Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
The 2027 Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame Music Documentary Film Festival is now accepting submissions of music documentaries on FilmFreeway. In 2026, the 2nd LIMEHOF Music Documentary Film Festival featured movies about jazz, opera, folk music, classical music, hip hop, electronic music, jam band music, K-pop, African music, Hispanic music, French music, rock music, alternative music, soul music, punk, blues music, record collecting and more. Past films featured Harry Chapin, Public Enemy, The Beatles, The Zombies, Steppenwolf, Guggenheim Grotto, Ron Delsener, Garland Jeffreys, Billy Preston, Peter Gabriel, Ann Wilson, Kenny Loggins, Peter Asher, the Eraserheads, Paquito D'Rivera, James, Nash the Slash, Dead & Company, John Popper, Yello, Biz Markie, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, the Foo Fighters, Robert Charlebois and more. The LIMEHOF Music Documentary Film Festival is America’s largest festival devoted to strictly music documentaries.
Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
Dystopian Thriller Director Perry Bhandal Talks AI & Okay, It’s Time to Go on SOUNDS OF FILM Perry Bhandal, the writer-director of Okay, It’s Time to Go, joins Tom Needham on The Sounds of Film to discuss his provocative dystopian thriller and the revolutionary possibilities of generative AI in independent filmmaking. Bhandal explores the film’s disturbing premise, the future of creative freedom, and his decision to establish Kirlian Pictures, an independent film studio and direct-to-audience platform designed to give filmmakers greater control over production, distribution and ownership of their work. Okay, It’s Time to Go imagines a near-future world transformed by the Stopwatch, a consumer device developed by AltarCorp that allows people to end their lives instantly. Told through three interconnected stories, the film examines the devastating consequences of this technology as voluntary death spreads throughout society, threatening families, fertility, institutions and humanity’s future. Combining corporate mythology, political debate and
Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
THE TUNERS’ Paweł and Joanna Chorzępa Talk New York Times Op-Docs & Oscar Run on SOUNDS OF FILM On the next episode of Sounds of Film, Tom Needham speaks with director and cinematographer Paweł Chorzępa and producer Joanna Chorzępa about their award-winning documentary short, The Tuners. With multiple international festival honors and a forthcoming release on The New York Times Op-Docs, the film offers a fascinating look at the unsung artists whose extraordinary skills help shape the performances of the world’s finest pianists. Set during the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, The Tuners follows three master piano tuners representing Steinway, Kawai, and Fazioli. As the competitors prepare for career-defining performances, these highly specialized craftsmen work under intense pressure to achieve the perfect sound. Through striking cinematography, immersive sound design, and a suspenseful narrative, Chorzępa transforms the often-overlooked art of piano tuning into a compelling story of craftsmanship, ambition,
Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
SONG OF HIAWATHA & AMERICAN HARDCORE Filmmaker, Steven Blush, on SOUNDS OF FILM On the next episode of Sounds of Film, Tom Needham welcomes Steven Blush, acclaimed author, music historian, journalist, and filmmaker best known for his work documenting underground music, including American Hardcore. Blush joins Needham to discuss The Song of Hiawatha, a documentary about Hiawatha Bailey whose life brings together punk rock, radical politics, and the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. The film was a recent Official Selection at the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame Music Documentary Film Festival. Hiawatha Bailey was a member of Ann Arbor’s White Panther Party, a radical political organization inspired by the Black Panther Party that sought to unite political resistance with cultural expression and community action. Bailey lived in the legendary Hill Street communes, worked with the underground rock scene, and witnessed firsthand the connections between music and
Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
A wonderful evening at Tilles Center celebrating Roger Tilles and his more than four decades of leadership and advocacy for the arts, education, and Long Island. Congratulations, Roger, on an extraordinary legacy of service!
Photo Credit: Ed Shin
Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
Tune in for a Special Tribute to Actor/Writer/Director Bob Balaban on Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film this Thursday at 6 PM.
Bob Balaban was recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival at Guild Hall of East Hampton.
THE SOUNDS OF FIM will honor Bob Balaban by featuring music exclusively from films and television shows connected to his long varied career.
The show will feature music from MIDNIGHT COWBOY, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, PRINCE OF THE CITY, GOSFORD PARK, SEINFELD, THE MiGHTY WIND, GHOST WORLD, MOONRISE KINGDOM, THE WEST WING, THE FRENCH DISPATCH and more.
Check out this musical celebration of Bob Balaban on WUSB.
Photo of Bob Balaban by Tom Needham
Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
Bryan Cranston Presents Bob Balaban with Lifetime Achievement Award at Hamptons International Film Festival The acclaimed actor was honored at Guild Hall of East Hampton during a special screening of Christopher Guest’s comedy classic BEST IN SHOW. The Sounds of Film with Tom Needham continued its coverage of the Hamptons International Film Festival on Sunday, October 11, at Guild Hall in East Hampton, where actor Bryan Cranston presented Bob Balaban with the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award during a special screening of BEST IN SHOW. Sponsored by UBS, the event celebrated Balaban’s extensive contributions to film and television over a career spanning six decades. The screening brought audiences together to revisit Christopher Guest’s beloved comedy, which follows an eccentric collection of dog owners competing in a prestigious canine show. Balaban appeared in the film as Theodore W. Millbank III, the wealthy benefactor financing one of the competing dogs, in a memorable
Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
Check out the latest community post from one of your neighbors. (The views expressed in this post are the author’s own.)
Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK Brings Old-School Hustle to the Hamptons International Film Festival John Turturro stars as a streetwise New Yorker whose traditional ways collide with a modern world of digital crime. The Sounds of Film with Tom Needham continued its coverage of the Hamptons International Film Festival at Guild Hall of East Hampton on Saturday, October 10, with coverage of THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK. The New York-set crime drama brought a distinctly local character to the festival, exploring a city where old-school street smarts collide with an increasingly digital world. Written and directed by Noah Segan, the film stars John Turturro and features an ensemble cast including Giancarlo Esposito, Steve Buscemi, Tatiana Maslany and Will Price. Produced by Katie McNeill, Leopold Hughes and Ben LeClair, with Rian Johnson among the executive producers, the film is being released by Sony Pictures Classics. Turturro stars
Tom Needham’s The Sounds of Film
Check out the latest community post from one of your neighbors. (The views expressed in this post are the author’s own.)