Preview: Bill Frisell, A Portrait

This new documentary film about the guitarist, directed by Emma Franz, will be given its UK debut screening at the Curzon cinema in Soho on 5 November

Bill Frisell, A Portrait is an intimate movie that traces the ideas and processes that have shaped Frisell's music. Frisell (pictured right by Paul Moore) is normally a reclusive figure but the movie's director, Australian film-maker and musician Emma Franz, gained access to Frisell and his family over a five-year period as well as speaking with many of his friends and colleagues. Franz shot, directed, produced and edited the movie single-handedly.

The resulting documentary is filled with interviews with Frisell - described as an "anti-archetype guitar hero" - and with musicians including Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Joey Baron, Nels Cline, Jim Hall, Jason Moran, Mike Gibbs, John Zorn, Jack DeJohnette and Ron Carter.

Live music also features strongly in Bill Frisell, A Portrait. Performances include Frisell with Mike Gibbs (his first teacher at Berklee) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra as well as the final appearance of the Paul Motian Trio, featuring Frisell and Joe Lovano.

The two-hour film was first shown at the South By Southwest festival in March 2017 and it has since been shown at festivals in Australia, Canada, Brazil, the USA and New Zealand. Its UK premiere is part of the Doc 'N' Roll festival of music documentary movies. The movie will be shown at the Curzon Soho at 3.00pm on Sunday 5 November.

A trailer for Bill Frisell, A Portrait can be viewed here.

For more information and to book tickets go to the Doc 'N' Roll website.

Bruce Lindsay