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The Socalled Movie

This feature-length documentary is a dynamic kaleidoscopic portrait of Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin), a multi-disciplinary musician and artist whose unique blend of klezmer, hip hop and funk is blasting through the boundaries that separate music of different cultures, eras and generations. Socalled is unstoppable: a pianist, singer, arranger, rapper, producer and composer – as well as magician, filmmaker and visual artist. The "Socalled" Movie offers a nuanced picture of an individual who's artistically fearless.
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This feature-length documentary is a dynamic kaleidoscopic portrait of Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin), a multi-disciplinary musician and artist whose unique blend of klezmer, hip hop and funk is blasting through the boundaries that separate music of different cultures, eras and generations.

Socalled is unstoppable: a pianist, singer, arranger, rapper, producer and composer – as well as magician, filmmaker and visual artist. The "Socalled" Movie offers a nuanced picture of an individual who's artistically fearless.

Music All subjects
Music Docs All channels
  • participant
    Josh Dolgin
    Katie Moore
    Fred Wesley
    C-Rayz Walz
    David Krakauer
    Matt Haimovitz
    Arkady Gendler
    Benjamin Steiger Levine
    D-Shade
    David Gonzales
    Irving Fields
  • writer
    Garry Beitel
  • director
    Garry Beitel
  • producer
    Barry Lazar
    Ravida Din
  • editor
    Dominique Sicotte
  • cinematography
    Marc Gadoury
  • sound
    André Boisvert
    Benoît Dame
    Jean Paul Vialard
    Luc Léger
  • title animation
    Eric Grice

Education

Ages 16 to 18

Notes

Warnings: [Swearing. Drawings depicting sexual acts and discussions of sex.]

An uplifting documentary about Josh Dolgin, a Canadian musician whose work combines multiple influences, including traditional Jewish klezmer, jazz, and hip-hop. Ideal for classroom discussions, activities, and assignments around music, identity, Canadian art, and multiculturalism. Describe the multitude of influences that shape your own creative process; what forms of media, art, culture, and tradition inspire you? How do you combine these different influences, and how do they shape your identity? Choose a tradition from your own culture, family or community, and write about how it influenced something else you created. In the documentary, Josh touches upon legal issues he had in regard to music sampling and copyright laws. How do these issues relate to themes explored in the film? What are your own thoughts on sampling and copyright laws? Explain your answer. 

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The Socalled Movie
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