Depeche Mode: 101

Directors: D. A. Pennebaker, David Dawkins, Chris Hegedus
Runtime: 120’
Year of Production: 1989

The 101st and last concert of the enormously succesful “Music for the Masses” tour is transformed, through the verite lens of legendary D. A. Pennebaker, into a real musical landmark: a decisive cut that divides the timeline of ageless rock stars into the guitar and the synthesizer periods. Following Depeche Mode all the way to their climactic Rose Bowl Pasadena performance, the directors refer to the band as the crew of a live wire pirate vessel which causes awe and disorder from wherever it travels by. Among the fragments of a riveting performance, the makers of this documentary simultaneously record the cohabiting relation with the fans, who can finally approach their idols, exchanging with them energy that will bring them back in majestic, as well as emotionally exhausting shows.

As music rides a cloud of flashing lights to mystifyingly spread around and the songs' lyrics become a concurrent melody in the mouths of myriads of fans dressed in black and white, “101” depicts a course towards spiritual communication. The (first) creative climax of Depeche Mode condenses at the moment where their pirate vessel rises above the waves shaped by 50.000 pairs of hands in free movement, and with “Never Let Me Down” in the background, it sails high towards eternity. Pennebaker and his team are watching in awe, without interfering and the result is refined into a rough dance documentation from the ecstatic night of June 18th, 1988. The 101st and last station of a tour that changed forever the face of the music we love. Thodoris Karamanolis

Screening dedicated to Andy Fletcher in collaboration with HYSTERIKA, the official fan club of Depeche Mode in Greece - A DJ set by Yiorgos Geranios and Marcos Fragkos will precede