STACK #261 July 2026

MOVIE FEATURE

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FUN FACT: Whitney Houston's mother, Cissy Houston, sang backing vocals for Elvis during his legendary 1969 Las Vegas residency.

F or decades, rumours of lost Elvis Presley concert films swirled among industry insiders and fans alike. As he began preparing Elvis , Luhrmann tasked researchers with After his critically acclaimed 2022 Elvis biopic, Baz Luhrmann wasn’t finished with The King. Now, following an exhaustive restoration, he returns with one of the greatest concert films ever captured. to previously unseen Super 8 film from the Graceland archives. Armed with an extraordinary cache of material, what first felt like a blessing quickly became an immense undertaking. The footage required extensive Elvis Presley RETURN OF THE KING! EPiC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT GENRE: Documentary RUN TIME: 1h 36m

something beyond the biopic.

• EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is out Jul 1

A new project was necessary, and so began the meticulous process of restoring, assembling, and shaping EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert . Enlisting the help of Kiwi

director Peter Jackson and his team, who had recently undertaken a similar restoration with The Beatles: Get Back and Let It Be , Luhrmann crafted what he describes as a fever dream. It is a concert film unlike any other, a personal, fly-on-the-wall experience that is as dazzling and mesmerising as it is fascinating and endearing. Ahead of the film’s release, Baz Luhrmann released the following statement, offering insight into the process and giving fans a personal account of what EPiC means. “What if, instead of reduxing the previous works, we made a film that wasn't a documentary and wasn't a concert film? What if Elvis came to you in a dreamscape, almost like a cinematic poem, and sang to you and told you his story in a way in which you haven’t experienced before?” The result is Elvis as never seen before. Glenn Cochrane

verifying their existence, hoping to uncover enough exclusive footage to incorporate into his film. He could not have imagined what followed. Deep within the Warner Bros. archives, hidden in a vault buried in Kansas salt mines, a treasure trove

restoration to clean it up and bring these long-lost concert films back to life. More than just performance, the newly discovered material revealed hours of backstage banter, rehearsal footage, and candid interactions with Elvis. Luhrmann immediately recognised the potential for

was uncovered. Sixty-nine boxes containing almost 60 hours of never-before seen footage. Additionally, his team gained access IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU’LL LOVE THESE:

Elvis, Amazing Grace, Amy, Piece by Piece, Dolly Parton: Here I Am

The RashOmon effect

Today, the term “Rashomon effect” remains part of popular culture, a testament to the film’s lasting impact. It describes the method of storytelling by which a singular event is told in contradictory terms by multiple characters.

Few directors have shaped cinema as profoundly as Akira Kurosawa. THE MASTER WHO CHANGED CINEMA B orn in Tokyo in 1910, he Ikiru

as Throne of Blood , a striking adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth; The Hidden Fortress , which influenced George Lucas’s Star Wars ; and Yojimbo , whose wandering samurai hero inspired Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars . Kurosawa was equally adept at contemporary dramas. High and Low remains a gripping police procedural and social thriller, while Ikiru is one of cinema’s most moving examinations of life, purpose, and mortality. More than 50 years after many of these films first premiered, Kurosawa’s work remains as powerful and relevant as ever, a testament to the enduring power of great cinema. Glenn Cochrane

audiences to Japanese cinema for the first time. Kurosawa reached even greater heights with Seven Samurai (1954), widely regarded as one of the greatest

emerged as one of Japan’s most

important filmmakers in the years following World War II, creating works that transcended language and cultural barriers to find audiences around the world. His international breakthrough came with Rashomon (1950), a groundbreaking mystery that presented the same event through multiple conflicting perspectives. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and introduced many Western

films ever made. Its story of warriors defending a village from bandits established storytelling and action conventions that continue to influence filmmakers today. The film later inspired numerous adaptations, including Hollywood western The Magnificent Seven . This new 4K collection highlights the remarkable range of Kurosawa’s work. Alongside Seven Samurai are classics such

Kurosawa’s influence

Beyond his storytelling, Kurosawa revolutionised filmmaking through dynamic camera movement, innovative editing, and his dramatic use of weather and landscape. His influence can be seen in the work of directors including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas.

From left, directors Irvin Kershner, Francis Ford Coppola, Akira Kurosawa, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Carroll Ballard

20 JULY 2026

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