Motown High and Sounds Like Motown Documentaries

Feature documentary film featuring Martha Reeves and
the Vic High R&B Band

Special Announcements:

Motown Double Bill!

Mark your calendars! BRAVO has announced it will be presenting a Motown double bill on Saturday, May 24th. Both Standing in the Shadows of Motown AND Sounds Like Motown will be shown in the evening during primetime.

News:
 Motown High quartet in return pilgrimage

April 7- Read Michael D. Reid's Times-Colonist article about Barb Hager, Hilary Beckett, Jena Gogo, and Claire Doyle's pilgrimage back to Detroit to meet with Martha Reeves for the official
U.S. premier of Motown High.

[News Article - PDF]

Barbara Hager's full-length documentary, Motown High -- the movie version of the television documentary Sounds Like Motown (BRAVO!, APTN), opened the Victoria Film Festival on February 1, 2008. The screening took place at the Capital 6 in Victoria, followed by a gala party at the Empress Hotel.

The director of the Victoria Film Festival, Kathy Kay, made the announcement at a pre-Festival celebration on January 10. She said that "Motown High" is the first locally-produced film in the festival's 14 year history to open the film festival.

The film follows the Victoria High R&B Band's visit to Detroit, their meeting with Motown legend Martha Reeves, and subsequent performance with her at Victoria's Royal Theatre in 2006.

On February 25, 2008, during the 2008 Fourth Session of Parliament at the B.C. Legislature, Victoria-Hillside MLA Rob Fleming congratulated the Victoria Film Festival, and recognized Barbara Hager, Eric Emde and the Vic High R&B Band. See Hansard for a transcription of his statement.

Visit the festival website at www.victoriafilmfestival.com

Trailer for Sounds Like Motown

Victoria Film Festival Program Guide

Caprice in Langford VFF Program

Photos of the celebration following the Jan 31, 2007 opening, featuring former Vic High R&B Band members performing together again at the Blue Pearl in Langford!

 

More on Martha Reeves and the Vic High R&B Band.

Media Clippings:

Motown High quartet in return pilgrimage (PDF 3MB)
(Times Colonist Monitor- Michael D. Reid - April 7, 2008)

Festival in Review
(Times Colonist, Feb. 1, 2008)

Siberian supermodel adds dancing to her list of talents
(Michael D. Reid, Times Colonist, Feb.3, 2008)

Monday Magazine Review
(John Threlfall, Monday Magazine January 31-February 6, 2008)


Martha Reeves and the Vic High R&B Band performed together at the Royal Theatre in 2006. Their performance and preceding events are documented in the full-length movie Motown High. Read about Martha Reeves and the Vic High R&B band here.

VICTORIA FILM FESTIVAL SYNOPSIS
Victoria 2007 | Run time: 70 min.

This is truly a made-in-Victoria film not to be missed. The Victoria High School band is profiled in this outstanding documentary about the band’s growth, its many personalities, and its remarkable journey to the heart of Motown to learn from the source. When the band travels east to play for a Detroit high school, it turns out that they’ll be performing for not only their American peers, but for Motown royalty: Martha Reeves, of Martha and the Vandellas, one of the defining voices of the Motown sound. After the performance, the Victoria musicians are treated to a talk by Ms. Reeves in which she reminisces about her days in the recording studio and at the top of the charts. However, the best was yet to come: a visit to Victoria by Reeves, during which the superstar would perform with the Victoria High School band backing her up.

With excellent concert footage from the Royal Theatre performance, interviews and candid takes of the student musicians and their teachers, it becomes hard to believe these are high school students. Not only did the band win the respect of their Detroit student peers and Martha Reeves, but they’ll also gain it from anyone who sees this amazing document of some of the most talented young R&B musicians out there today.