Acud presents this event as part of the official transmediale and CTM Vorspiel 2016.
Johns’ Kingdom began when a small group of friends decided to organize a party for insiders at Moscow’s Ypsilon club, performing music created by any means available, sometimes lacking particular skill, but always with an urge to express themselves and discuss it in a community with similar views on music and creativity in general. The group began a new DIY culture of local parties and began circulating through Russia and Ukraine’s techno network.
Thus, somewhat informally, Johns’ Kingdom – a community, cassette label, strange sect, and occasional party series – was born. No one seems to know a great deal about them, as they don’t provide much detail, transmitting their sounds via mysterious recordings, Boiler Room performances, a feature in Dazed and Confused Magazine and even soundtracking current Russian fashion star Gosha Rubchinskiy’s runway shows.
[vimeo 148602063 w=620&h=300]In Summer 2015, London-based filmmaker Timothy George Kelly went to Moscow to document Johns’ Kingdom and to finally find out where the kingdom is and what it looks like.
In the short documentary “In Search of Johns’ Kingdom,” he follows the musicians around town, talking to them about their creative approach, their goals and their struggles. He captured the tower block landscapes, the suburban trains, the parties, the bedrooms, the fragile world they’ve built for themselves. In the end it’s not just a short film about kids making music; it’s a snapshot of contemporary Russia from a point of view you’ve never seen before.
Director Timothy George Kelly and a member of Johns’ Kingdom will be present to introduce the documentary and answer questions regarding the film, as well as the burgeoning music scene in “The New East.”
Presented by Digital in Berlin. Check out our Facebook page to win tickets.
Screening of “In Search of Johns’ Kingdom: Electronic Music in Moscow and the ‘New East'”
Sunday, 31 January 2016 | 18:00 CET
Acud Macht Neu! | Veteranenstr. 21 | 10119 Berlin
johnskingdom.bandcamp.com | acudmachtneu.de
