Sands Opens Milestone Fifth Edition With John Carney’s ‘Power Ballad’

The Sand The International Film Festival opened on Friday evening, marking a new Scottish event: its fifth year running.

“What no one can tell you at the beginning of new things is how good the beginnings can be,” Festival Director Ania Trzebiatowska said in her opening remarks on Friday.

Half of new businesses don’t last five years. I can’t pretend it’s always been easy. But something amazing happens every year at this festival, whether it’s a student who has his first time on stage, a film premiere, or the magical afternoon we had with Alan Silvestri a few years ago.

Trzebiatowska went on to say: “Something happened that would make us benefit from it, and this town really wanted this festival, and we should continue to do it.”

John CarneyThe latest, The Power of the Ballad, was the opening night film this year at the Sands. Starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, the musical came to the Sands following its debut at SXSW and a home screening at the Dublin Film Festival.

The film follows Rick (Paul Rudd), a washed-up wedding singer, and Danny (Jonas), a struggling boy band player, who bond over music during a miraculous late-night jam. When Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into sound, Rick prepares to get to know him again.

Also starring in the film are Marcella Plunkett, Havana Rose Liu, and Jack Reynor. Producers are Anthony Bregman, John Carney, Peter Cron, Rebecca O’Flanagan, and Robert Walpole. Scottish singer Gary Clark composed the music for the film, working again with Carney following their collaboration Flora and Baby and Sing Street. Clark was present on Friday night at St Andrews for a screening after a Q&A with Trzebiatowska.

“John’s movies have more songs that are done in them than behind the scenes, so everything has to be done to see it on the screen before they start shooting, so it’s very difficult,” Clark explained, adding that the central song of the film, the song that drives the drama between Rudd and Jonas, was not written until the last minute during the preparation.

“We didn’t write until 3 days before Paul Rudd arrived,” Clark said.

The veteran singer was also full of praise for Rudd’s singing ability. Throughout the film, the actress performs several musical numbers and has her own with Jonas.

“The funny thing is, I’ve worked with Nick Jonas before, so I knew that Nick was great, and when John told me that Nick came up, I said, that’s great, it’s my gift in the studio,” he said.

“But when Paul came on, I was honestly Googling like crazy trying to find bits and pieces, and then I found this video of him doing the Wichita Lineman. He did really well, and I thought that would be great. But in the studio, he was brilliant.

The Power of the Ballad currently in US release Lionsgate will release the film next month in the UK.

This year, Sands runs until April 19. Headline events for this year’s program include an onstage Q&A session and a musical event with former BAFTA singer and Grammy award winner Craig Armstrong (Ray, (The Great Gatsby). Topic Afternoon with Craig Armstrongthe event will see Armstrong talk to Edith Bowman about his work and creative process. The event will also feature live music on stage by St Andrews musicians.

The festival will also put its signature “This I know a lot…” series, where leading experts discuss what they are doing and the current market. This year’s guests include John Sloss, founder and CEO of Cinetic; AGBO Chief Creative Officer Angela Russo-Otstot; and producer James Price. Price appreciation includes Bad things, which earned him an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Production Design, as well as titles such as Bugonia, The Iron Claw, Speak No Evil, and Ipcress file.

Elsewhere, a veteran actor and filmmaker Charlie Kaufman will travel to St Andrews to take part in a stage called Moving Images: Poems of Cinema and Vice Versa along with the poet Eva HD about the relationship between film, poetry, and the creative unconscious.

Deadline’s Mike Fleming will also sit down with AGBO’s Joe Russo and Angela Russo-Otstot for a Q&A. They will be joined by a list of unnamed special guests.

The closing night headliner of the festival is by Rohan Kanawade Cactus pears.