''Scott Walker: 30 Century Man'' is a 2006

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about Scott Walker. The film gets its title from the ''

Scott 3 ''Scott 3'' is the third solo album by American singer songwriter Scott Walker, released on March 1, 1969, in the United Kingdom through Philips Records. It was produced by John Franz. Though a majority of the tracklist features original songs ...

'' song "30 Century Man". It is directed and co-produced by

Stephen Kijak Stephen Kijak (; born 3 October 1969) is an American film director. He is known for films about music and musicians, most notably the feature documentaries Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, ''Scott Walker – 30 Century Man'' (2006), ''Stones in ...

, with

Grant Gee Grant Robert Gee (born 1 November 1964) is a British film maker, photographer and cinematographer. He is most noted for his 1998 documentary '' Meeting People Is Easy'' about the British alternative rock group Radiohead. Early life Grant Robert ...

serving as

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

. It charts Walker's career in music, with a focus on his songwriting, and features exclusive footage of recording sessions for his most recent album, ''

The Drift ''The Drift'' is the thirteenth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Scott Walker (singer), Scott Walker, released on 8 May 2006 on 4AD. Apart from composing the soundtrack to the film ''Pola X'', the album was Walker's first studio a ...

'' including a memorable sequence in which Walker oversees the recording of the punching of a joint of pork, for the percussion on the song ''Clara''. Rock legend

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

, who often professed to having been inspired by Walker, acted as executive producer of the film. Actor

Gale Harold Gale Morgan Harold III (born July 10, 1969) is an American actor, known for his leading and recurring roles on '' Queer as Folk'', '' Deadwood'', '' Desperate Housewives'', ''Grey's Anatomy'', '' The Secret Circle'' and '' Defiance''. He also star ...

is one of the associate producers. The film received its world premiere at the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...

on 31 October 2006 and debuted internationally at the 2007

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

in the Panorama. It was released later in 2007 in cinemas and on DVD in the UK by Verve Pictures and went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed documentaries released there that year. It had its US premiere at the South by Southwest (

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

) Film Festival in March 2007. Other film festivals that have screened the film include the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. , the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

HotDocs HotDocs is a document automation (also known as document generation or document assembly) software company currently owned by Mitratech. Version 1.0 of HotDocs was introduced in 1993. Description HotDocs transforms documents and graphical (PDF) ...

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

Viennale The Vienna International Film Festival, or Viennale, is a film festival taking place every October since 1960 in Vienna, Austria. The average number of visitors is about 75,000. Traditional cinema venues are ''Gartenbaukino'', ''Urania'', ''Met ...

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

, and the

Hong Kong International Film Festival The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) is one of Asia's oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies and filmmakers from different countries, and takes place in Hong Kong. HKIFF screens ...

. In addition to Walker himself, interviewees in the film include

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (, ; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman, main vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Blur (band), Blur and the co-creator and primary musical con ...

Marc Almond Peter Mark Almond (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop/ new wave duo Soft Cell. He has a distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He has had a diverse career as a ...

Alison Goldfrapp Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp (born 13 May 1966) is an English musician and record producer, known as the vocalist of English electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Early life and education Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp was born on 13 Ma ...

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

Dot Allison Dot Allison (born Dorothy Elliot Allison, 17 August 1969, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish singer and songwriter, known for her contributions to electronic music, most notably as a result of her tenure fronting the band One Dove in the early 1 ...

Simon Raymonde Simon Philip Raymonde (born 3 April 1962) is an English musician and record producer. He is the son of the late arranger and composer Ivor Raymonde. He is best known as the bass guitarist and keyboard player with the Scottish band Cocteau Twins ...

Richard Hawley Richard Willis Hawley (born 17 January 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. After his first band Treebound Story (formed while he was still at school) broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band Long ...

, Rob Ellis, Cathal Coughlan,

Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has sinc ...

Gavin Friday Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey, 8 October 1959) is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter, best known as a founding member of the post-punk group The Virgin Prunes. Early life Fionan Hanvey was born in Dublin an ...

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

, Peter Olliff,

Angela Morley Angela Morley (10 March 192414 January 2009) was an England, English composer and Conductor (music), conductor who became familiar to BBC Radio listeners in the 1950s under the name of Wally Stott. Morley provided incidental music for ''The Go ...

(arranger of Walker's sixties' recordings as

Wally Stott Angela Morley (10 March 192414 January 2009) was an English composer and conductor who became familiar to BBC Radio listeners in the 1950s under the name of Wally Stott. Morley provided incidental music for ''The Goon Show'' and ''Hancock's ...

Ute Lemper Ute Gertrud Lemper (; born 4 July 1963) is a German singer and actress. Her roles in musicals include playing Sally Bowles in the original Paris production of ''Cabaret'', for which she won the 1987 Molière Award for Best Newcomer, and Vel ...

Ed Bicknell Ed Bicknell is a British music manager and drummer, best known for managing rock band Dire Straits, as well as Mark Knopfler, Gerry Rafferty, Bryan Ferry, Scott Walker and The Blue Nile. Career Ed Bicknell (born 1948, Yorkshire) was Chairman ...

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

Hector Zazou Hector Zazou (11 July 1948 – 8 September 2008) was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists. He worked on his own and other artists' albums, inclu ...

Mo Foster Michael Ralph "Mo" Foster (22 December 1944 – 3 July 2023) was an English multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, solo artist, author, and public speaker. Through a career spanning over half a century, Foster toured, recorded, and p ...

, Phil Sheppard, and Peter Walsh. The film is produced by Oscar-winning producer Mia Bays, marking her debut in documentary and feature film production. She was nominated for a 2008 BAFTA award (The Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a British Writer, Director or Producer in Their First Feature Film) for her work on the film. An edited version of the film was used for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

series ''Imagine''. It was introduced by

Alan Yentob Alan Yentob (11 March 1947 – 24 May 2025) was an English television executive and presenter. He held senior roles at the BBC, including head of music and arts, controller of BBC1 and BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadca ...

. In early 2008 Madman Films released the film on DVD in Australia and Avalon films released the film on DVD in Spain.

Oscilloscope Laboratories Oscilloscope Laboratories is an independent film company, distributor, recording studio and production facility. It was founded by Adam Yauch Adam Nathaniel Yauch ( ; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), also known by the stage name MCA, was an Am ...

, a distribution company founded by

Adam Yauch Adam Nathaniel Yauch ( ; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), also known by the stage name MCA, was an American rapper, bassist, filmmaker and a founding member of the Hip-hop, hip hop group Beastie Boys. Besides his musical work, he also directed m ...

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

, acquired the distribution rights in North America after the film's US release was delayed. It began another critically acclaimed theatrical run, this time in select US cities, and was released on DVD in North America in Summer 2009.

Soundtrack

''Music Inspired by the Film Scott Walker: 30 Century Man'' was released on 26 May 2009 to promote the US release of the film. Instead of a compilation of Walker's material the album was conceived as a tribute album. The album was released on

Lakeshore Records Lakeshore Village Entertainment, LLC was an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum. Lakeshore Entertainment is headquartered in Bev ...

References

External links

30 Century Man
– the filmmakers' blog
''Scott Walker: 30 Century Man''
(full video) on Topic.com
''Scott Walker: 30 Century Man'' EPK for 4AD
– Scenes from the documentary *
Missing In Action Films Ltd
– production company
Verve Pictures
– UK distributor
Moviehouse Entertainment
– international distributor

* ttp://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=134887 ''Empire Magazine'': reviewbr>''Time Out London'': review''Sight & Sound'': reviewKevchino Interview with Stephen Kijak on ''Scott Walker: 30 Century Man''
{{Scott Walker 2006 films British musical documentary films American musical documentary films Films directed by Stephen Kijak Scott Walker (singer) 2000s English-language films 2000s British films English-language documentary films