square Garden last April. And there to document it were British filmmakers Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern ("Blur: No Distance Left To Run"), who filmed not only the gig itself, but also the preparation and the aftermath, as Murphy begins to get ready for a life without his most famous alias. The film premiered at Sundance this week, and we managed...

Over LCD Soundsystem’s ten-year career, the band grew from early blog darlings to lauded indie stalwarts. After telegraphing the group’s demise years in advance, band-leader James Murphy officially disbanded LCD last April with a star-studded, marathon-length performance at Madison Square Garden. Now, less than a year later, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace present Shut Up and Play the Hits, a documentary that follows Murphy and his band-mates in the run-up to and aftermath of their now-legendary final performance. If the film’s trailer is any indication, Shut up and Play the Hits will serve as a great encapsulation of the excitement, madness, and poignancy of a band bowing out at the top their game.

Filmmaker: When did you first meet James Murphy? And how did you two end up directing this project?

Lovelace & Southern: We first met James in the summer of 2010 through a mutual friend. We’d...

The annual Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off this weekend, is one of the most renowned film festivals on the circuit and has been known to launch the careers of many a rising talent. The Festival has changed over the decades from a low-profile venue for small-budget, independent creators outside the Hollywood system to a now media extravaganza for the Hollywood industry. One thing that hasn’t changed is the number of great movies which premiere each and every year. It’s a true haven for creativity and this year has one of the best line-ups in recent memory. From niche horror to promising indie debuts, the festival is screening 110 feature-length films from 31 countries, so I’ve decided to narrow it down for everyone. Some movies are already getting buzz, whether for star power, the directors behind the camera or because of an intriguing premise. Here are the movies you...

British directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace met while attending film school in Liverpool. After graduation, they moved into music videos and commercials; their first documentary was “No Distance Left To Run,” a film about Blur. It's their first-ever Sundance. Read on to see who they got to serve as cameraman. What's it about? An intimate portrait of James Murphy during the final 48 hours of his band, LCD Soundsystem. Directors Southern and Lovelace say: "When we first met James, the fact the band was ending was known, but there had been no decision to play the final show at Madison Square Garden. We'd developed a really good relationship with James and when he told us that they were going to bow out at Msg, we knew immediately that the show would be a huge part of the movie. "We were fascinated by the idea of James' decision to quit. It...

Oasis have issued a request for fans to take part in a new documentary about the Manchester group. The film is being produced by Pulse Films, who worked on Blur's recent No Distance Left To Run picture, in partnership with the band's own Big Brother Recordings label. The forthcoming release aims to tell the story of Oasis from fans' (more)...

London, Apr 9 – After seven years of inaction, members of ‘Blur’ have finally reunited in the studio and are releasing a new track next week.

It is the first single from Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree since 2003’s ‘Good Song’.

Fans tempted them back into action with kind words after their recent warts-and-all documentary, ‘No Distance Left To Run’.

“Initially, Damon had no intention of going back into the studio with Blur. He’s been very busy with Gorillaz,” the Sun quoted.

The health care bill that passed through the U.S. House last night dethroned Justin Bieber on Twitter's trending topics, but both of them showed up in Twitter-Wood chatter today. The bill had supporters and critics, and former Bieber critic Ken Jeong switched sides to Bieber neutrality, according to a confession post yesterday.

Elsewhere, everyone was watching something last night and had an opinion. Jessica Alba watched frogs jumping off cliffs, Edgar Wright caught a Blur documentary and Greg Mottola saw Ben Stiller in "Greenberg." Find out what they thought and which David Lynch collaborator and composer has a birthday today. It's all in Twitter-Wood for March 22nd, 2010.

Twitpic of the Day:

@SammLevine Shoot day 2 on the @SklarBrothers web series, Held Up. I swear, @steveagee showed up like this. http://twitpic.com/1a99ps

-Samm Levine, Actor ("Inglourious Basterds," "I Love You, Beth Cooper")

Health care pt. 1: @RedHourBen...

A Prophet (18)

(Jacques Audiard, 2009, France) Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif. 155 mins

Arriving pre-garlanded with awards and acclaim, this French movie certainly demands seeing, though it's less a radical reinvention of the prison thriller genre than a rock-solid update (with the odd mystical touch). The key innovation is that our selected inmate is a French Arab, who painfully progresses from timid newcomer to hardened player, negotiating between ethnic factions both inside and out. It's an extreme story in every sense, but newcomer Rahim carries the weight magnificently, and it stays rooted in present-day reality without feeling the need to ram a message down our throats about it.

The Boys Are Back (12A)

(Scott Hicks, 2009, Aus/UK) Clive Owen, Nicholas McAnulty. 104 mins

Owen opens up and shows his sensitive side as a blokey sports journalist in Australia, trying to cope with single fatherhood, and reconciling his two sons by different women.

Spread (18)

(David Mackenzie, 2009, Us) Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche, Margarita Levieva. 97 mins

Rising Scottish director Mackenzie (Young Adam, Hallam Foe) goes stateside, and like many before him, focuses on the soulless superficiality of the Los Angeles lifestyle. Some might say Kutcher playing an ambitious himbo who targets older women was hardly a stretch, but he proves he can actually act here, as he demonstrates his calculated seduction technique by hooking up with Anne Heche and installing himself in her luxurious apartment. But then he meets his match (Levieva), and might just be falling in love, which is where the story starts to come apart a little, ultimately being neither sufficiently deep nor superficial. Still, it's a stylish, contemporary satire with a few surprises up its sleeve – or should that be down its pants?

Did You Hear About The Morgans? (PG)

(Marc Lawrence, 2009, Us) Sarah Jessica Parker, Hugh Grant, Sam Elliott. 104 mins...