Sands Film Festival Opens Milestone Fifth Edition With John Carney’s Musical Comedy ‘Power Ballad’ 

The Sands International Film Festival opened Friday evening, marking a new milestone for the Scottish event: its fifth year in operations.

“What nobody tells you at the start of new things is just how fragile beginnings can be,” Festival Director Ania Trzebiatowska said in her opening speech on Friday. 

“Half of new ventures don’t make it to five years. I won’t pretend that it’s always been easy. But something extraordinary would happen every year at this festival, whether it was a student curator having their first moment on stage, introducing a film, or the truly magical afternoon that we had with Alan Silvestri a few years back.” 

Trzebiatowska continued: “Something would happen that would make everything worth our while, and meant this town actually really wanted this festival, and that we should continue to put it on. So here we are.”

John Carney’s latest feature, Power Ballad, was the opening night film this year at Sands. Starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, the musical comedy arrived at Sands following its debut at SXSW and a homecoming screening at the Dublin Film Festival. 

The film follows Rick (Paul Rudd), a washed-up wedding singer, and Danny (Jonas), a fading boy band star, who bond over music during a miraculous late-night jam session. When Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into a hit, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves.

Also starring in the film are Marcella Plunkett, Havana Rose Liu, and Jack Reynor. Producers are Anthony Bregman, John Carney, Peter Cron, Rebecca O’Flanagan, and Robert Walpole. Scottish musician Gary Clark composed the film’s music, once again working with Carney following their collaborations on Flora and Son and Sing Street. Clark was present on Friday night in St Andrews for a post-screening Q&A with Trzebiatowska. 

“John’s movies have a lot of music performed in them as opposed to in the background, so everything has to be done that you’re gonna see on screen before they start shooting, so it’s pretty intense,” Clark explained, adding that the film’s central song, the anthem that drives the drama between Rudd and Jonas’ characters, wasn’t written until the last moment during pre-production. 

“We literally didn’t have it written until 3 days before Paul Rudd arrived,” Clark said. 

The veteran musician was also full of praise for Rudd’s musical ability. Throughout the film, the actor performs multiple musical numbers and holds his own alongside Jonas. 

“The funny thing is, I’d actually worked with Nick Jonas before, so I knew Nick was great, and when John told me that Nick was on board, I said, that’s fantastic, it’s a gift for me in the studio,” he said. 

“But when Paul came on, I was honestly Googling like mad trying to find bits, and then I found this clip of him doing Wichita Lineman. He did it really well, and I thought, this could be OK. But then in the studio, he was brilliant. I had no idea he was such a good singer.” 

Power Ballad is currently on release in the U.S. Lionsgate will release the movie next month in the UK. 

This year, Sands runs until April 19. Headline events from this year’s program include an on-stage Q&A session and musical event with the veteran BAFTA and Grammy award-winning composer Craig Armstrong (Ray, The Great Gatsby). Titled An Afternoon with Craig Armstrong, the event will see Armstrong in conversation with Edith Bowman about his career and creative process. The event will also feature live music performed on stage by St Andrews music scholars.

The festival will once again mount its signature “This Much I Know…” series, where leading industry professionals discuss their current practice and the contemporary marketplace. This year’s guests include John Sloss, founder and CEO of Cinetic; AGBO Chief Creative Officer Angela Russo-Otstot; and production designer James Price. Price’s credits include Poor Things, which earned him both an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Production Design, as well as titles such as Bugonia, The Iron Claw, Speak No Evil, and The Ipcress File.

Elsewhere, veteran screenwriter and filmmaker Charlie Kaufman will travel to St Andrews to take part in an onstage session titled Moving Pictures: The Poetry of Cinema and Vice Versa alongside poet Eva H.D. about the relationship between film, poetry, and the creative unconscious.

Deadline’s Mike Fleming will also sit down with AGBO’s Joe Russo and Angela Russo-Otstot for an onstage Q&A. They will be joined by a series of unnamed special guests.

The festival’s closing night title is Rohan Kanawade’s Cactus Pears.