70-minute feature, The Cavern Club: The Beat Goes On, has been made by LA Factual, the documentary arm of Liverpool’s award-winning LA Productions and is narrated by Paul McGann. Tony McDonough reports
A new documentary celebrating 60 years of Liverpool’s world-famous Cavern Club is getting top billing at a major international festival being held in the US this week.
The 70-minute feature, The Cavern Club: The Beat Goes On, has been made by LA Factual, the documentary arm of Liverpool’s award-winning LA Productions, the team behind hit TV shows such as Broken, Care and Moving On.
And, appropriately, the film will debut in Los Angeles at the BritWeek festival, held to celebrate he very best of British talent.
The standalone documentary, created to celebrate 60 years of the Cavern Club known to most as the home of the Beatles, is narrated by Liverpool-born actor Paul McGann and features interviews with those linked to the iconic venue, including Sir Paul McCartney.
Archive footage
LA Factual worked with the Cavern Club over the last two and half years to create the documentary, speaking to more than 20 people of interest and sifting through thousands of hours of archive footage.
Staff at LA Factual produced more than 40 hours of content all of which was cut down to make the 70 minute mark. The team travelled the length of the country throughout filming with parts also filmed in Paris.
The documentary is being shown to international TV companies and on demand video services. Christian Francis-Davies, head of LA Factual, said: “Being a Liverpool-based production company, it is a great honour to work with such an iconic venue.
“We are really pleased with the outcome of the documentary and we cannot wait for audiences both at home and abroad to enjoy it for themselves.”
Legendary venue
Jon Keats, director of the Cavern Club says: “There have been several films been made over the years about the Cavern, usually focusing on the Beatles period. This is the definitive documentary of a legendary Liverpool venue, made by a Liverpool company. We are delighted with the end result.”
And Nigel Lythgow, chairman of BritWeek, also said: “I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I am for this year’s BritWeek events. Personally I couldn’t have hoped for better. My hometown in the UK was Wallasey, on the tip of the Wirral Peninsula, just a ‘ferry across the Mersey’ to Liverpool.
“You can imagine how ecstatic I am that BritWeek is holding the world premiere of a documentary film about the Cavern Club.”
The documentary film will then be shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival on April 29 and 30. The documentary is set to air in the UK in summer 2019.