The movie 'Rock'n Roll of Corse' - a documentary film by Lionel Guedj & Stéphane Bébert about Henry Padovani has been selected as a chosen film at the Cannes Film Festival. The film will be screened on May 21 and the Flying Padovanis will perform later that evening.

Padovani arrived in London in 1976, as the punk era was getting into full swing. What began as a two-week holiday turned into a seven-year stay as the young musician found his niche in this exciting, creative musical period. With Sting and Stewart Copeland he formed The Police in 1977. Padovani was unsuited to the rock star lifestyle, preferring to stay out of the spotlight. His unwillingness to take centre stage makes him an ideal observer of these complicated times.

In Rock n Roll Of Corse, Padovani speaks of his experiences in the '70s and early '80s, joined by a stellar cast of luminaries including Sting, Mick Jones, Stewart Copeland and more. Extensive concert footage includes Padovani joining Sting, Copeland and Andy Summers during a Police reunion tour in France, the reformation of his band, The Flying Padovanis at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and more.

Lionel Guedj is a self-taught film-maker from France who is best known for his book of photographs Les Rendez-Vous de la Tour Eiffel for which he took a photograph of the Eiffel Tower every day for a year. His first music film was Mandekalou, which explores African songs of praise.



London 1976: The punk movement came to life at a time when social protest was at its height, a time when the rebellious youth sought a different future than the prevailing sterile artistic and cultural context would have dictated. The movement involved all imaginable forms of rebellion, but music quickly became its chief manifestation. It was against this social backdrop that the young Corsican Henry Padovani first arrived in England. His two-week vacation turned into a seven-year sojourn as the novice musician discovered an entirely new world, whose fresh philosophy he quickly and instinctively adopted. This important era of musical and social history became, for Padovani, a formative period of friendship with those who are today known as the undisputed stars of pop and rock. Sting and The Police, Mick Jones and The Clash, Kim Wilde, Jeff Beck and The Stranglers, all became part of his life. Yet Padovani distanced himself from the spotlight, focusing his life instead on human values. To the big names of rock, Padovani was not simply a musical partner, but also - and above all - a friend; the type who stocked Sting's fridge when The Police were still obscure and broke. And it is precisely through his dedication to friendship, solidarity, and joie-de-vivre that Henry Padovani became an ideal witness of this social-artistic gestation. Thanks to his personality, values, and demonstrated loyalty, Padovani remains the one to whom nothing is denied, the constant observer of these complicated years.

It is this element of human adventure contained in the story of rock during the late 1970s and early '80s that we will try to reproduce in "Rock'n'Roll...Of Corse!" Through interviews and meetings in London and Corsica, we will try to capture the essence of the amazing adventure in order to make sense of the rock'n'roll movement. The descent into hell of Topper Headon (The Clash), the IRS label adventure alongside Miles Copeland (REM, The Bangles, Lord of the New Church etc.), friendship, solidarity, drugs, women and music all belong in this incredible story. From concerts in the historic clubs of the punk/rock London, to unpremeditated reunions and improvised discussions, Henry Padovani's voice will guide us through the maze of this unique period.

We will witness the truth when Henry Padovani - thirty years after the break-up of The Police's original line-up - joins Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers on the stage of the Stade de France, to play in front of a crowd of 80,000 people.
The film will focus on the elements of Padovani's lifestyle. Whether as a young student or a rock'n'roller, we will follow the details of his life as faithfully as possible. We will meet his family, his friends, and others who knew of the dreams of the young Henry. We will visit his hometown, where it all began, where he realized that music would become his way of life.

At the same time, it seems essential for this type of narration to leave as much as possible to the viewer's own imagination; to uncover the story, and to self-identify with an exceptional life recounted as simply as it was lived. We believe it is important to emphasize both the human aspect that binds all these musicians, as well as the socio-political context in which they evolved. Their music is a "soundtrack" of sorts of those years. We will be considering the idea of life and accomplishment, passion for music in general and rock in particular, social rejection, and openness to others...

We will use original images in which, for example, Sting testifies his deep bond with Henry Padovani, while trying to understand what was happening in this "bubbling" London by walking through the Camden district or through archive footage showing the originality and specificity of those years.

These images (of concerts, etc...) will be a musical and visual testimony and an inexhaustible source of context and perspective that will illustrate the uniqueness of the time. Through exclusive images as the reformation of his band "The Flying Padovanis" in Japan (Fuji Rock Festival) or in Hyde Park (Hard Rock Calling), we will notice that history continues and that music is forever a part of their lives. To them, rock is not simply a phenomenon but an entire lifestyle, a common purpose, an incessant questioning, far beyond dreams.

We will sail back and forth between yesterday and today, between art and society, music and human adventure, memories and historical realities. As both a player and an observer, Henry Padovani is a witness from within, and his hoarse voice will carry us. The memorable melodies of The Clash, The Who, The Pretenders, The Police or The Stranglers will allow us to (re)live, even if for a few moments, a time that has changed the way we listen to music forever.

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