Doc'n Roll Films

11/11/2025

The winner of the 12th edition of Doc’n Roll Film Festival is… 🥁

Monk in Pieces, a film by Billy Shebar!

A highly innovative and long-overdue portrait of Meredith Monk, the visionary composer, performer, and pioneer who shattered boundaries and reimagined what art could sound and look like.
Plus two honourable mentions this year go to:

➛ MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE by Elegance Bratton, a sweet-and-sour celebration of Black and q***r joy, tracing the roots of house music through pioneer Vince Lawrence (and fellow originator Jesse Saunders), while capturing the emancipatory freedom of the dancefloor.

➛ THE BIG JOHNSON by Lola Rocknrolla, a punx portrait of a larger-than-life figure from NYC’s q***r core underground, drag performer, s*x worker, musician, and party instigator, Dean Johnson.

Huge love to our dream jury: Pauline Black, Melissa Auf der Maur, Kate Hutchinson, Raul Nino Zambrano, Jeremy Deller, and Vic Galloway for bringing their legendary taste to this year’s awards.

30/10/2025

See you Saturday, folks!

Three days until Monk in Pieces rocks London at Doc'n Roll Films! Billy Shebar presents the "rich tapestry of Monk’s music" (Screen International) in this kaleidoscopic portrait of Meredith Monk’s life and work.

Join director Billy Shebar for a Q&A following the Barbican Centre screening on Nov. 1, then catch the film at The Castle Cinema on Nov. 9 and in Dublin at the Lighthouse Cinema on Nov. 20!

Tickets are on sale now.

27/10/2025

🎸 GIVEAWAY TIME! 🎸

The Original Soho Punk Rock Tour and Doc'n Roll Film Festival have teamed up for two prizes up for grabs!

1) A pair of tickets to this Thursday 30 October screening of I Was a Teenage S*x Pistol at Hackney Picturehouse
2) ⁠A signed copy of Glen Matlock’s latest album “Consequences Coming”

To enter:
💥 Answer the trivia question below in the comments 👇
💥 Share this post on your own page

👉 Which is the only S*x Pistols song Glen wrote the lyrics for?

A winner will be chosen at random and announced on Wednesday at 6PM!

20/10/2025

COIL ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review - LDN Rio Cinema 24 Oct & ICA 30 Oct. BRIGHTON Duke of York's Picturehouse 25 Oct. Tix - https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/a-way-to-die-the-short-films-of-coil/

Rockumentary explores two artists no longer living, and their shared taste for experimental q***r cinema - from the 12th Doc'n Roll Film Festival

12/10/2025

NASH THE SLASH RISES AGAIN | WORLD PREMIERE

Nash the Slash remains one of music’s great enigmas. A masked figure and sonic alchemist, he emerged from Toronto’s underground in the late 1970s, wielding his electric violin with both classical finesse and punk ferocity. Restlessly inventive, he scored Un Chien Andalou live, signed to Richard Branson’s DinDisc alongside Gary Numan, and collaborated with Iggy Pop — yet always refused to compromise. Drawn to solitude as much as spectacle, he carved his own path through film, installations and silent cinema, haunted by questions of identity and outsiderhood. Nash the Slash Rises Again! is a cinematic meditation, stitched together with fragments of silent film, classic horror and noir.

Catch director Tim Kowalski for a post-screening Zoom Q&A.

RSVP: https://fb.me/e/6awSATtXf

⇒ 29 October ICA, London

🎟 Tickets via: https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/nash-the-slash-rises-again/
_________________________________________

✦ DOC'N ROLL FILM FESTIVAL 12TH EDITION ✦
23 October – 9 November 2025

12/10/2025

BOY GEORGE & CULTURE CLUB

Provocative, chaotic and impossibly fun, this intimate portrait charts Culture Club’s meteoric rise, dramatic split and remarkable reunion. For the first time, Boy George, Roy Hay, Mikey Craig () and Jon Moss come together to tell their story — from their creative spark and personal entanglements to their towering cultural impact. Set against the backdrop of 1980s Britain, the film explores how four young men formed a multi-racial, diverse and s*xually liberated band whose style and sound challenged the status quo. At its heart lies the love story between Boy George and Jon Moss — a relationship that inspired hits, fuelled tensions and ultimately shaped the band’s legacy.

Don’t miss this special premiere on the UK’s biggest screen—fit for pop royalty. A surprise guest will join the post-screening Q&A.

⇒ 4 November | UK PREMIERE BFI IMAX, London

🎟 Tickets via: https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/boy-george-and-culture-club/
__________________________________________

✦ DOC'N ROLL FILM FESTIVAL 12TH EDITION ✦
23 October – 9 November 2025

12/10/2025

THE BIG JOHNSON

Dean Johnson was a New York drag queen, rock star, s*x party promoter and late-in-life es**rt — a trailblazer who pushed against every boundary. In 2007, he went on a job and never came back. Was it an accidental overdose, or something more sinister? The Big Johnson dives into the myth and the man: the first bald drag queen, the first to throw s*x parties during the AIDS crisis, the only one to host an LGBTQ night at CBGB, and the first openly gay singer on Island Records. He**in, sobriety, love, s*x, music, community, HIV, poverty — Dean survived them all, embodying the wild, defiant spirit of New York’s East Village in the 1980s, until he didn’t.

For this special UK premiere, director Lola Rocknrolla joins forces with S*x Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement for a juicy post-screening panel — followed by an afterparty at The Divine. Expect late-night talk, drag, and divine debauchery.

⇒ 29 October | UK PREMIERE Rio Cinema, London

🎟 Tickets via: https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/the-big-johnson/
________________________________________

✦ DOC'N ROLL FILM FESTIVAL 12TH EDITION ✦
23 October – 9 November 2025

12/10/2025

Discover the untold story of Dean Johnson, a forgotten icon of NYC q***r underground...don’t sleep on it!

Delicious celebration of LGBTQ+ underground culture shines a light on Dean Johnson, a q***r musician well ahead of his time - from the 12th edition of the Doc'n Roll Festival

10/10/2025

UK PREMIERE + Special guests Q&A selling fast...🔥
4 Nov - BFI IMAX

Rockumentary reveals Culture Club as a smorgasbord of heritages and influences; this diversity made their music rich but also caused their egos to explode - from the 12th Doc'n Roll Festival

07/10/2025

BIG MAMA THORNTON: I CAN’T BE ANYONE BUT ME

A blues powerhouse who shook American music to its core, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton made “Hound Dog” a #1 hit before Elvis ever sang it, and her ferocious “Ball & Chain” lit the fuse for Janis Joplin’s career. Defying gender norms in jeans, boots and a cowboy hat, Big Mama Thornton captivated audiences with raw energy, humor and soul. From Alabama juke joints to European festivals, she lived hard, sang harder, and left an indelible mark on rock, R&B and the blues.

Director Robert Clem (One State Films) joins us for a Q&A after the screening.

⇒ 24 October | UK PREMIERE Barbican Centre, London

🎟 Tickets via: https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/big-mama-thornton-i-cant-be-anyone-but-me/
_________________________________________

✦ DOC'N ROLL FILM FESTIVAL | 12TH EDITION ✦
23 October – 9 November 2025

06/10/2025

MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE

A celebration of the sound that rose from Chicago’s South Side and ignited a global movement of freedom and radical togetherness. Just as disco was collapsing, young Chicagoan Vince Lawrence and a group of visionary friends began experimenting with drum machines and synthesizers, forging a revolutionary new sound: house music. Elegance Bratton’s film is an electrifying tribute to the pioneers who transformed a local scene into a worldwide phenomenon — a story of liberation, unity and pure, undiluted bliss.

Catch director Elegance Bratton for a post-screening Q&A — and don’t miss this unique chance to experience the celebration of house on Britain’s largest cinema screen!

⇒ 6 November | LONDON PREMIERE BFI IMAX, London

🎟 Tickets via: https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/move-ya-body-the-birth-of-house/

In collaboration with Sheffield DocFest
__________________________________________

✦ DOC'N ROLL FILM FESTIVAL | 12TH EDITION ✦
23 October – 9 November 2025