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Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm
Australian Premiere

It is to recording studios what Glastonbury is to music festivals - run by farmers, on a working farm and fiercely independent. Celebrating the legendary Rockfield Studios, where Queen recorded “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Oasis created masterpiece “Wonderwall”, this bustling documentary charts the rise of the studio from its humble beginnings to the professional operation it is today.

Fifty years ago, deep in the Welsh countryside, two brothers, Kingsley and Charles Ward, were milking cows and preparing to take over the family dairy farm but dreamed of making music. They had the audacious idea to build a studio in their farmhouse attic, so animals were kicked out of barns and musicians were moved into Nan’s spare bedroom. Inadvertently, they launched the world’s first independent residential recording studio: Rockfield. 

Told through archive, animation and personal interviews, this documentary shares the stories of the Ward family and iconic musicians that made music and mayhem at Rockfield over the decades, including Black Sabbath, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Iggy Pop, Simple Minds, Oasis, The Stone Roses, and Coldplay.

Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm is a story of rock’n’roll dreams intertwined with a family business’ fight for survival in the face of an ever-changing music landscape.

Director
Hannah Berryman
Cast
Ozzy Osbourne, Liam Gallagher, Chris Martin, Tim Burgess, Kingsley Ward, Charles Ward
2020 | 91 min | Music Documentary | United Kingdom
An absolute joy from start to finish.
The Telegraph