Based on true events, the powerful, moving and brutal historical drama Field Punishment No. 1 tells one of the most remarkable and controversial stories of World War I: the stance taken by New Zealand’s first conscientious objectors, who endured incarceration, torture and even death for refusing to be conscripted against their will.

This hard-hitting drama is released on DVD by Odyssey on 20 April 2015 to coincide with Anzac Day (25 April), Australia and New Zealand’s great day of national remembrance, which commemorates all those that fought and died at war. The release also coincides with the centenary of one the most legendary, protracted and bloody campaigns – The Gallipoli campaign that inspired Anzac Day and cost thousands of Australian and New Zealand lives.

Directed by Peter Burger and written by the award-winning team of Donna Malane and Paula Boock, Field Punishment No. 1 tells the story of the hundreds of New Zealand ‘conchies’ who refused to fight in what they regarded as a war that ‘set brother against brother’ by focusing on the experiences of fourteen of them, notably Archibald Baxter (Fraser Brown), the country’s most famous conscientious objector and father of the celebrated poet, James K. Baxter.

Despite the unrelenting efforts of the Allied military machine, these men refused to renounce their pacifism. Arrested and secretly shipped off to Europe, they endured years of hardship in prisons and punishment camps and ultimately they were sent to the front line from which many never returned. How these men were stigmatized and tortured in an attempt to break their spirit makes for an uncompromising and dramatic war story – but the integrity, courage and compassion with which they dealt with the cruelty is even more extraordinary as ‘digger’ and pacifist alike confronted the ‘Great War’.

In a superhero reunion of sorts, Sony Pictures Entertainment has announced a new deal with Marvel Studios that brings new Spider-Man movies into the Marvel cinematic universe.

The next Spider-Man film will hit theaters on July 28, 2017. Sony has owned the feature rights to Spider-Man since 1999, when Marvel sold the comic book heroine for $7 million.

Sony and Marvel will cast a new Spider-Man after Andrew Garfield starred in the last two superhero films, “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” Tobey Maguire previously portrayed Peter Parker in three films for Sony. Marvel’s Kevin Feige will produce the rebooted Spidey with Amy Pascal, who recently stepped down as co-chairman of Sony in a new producer deal. She oversaw the $4 billion Spider-Man franchise for over 13 years at the studio. According to Monday’s announcement, Sony will continue to distribute, finance, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man pics.

Source :IMDb

Out on Starman Records on vinyl: Berntholer "My Suitor"

In 1983 a tiny Belgian independent label called Blue Feather released without fanfare a single, My Suitor, by Berntholer. My Suitor was exceptionally well received in Europe, championed by esteemed BBC DJ John Peel, and went on to sell over 10,000 copies. Two accomplished flipsides - Lunacies and Emotions - proved that the lead track was no fluke. The sleeve gave little away, beyond the bare fact that the band consisted of four people and was fronted by gamine singer Drita Kotaji. In fact the band were completely unknown outside Brussels, yet in My Suitor created one of the most memorable songs of the decade, and one which continues to enchant and seduce like no other.

Some history. Berntholer formed in October 1981 with Albanian-born singer Drita joined by Simon Rigot (guitar and saxophone), Manuel 'Manu' Poutte (keyboards), and Pol Fourmois (bass). The name was borrowed from a line spoken in Attention Stockholm, the single by kitsch Swedish chanteuse Virna Lindt, and the first significant band projects were videos for the songs The Choice (aka Adrian & Jonathan) and Exterior Nuit. Early material was heavily influenced by thepevailing 'cold wave' sound of the time, and drew from the likes of The Cure and The Stranglers.

The group recorded their first single in May 1982, which matched Japanese Garden with The Others. Lacking a drummer, the group relied on a primitive Roland rhythm machine, and although a charming record, it revealed little of the group's potential. The single was released on the tiny Putovsky label on 7" only, in a sleeve designed by Joel Van Audenhaege. A video for the a-side was also filmed in June. By the time the single was recorded the core quartet had been joined by expatriate Irish guitarist Perry Rose, although he would leave in October.

Drita had already written My Suitor: "I created the song in my bedroom, and first recorded it on a small cassette recorder. No music, just the melody and the lyrics I wrote. It came very naturally. Originally the song was inspired by a piece of music by Wim Mertens/Soft Verdict called At Home, which I loved to listen to at that time. Things are strange sometimes, because two years later I had the chance to work with him. Simon immediately loved My Suitor and played a keyboard line to accompany my 'complain'."

In March 1983 friend and producer Gilbert Lederman, then a sound engineering student, asked the band to record a demo of My Suitor and Images for his degreepoject. The tape subsequently caught the ear of a local music publicist. Convinced that the heart-ached torch song My Suitor was a hit, he arranged a more formal recording at Daylight Studio in August, where the group hired an Emulator to create the haunting cello lines, Drita's bewitching vocal adding further to the song's unique mystique. Released on another small label, Blue Feather at the end of the year, it became a staple on the John Peel radio show, even though the single was not available in British shops.

The cult success of My Suitor in Europe coincided with the foundation of Blanco Y Negro in London. This boutique label was in effect a WEA-funded 'super indie' run by Geoff Travis (Rough Trade), Mike Alway (Cherry Red, el!) and Michel Duval (Les Disques du Crépuscule). Duval's contribution to the new London-based label venture was to be singer-songwriter Anna Domino, and My Suitor on licence, now with an added coda (Pardon Up Here) arranged by Belgian modern composer Wim Mertens. In July 1984 Berntholer played a string of cafe shows in St Tropez, and when Blanco released the single in October the band was invited to perform live on cult British music tv show The Tube. However Berntholer baled out of this crucial appearance, and relations with the label turned sour.

Demos for a third single, including folky ballad You Grabbed Me By The Hand, had been recorded in July, and drummer Pierre Sorvil recruited in September. However, no more records appeared, and faced with management and other problems Berntholer began to implode. A final studio session was recorded in December 1984, by which time Simon, Pol and Pierre were heading in progressive and jazz directions, paths that Drita simply didn't want to follow.

On 30 April 1985 the band played their last proper concert, an ill-starred date at Le Beau Bruxelles venue which coincided with a terrorist bombing by the CCC. Drita then quit, and with one final show contracted in Liege her place was taken by Niki Mono, then also working with Tuxedomoon singer Winston Tong. It was a sad end to a highly promising band.

Since then the cult around My Suitor has grown steadily. In 1999 radio show Studio-Brussel even organised a song contest based around different cover versions of My Suitor, including a drum n' bass version by Buscemi and a pop take by Das Pop. More interesting Berntholer facts can be gleaned from Dirk Houbrechts' dedicated page (with soundbites) at the Belgian Rock and Pop Archives.

Post-Berntholer, Drita combined bookselling with discreet musical activity, working on various projects with Marie Delier, Hector Zazou and Harold Budd, among others. In 1998 she returned to recording as one half of Ink with Stephan Barbery, whose album Ever Now appeared in 2003 on their own label.

Text fromJames Nice from LTM

Taking a break from his signature documentaries for a while, Werner Herzog has just wrapped his Gertrude Bell biopic Queen Of The Desert, and will continue in narrative feature mode for his next project. He'll direct Salt And Fire, a volcanic thriller starring German actress Veronica Ferres (Klimt, Hector And The Search For Happiness).

The story, according to available sources, will involve drama and romance in South America, where scientist Ferres butts heads with the head of a corporation responsible for an ecological disaster. When a local supervolcano starts to display ominous signs, however, she has to team up with her antagonist to stave off a natural disaster.

Herzog wrote the screenplay and will also produce, alongside his Queen Of The Desert cohort Michael Benaroya.

“I couldn’t be more pleased to be endeavouring on another journey with Werner Herzog,” Benaroya says. “He is a truly special film-maker and person. I believe this project will exceed the high expectations that come with any film he directs.”

Herzog is eyeing April as his start date, with shooting taking place on the Bolivian salt flats.

Queen Of The Desert, starring Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Damian Lewis, Robert Pattinson and Jenny Agutter, made its debut last week at the Berlin International Film Festival and is currently in the process of finding distribution.

Source: Empire

Mannequin Records is proud to present a compilation of one of the most important Industrial bands active during the 80’s in the UK.

Bourbonese Qualk were an experimental music group from England who where active from 1979 until 2003. Throughout this period they had a number of different line-ups but this album concentrates on the period from 1983 until 1987 with the trio of Simon Crab, Julian Gilbert and Steven Tanza. During this time the group released five albums: ‘Laughing Afternoon’, ‘Hope’, ‘The Spike’, ‘Preparing For Power’ and the self-titled ‘Bourbonese Qualk’ on their own Recloose Organisation and New International Records labels.

The group were always obsessively and uncompromisingly focussed on controlling their work – they ran their own record label, recording studio, tour organisation and music venue (the notorious ‘Ambulance Station’) – they refused to integrate into the commercial music racket turning down publishing deals from major labels – stubbornly opting for total independence.

The group are known for their political activism which was formed in the crucible of the 1980s Britain: The Miner’s Strike, Falklands/Malvinas war, Anti-fascism, Thatcherism, Moneterism, squatting/housing, local government corruption, anti-capitalism, and Anarchism – which was further re-enforced by touring Europe and meeting like-minded groups and organisations.

Bourbonese Qualk saw their music as a revolutionary cultural force – a belief that radical musical forms must be part of positive social change. Despite this position, the group avoided dogma, cliché and propaganda, preferring to let their audience come to their own conclusions – their work was often ambiguous and directly critical of cynical power-politics of any color – often irritating members of the traditional ‘organised left’.

In 1984 Bourbonese Qualk occupied a large empty building on the Old Kent Road in South London which they turned into a base for their activities and a co-operative for artists, musicians and writers as well as a centre for radical political activism – specifically as a co-ordinating centre for the ‘Stop The City’ anti-capitalist riots of 1984-1986. Most of the recordings on this album were recorded in their studio at the Ambulance Station.

The group never record in a ‘proper’ studio (not that they could ever afford to), choosing instead to work with their own extremely basic equipment (at a time when home studios were very unusual – the unique raw sound of these recordings is the result of their choice – which now, ironically, is in vodue due perhaps to the overwhelming obliquity of ‘clean’ audio digital production tools.

If Bourbonese Qualk have a legacy, it is that ‘culture’ should be reclaimed, re-defined and owned by the people, wherever they are, however small and not by the state or the market and that ‘culture’ is a vital vehicle for debate and radical change.

The fight goes on. (Simon Crab, London, 2014)

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LP Version

* First official vinyl compilation of Bourbonese Qualk.

* Limited edition of 2xLP, 500 copies, 160-gr. black vinyl, with insert.

* Graphic design curated by Simon Crab and Alessandro Adriani.

* Mastered by Rude 66

Tracklist

A1 Dream Decade *

A2 Born Left Hearted

A3 Pogrom

A4 Soft City

A5 Headstop

A6 Gag

A7 Outcry

B1 Return to Order

B2 Confrontation

B3 In Flux *

B4 Qualk Street

B5 Backlash

B6 Sweat It Out *

B7 There Is No Night *

C1 God With Us

C2 Blood Orange Bargain Day

C3 Shutdown

C4 Invocation

C5 To Hell With The Consequences

D1 Erector

D2 Black Madonna

D3 Suburb City

D4 Workover

D5 Deadbeat

D6 Insurrection

D7 This Is The Enemy

* LP-only-tracks

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

CD Version

* First official CD compilation of Bourbonese Qualk.

* Limited edition of 500 copies, digipak.

* Graphic design curated by Simon Crab and Alessandro Adriani.

* Mastered by Rude 66

Tracklist

01 God With Us

02 Blood Orange Bargain Day

03 To Hell With The Consequences

04 Qualk Street

05 Erector

06 Invocation

07 Head Stop

08 Black Madonna

09 Gag

10 Shutdown

11 Suburb City

12 Pogrom

13 Deadbeat

14 Return To Order

15 Outcry

16 Confrontation

17 Soft City

18 Born Left Hearted

19 Backlash

20 Insurrection

21 This Is The Enemy

22 Workover * CD esclusive track