Finding Fela

Finding Fela comes to Electric Palace on Thursday 10 December, a documentary on Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the Nigerian musical pioneer and political firebrand who created Afrobeat and used it to air revolutionary opinions against the country's dictatorial government of the 1970s and 1980s. Directed by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney, the film runs for 120 minutes and weaves together archive performances, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from the Broadway musical Fela! to trace how one man's music became a weapon against corruption and military rule, and why his legacy still resonates.

It doesn't shy away from the more complicated side of the man, either. The film takes in his many mistresses and a life heavy with marijuana smoke and ego, while arguing that the power of his message remains undimmed. If you've heard the name but don't know the story, it's a good place to start; if you already know the music, it fills in the gaps around the man behind it.

The screening is part of Hidden Beach: Winter of Culture, curated by Remi Vibesman, and it also sits within Storm the Palace – Political Documentaries, a series curated by Hastings' BAFTA award-winning producer and director Archie Lauchlan. There's a post-screening discussion while the bar reopens, so you can stick around and talk it through after the credits roll.

Finding Fela (2014, dir. Alex Gibney) runs for 120 minutes at Electric Palace on Thursday 10 December.