The 1989 concert film Depeche Mode 101 was given a special screening last week in New York as part of the IFC's film series Stranger Than Fiction. After the screening, 101's filmmakers DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, along with the Depeche Mode superfans who appeared in the film (Jay Serken, Chris Hardwick and Oliver Chesler) took part in a Q & A and discussed the film. Director Pennebaker revealed he wasn't familiar with Depeche Mode or their music until working on the film, but had nothing but glowing words for the band (plus he turned into a big fan!):
"They were such a wonderful group to work with that probably, we think of that as our favorite film that we've ever made....I mean, we wanted to make a big film, like Gone With The Wind or something, and so it was no holds barred, anything would go...it was like, for the first time we were gonna be able to make the big film that we always wanted to, and this was the big film. And the band was so terrific! In the beginning, one song sounded just like the other as far as I could see. And by the end of it, we were totally whipped, that music was fantastic, and still is. That music is just amazing to me, and it's so, it's the probably the way music will be in 20 to 30 years too. It won't go away."
Watch a portion of the Q & A below:
Depeche Mode 101 was shot in Pasedena, California in 1988. Watch the film in its entirety here.
Depeche Mode release a new concert film Depeche Mode: Live In Berlin, directed by Anton Corbijn on November 17th. The set comes as a 5 disc multimedia set and as a 2 CD audio soundtrack. More info on the release is posted here.
Published November 1st, 2014 @ 10:04 AM
