From the producer of Billy Elliot and directed by Marc Evans, Welsh musical film Hunky Dory has been selected to be shown at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) annual music, film, and interactive festival held in Austin.
The coming-of-age drama sees English actress Minnie Driver put on a Welsh accent, as she plays the role of drama teacher, Vivienne, in the summer of 1976 who wants to diverge her school’s general teenage apathy by engaging them in an end of year music version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Featuring songs from artists such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield and Electric Light Orchestra, the songs will be performed by a fresh, young cast whose voices add a particular poignancy and beauty to some familiar classic tunes.
The film is a nostalgia trip for the older audience and a fresh introduction to some classic pop to the younger ones. We’re unsure if this will get picked up for a US release yet, but we hope it does so we thought it would be worth a mention. We will let you know more when we do, and until then here is the film’s trailer:
