Archive 2024

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Leo Records: Strictly for Our Friends

Ioana Grigore • Romania • 2024 • 70 min
World Premiere
A man, Leo, a microphone from the BBC radio studio, and amazing jazz music broadcast to 20 million people in the USSR, who had been deprived of this genre for decades. And a record label with illegal music from the underground of Communist Russia in turmoil.
A dynamic and invigorating documentary about music, the USSR, the KGB, the BBC, and Leo, an octogenarian with a passion for jazz. At 83, Leo has dedicated his entire life to promoting experimental jazz. In 1973, he was forced by the KGB to leave the USSR and flee to Israel, and from there, he sought refuge in London and joined the BBC. In 1979, he founded an independent avant-garde music company and began collecting tapes from around the world. After 42 years of activity, Leo Records boasts some of the most renowned jazz names worldwide and a warehouse full of thousands of highly valuable but unsellable records.
Original Title:Leo Records: Strictly for Our Friends
Director:Ioana Grigore
Music: Leo Records
Sound: Matei Vasilache
Editor: Cristian Georgescu
Cinematographer: Paul Chirilă, Ioana Grigore
Producer: Lazăr Marcian
Production Company: Axel Film

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