Editor

"The exploding role of music in the soundtrack of our digital lives means a festival like this is crucial." These are the words of Slumdog Millionaire Oscar winning Director Danny Boyle who showcased his much acclaimed Mumbai spectacular at last year's first Soundtrack International Film and Music Festival. The programme for this year's Soundtrack (Nov 18-22 soundtrackfilmfestival.com) was announced this week with another strong playlist of live music performances, exclusive screenings, Q&As, seminars, and educational workshops, all celebrating the creative relationship between film and music.

Supported by the Film Agency for Wales, next month's Soundtrack has a strong rock & roll flavour, with a much-anticipated first by John Cale, co-founder of the Velvet Underground,

fellow Welsh icons Super Furry Animals, and acclaimed Sex Pistols Director Julien Temple.

Pauline Burt, Chief Executive of the Film Agency for Wales said: "The Film Agency is delighted to be supporting this flagship event, which has demonstrated from its first outing its commitment to internationally renowned film and music talent, spotlighting Wales to the world."

In When Past and Future Collide John Cale performs his most celebrated solo album Paris 1919 live for the first time in its entirety at Cardiff's Coal Exchange on November 21, backed by his LA based band and a large compliment of musicians. He will also be taking part in an In Conversation event, discussing his career as a composer and his inspiration and methods of composition for the moving image, before a screening of the cult favourite American Psycho, for which he created the score.

Live music is also provided by psych rockers Super Furry Animals as they perform Recreation in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the iconic Creation Records label, the first in a series that will cross the country. The band will be playing tracks from their Creation catalogue at the newly reopened Cardiff Coal Exchange on the 20th of November, alongside Mark Gardner, frontman of fellow Creation act Ride, plus some other special guests.

Staged earlier at Cardiff Cineworld will be Upside Down: A Creation Records Evening, an exclusive In Conversation event hosted by Director Danny O'Connor and Ride frontman Mark Gardner that will unveil the trailer for the new Creation Records documentary Upside Down, the story of one of the UK's most significant independent labels with a roster featuring the likes of Oasis and Primal Scream, with exclusive clips from the forthcoming film coming out next February.

There is also a screening of Super Furries' vocalist Gruff Rhys' rockumentary Separado!, a psychedelic western road movie, an innovative journey of musical discovery following in the footsteps of Rhys' ancestors in Patagonia and throughout South America, produced by Catryn Ramasut's Cardiff-based ie ie productions. Gruff will also appear alongside his co-director Dyl ‘Goch' Jones in a Q&A with Guardian journalist and author Will Hodgkinson.

Director Julien Temple presents his latest film Oil City Confidential, a film noir feature length documentary about the band Dr Feelgood, and the third in a trilogy on the British music scene in the ‘70s. The screening of Oil City Confidential at Chapter Arts Centre on Sunday November 22 will be followed by a Q&A session, in which Julien will answer questions on the movie.

Temple encapsulated the British punk rock explosion, directing the Sex Pistols movie The Great Rock N Roll Swindle and the David Bowie vehicle Absolute Beginners, before directing music videos for the likes of The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Paul McCartney and Blur. He returned to the Sex Pistols with the film The Filth and The Fury in 2006, and then made the second of his 70s trilogy, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten.  

The festival also features a packed schedule of screenings taking place at Cineworld and Chapter Arts Centre over the 5 days. Opening Night will see a special preview of the newly restored double Oscar winning classic The Red Shoes.

This 1948 film has been painstakingly restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in association with The British Film Institute, The Film Foundation, ITV Global Entertainment Ltd., and Janus Films, and has been wowing critics across the global festival circuit in 2009. Described by Martin Scorsese as "the movie that plays in my heart"', the iconic director recently presented the movie at the Cannes International Film Festival to rapturous applause. The Red Shoes screening takes place on the 18th of November at Cineworld, and is presented by Soundtrack in association with BAFTA Cymru.

Other screenings at Soundtrack include Beautiful Mistake, which saw John Cale join up with the great and the good of the Welsh music scene in 2000, to provide a moving portrait of a developing Cardiff; a special double bill of Hammer Horror films The Quatermass Xperiment and To The Devil a Daughter, preceded by an In Conversation about the music of Hammer by historians Marcus Hearn and Dr David Huckvale; a BAFTA Cymru screening of the extremely powerful and intimate documentary Mugabe and the White African;  Canadian indie flick Let Him Be, where two aspiring film makers discover a very much alive John Lennon in rural Canada (think Blair Witch for Beatles fans!); 2009 festival circuit favourite Paper Heart; a charity screening of the Youssou N'Dour soundtracked children's movie Kirikou and the Sorceress;  and All Tomorrow's Parties, a look at the festival of the same name featuring performances by Iggy and the Stooges, Patti Smith, Sonic Youth and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The closing night movie at Soundtrack 2009 will be a special preview of Bunny and the Bull, a bizarre new comedy from The Mighty Boosh director Paul King, which sees him once again working with Boosh stars Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and Richard Ayoade. As well as premieres, previews, screenings and special events, Soundtrack also features an educational strand consisting of workshops, seminars and symposia on everything from film literacy and composition to how to get your music in the movies.

Another highlight under the Soundtrack banner is the December 3rd show Video Games Live, the Cardiff performance of a global phenomenon that showcases video game music with a full orchestra and stunning visual effects.

Soundtrack also hosts the European Audio-Visual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) road-show, attracting over 100 of Europe's film-making elite for a week of high-profile workshops, networking, screenings and associated events, meeting the cream of Welsh film-making talent to explore co-production and international film-making opportunities.                                   

Information and tickets on http://www.soundtrackfilmfestival.com/ and 02920 230 130.

Wednesday 18th November

9.30am RCT 14-19 Pathways & Media Education Wales Present

Sound and Film: Hands-on Workshops

The Urdd, Wales Millennium Centre

9.45am Soundtrack and Reel Education Presents

Schools Film Literacy Workshops for Key Stage 2

£3 Chapter Arts Centre, Canton

7.30pm Opening Night Movie: Soundtrack & BAFTA Cymru present:

The Red Shoes

£6.90 Cineworld Cardiff

Thursday 19th November

9.30am RCT 14-19 Pathways & Media Education Wales Present

Sound and Film: Hands-on Workshops

The Urdd, Wales Millennium Centre

9.45am Soundtrack and Reel Education Presents

Schools Film Literacy Workshops for Key Stage 2

£3 Chapter Arts Centre, Canton

10.00am Arts Council of Wales presents

Soundtrack Composers Symposium

Cineworld Cardiff

1.30pm Warp Films Seminar

Norwegian Church, Cardiff Bay

6.30pm Premier: Separado! + Q&A with Gruff Rhys & Guests

£6.90 Cineworld Cardiff

8.00pm Let Him Be

£6.60 Chapter Arts Centre, Canton

9.15pm Media Antenna Wales presents

Invite Only A Boy Called Dad: Special EAVE Screening

Cineworld Cardiff

Friday 20th November

11.00am Soundtrack & Media Education Wales Presents:

Image and Sound Workshop

Cineworld Cardiff + Aberystwyth Arts Centre + The Scala, Prestatyn

2.00pm Welsh Music Foundation Presents

All The Right Mov(i)es: Getting your music in film and TV

The Gate, Roath

6.00pm John Cale In Conversation + American Psycho

£6.90 Cineworld Cardiff

6.30pm The Music of Hammer Horror + The Quatermass Xperiment &

To The Devil A Daughter

£12 Chapter Arts Centre, Canton

7.30pm Upside Down: A Creation Records Evening

£6.90 Cineworld Cardiff

8.00pm Recreation: Super Furry Animals + Mark Gardner (Ride)

£22.50 The Coal Exchange, Cardiff Bay

9.00pm BAFTA Cymru Presents: Mugabe & The White African +

Q&A with Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock

Invite Only Cineworld Cardiff

Saturday 21st November

3.00pm Charity Kids Screening: Kirikou and the Sorceress

£3.50/£2.50 Chapter Arts Centre, Canton

6.00pm Beautiful Mistake

£6.90 Cineworld Cardiff

8.00pm When Past & Future Collide: John Cale in Concert

£22.50 The Coal Exchange, Cardiff Bay

8.30pm Paper Heart

£6.60 Chapter Arts Centre, Canton

Sunday 22nd November

3.00pm All Tomorrow's Parties

£3.50 Chapter Arts Centre, Canton

5.30pm Oil City Confidential + Q&A with Julien Temple

£6.60 Chapter Arts Centre, Canton

9.00pm Closing Night Movie: Bunny & The Bull +

Q&A with Paul King & Mary Burke

£6.90 Cineworld Cardiff