Van Django

Inspired by the jazz guitar stylings of Romany maestro Django Reinhardt, Van Django have been favourites on the local music scene for nearly three decades now. Expect flights of dazzling fancy, driving rhythms and boundless creativity, featuring original compositions and arrangements including humorous mash-ups wearing their eclectic influences in full regalia. For this, their first VIFF Live concert, they’ll be paired with a rare screening of Lacombe Lucien, a Louis Malle film from 1974 that uses the music of Belgian Manouche legend Django Reinhardt extensively.

Violin / Cameron Wilson
Guitar / Budge Schachte
Guitar & Cello / Finn Manniche
Bass / Brent Gubbels

About Lacombe Lucien (Louis Malle, 1974, Fr) 138 min
One of the first French films to address the taboo issue of collaboration during the German occupation, Louis Malle’s brave and controversial Lacombe, Lucien traces a young peasant’s journey from potential Resistance member to Gestapo recruit. At once the story of a nation and one troubled boy, the film is a disquieting portrait of lost innocence and guilt.

A knockout.

Pauline Kael, New Yorker

A fascinating study of the potential for evil that lurks in the human heart, balanced by stunningly beautiful images of the French countryside by cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli (Once Upon a Time in America) and a jaunty, lovely score by the legendary Django Reinhardt.

DVD Journal

A masterwork… a complexly powerful depiction of complicity with evil that raises a number of questions (relevant now)… A singular achievement and one of the greatest of all French films.

Noah Tsik, Cineaste

Co-Presented with