The renowned film maker and photographer Mike Figgis, whose latest documentary about Ronnie Wood ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’ will also be showing the same day, will be coming down to Kino-Teatr for a Q&A  after The Battle of Hastings screening to talk about filming the 11th Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition at the White Rock Theatre and locations in and around Hastings.

An accomplished jazz musician and composer himself, Mr Figgis said in an  interview with the Sussex Express that ‘’the competition has a lot of drama built into it by the very nature of how it works, It has a strong emotional appeal which I hope will make a really interesting film.”

More than 30 young musicians from as far afield as Australia and Kazakhstan, aged between 16 and 30, descended on Hastings that week, playing live at the White Rock Theatre in front of the distinguished international jury members Bernd Goetzke, Olivier Gardon, Dina Yoffe, Robert Palmer and Wibaut. The competition remains one of the UK’s fastest growing premier competitions for international young pianists.

‘Figgis is keen to explore the issues surrounding the lives of young concert pianists working to establish a career, and equally what can be done to encourage younger audiences to experience classical music’ – Hastings Online Times