This year we are delighted to host the 2024 FOCAL Awards at the Church House Westminster on June 20th, we hope you can join us. Congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees.
2024 shortlisted nominations
They All Came Out To Montreux
Director:
Oliver Murray
Producer(s):
Stuart Souter / Bill Lord / Oliver Murray / Nicolas Bonard / Quincy Jones
Footage Archive Producer:
Maureen Ford / Thierry Amsellem / Fraser Kennedy
Archival Sources:
The Montreux Jazz Festival / The Claude Nobs Foundation / Radio Television Suisse / Getty Images
Production Company:
BMG Films / Beyond TNC / Orofena Films / The Claude Nobs Foundation
Country of Production:
UK / Australia / Switzerland
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
The extraordinary story of the world-famous Montreux Jazz Festival and its beloved founder, Claude Nobs. Starting in 1967, with no knowledge of the music industry, Claude began turning his sleepy hometown of Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva into a destination for the world's greatest music artists including Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, David Bowie, Muddy Waters, Miles Davis, Etta James, Santana, Alicia Keys and Prince. From the beginning of the festival Claude organised for these performances to be captured on film. Now this archive, recognised by the UNESCO inscribed 'Memory Of The World Register', is available to the audiences for the first time. The series takes the viewer back in time to hear the trumpet of Miles Davis, the piano of Nina Simone and the guitar of BB King echo through 5 decades of candid recollections by dozens of the festival’s star performers and industry insiders. Over three one-hour episodes, the series includes more than 40 testimonies, 30 concert performances and a variety of previously unseen film and photography. Never before has a documentary of this magnitude been made on the history of the Montreux Jazz Festival offering a breath-taking panorama of half a century of music history.
The Stones and Brian Jones
Director:
Nick Broomfield
Producer(s):
Kyle Gibbon / Shani Hinton / Marc Hoeferlin
Footage Archive Producer:
Kyle Gibbon / Simon Orman / Lisa Savage
Archival Sources:
BBC / Reeling In The Years / Bill Wyman / Historic Films / Kino Library
Production Company:
Lafayette Film
Country of Production:
UK
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
Featuring revealing interviews with all the main players and unseen archive released for the first time, The Stones and Brian Jones explores the creative musical genius of Jones, key to the success of the band, and uncovers how the founder of what became the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world was left behind in the shadows of history.
American Experience: The War on Disco
Director:
Lisa Q. Wolfinger
Producer(s):
Lisa Q. Wolfinger / Rushmore DeNooyer / Cameo George
Footage Archive Producer:
Mary Antinozzi Soule
Archival Sources:
Retro Video / Historic Films / Chicago Film Archive / KinoLibrary / Media Burn
Production Company:
Lone Wolf Media / WGBH
Country of Production:
USA
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
The War on Disco explores the culture war that erupted over the spectacular rise of disco music. Originating in underground Black and gay clubs, disco had unseated rock as America’s most popular music by the late 1970s. But many diehard rock fans viewed disco, with its repetitive beat and culture that emphasized pleasure, as shallow and superficial. A story that’s about much more than music, The War on Disco explores how the powerful anti-disco backlash revealed a cultural divide that to some seemed to be driven by racism and homophobia. The hostility came to a head on July 12, 1979, when a riot broke out at “Disco Demolition Night” during a baseball game in Chicago.
Robbie Williams
Director:
Joe Pearlman
Producer(s):
Dominic Crossley-Holland / Asif Kapadia / Duncan Coates / Sally Brindle / Louis Mole / Kai Hsiung / Gabby Chelmicka / Helena Korner / Isabel Davis / Lottie Allen
Footage Archive Producer:
Tess Mcnally-Watson
Archival Sources:
Guy Chambers / RPW Archive / MTV EU / Universal / BBC
Production Company:
Ridley Scott Associates / Netflix UK
Country of Production:
UK
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
Robbie Williams is nearly 50, a dad of four with a loving wife and a happy family. But he can’t escape his past — and his past has all been captured on film in thousands of hours of behind-the-scenes archive. He has never seen it, no one has. Until now.
Robbie’s way of exorcising his demons is to go back through it all, every up and every down. Platinum albums, sell-out gigs; drink, drugs, rock bottom and whatever comes next when you get there and keep digging.
Robbie Williams is a four-part documentary series that tells the story of one of Britain’s greatest modern performers — while also watching him try and make sense of it all. The star who famously promised to entertain you now has to ask himself, ‘At what price?'
WHAM!
Director:
Chris Smith
Producer(s):
John Battsek / Chris Smith / Simon Halfon
Footage Archive Researcher:
Kitty Robertson
Footage Archive Producer:
Alex Black
Archival Sources:
BBC / Sony Music / MTV Viacom / So Pure / George Michael Entertainment
Production Company:
Ventureland / Library Films / Nemperor
Country of Production:
UK / USA
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
In 1982, the best of friends and still teenagers - George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as WHAM! set out to conquer the world.
By June of 1986, they played their very last gig at Wembley Stadium having done exactly that.
Now for the very first time, told in their own words, the amazing story of how in four years they dominated the charts around the world with timeless and classic pop songs.
Hit after hit - Club Tropicana, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Freedom, I’m Your Man and of course Last Christmas.
Their time in the spotlight was white-hot, becoming the very first Western pop act to play in China.
It was a time that both encapsulated and epitomised not just their youth, but also those of the many millions of fans that adored them.
WHAM! is a feature-length documentary that captures this magical time, from director Chris Smith (Tiger King, Sr.) and producers John Battsek (The Deepest Breath) and Simon Halfon (Supersonic)
With unprecedented access to both George and Andrew’s personal archive including remarkable and never-before-seen footage, alongside rare, candid and previously unheard interviews.
WHAM! charts their incredible journey from school friends to superstars.
