DIY music film Helpyourself Manchester at the Klondyke

New film Helpyourself Manchester tells the story of Manchester’s unsung DIY music promoters, who take new, exciting and unheard music into all corners of the city. From living rooms to basements, they put bands on not for financial reward, but because they love the music. Getting its first screening at Levenshulme’s Klondyke Club (pictured), which has itself played host to many DIY gigs over the years, the film focuses on a group of friends who found new and creative means of organising and promoting events featuring bands such as Burnst, Cat on Form, The Enablers and McWatt in the mid- to late years of the previous decade. The film, which makes uses of animation, photography, interviews and archive footage in a cut-and-paste style appropriate to the subject matter, is the work of Castles Built in Sand, a Manchester-based documentary film collective working on a DIY, not-for-profit and copyleft basis. For those who’ve not had the pleasure of attending an event at the Klondyke, the venue is tucked down a quiet suburban street and doubles as a bowls and snooker club – with the strange noises emitting from gigs in the back room often met with bemusement from the locals. The screening will be followed by live music from Manchester DIY stalwart DBH and brother-sister folk duo Kalbakken, both of whom appear in the film.

Watch the trailer here.

Fri 23 Nov, The Klondyke Club, 1 Burnage Lane, Levenshulme, M19 2HQ. 7.30pm, donations, castlesbuiltinsand.wordpress.com