Everybody Digs Bill Evans

Everybody Digs Bill Evans is coming to the Towner Cinema in Eastbourne for three screenings over a few days: Friday 30 October at 4.00pm, Saturday 31 October at 2.00pm, and Wednesday 4 November at 4.00pm. It's a biopic directed by Grant Gee, and it runs for 1 hour 42 minutes.

The film follows the life of jazz pianist Bill Evans, and it centres on a specific, heavy period. In 1961, Evans was playing in what he considered the perfect musical trio, until his bass player Scott LaFaro died prematurely. LaFaro was his musical soulmate, and the loss hit him hard. Traumatised by grief, Evans stopped playing for the first time since he was a child, and spent a while oscillating between New York and suburbia. It's a portrait of a musician coming apart and trying to find his way back.

Grant Gee describes the film as sophisticated and elegantly crafted, and it's rated 15. It stars Anders Danielsen Lie, Bill Pullman and Laurie Metcalf. The Towner Cinema itself opened in 2017 with support from Arts Council England and the Eastbourne Arts Circle, and it's kitted out with a 4k HD projector and a Dolby surround-sound system, so it's a good spot to catch a film like this, where the music is as much a part of the story as the acting.

Tickets are £10.50, with a few different concessions: Towner Members pay £9.45, under-25s £7.50, babes in arms £8, relaxed screenings £5, and Friday Film Night £8.50. The cinema also runs 'cinema plus' activities like introductions, Q&As and programme notes, and works with the Eastbourne Film Society, the University of Sussex's School of Media, Film and Music, Eastbourne Rainbow and the Eastbourne Cult Film Club.