The Florida Film Festival announced the April 8th opening night selection for this year’s 10-day film lovers fest: an exclusive “first look” showing of PRE FAB! Based on the book of the same name by musician Colin Hanton with author Colin Hall — custodian of John Lennon’s childhood home — PRE FAB! is the largely unknown true story of one man (Hanton), his drums, and the significant role he played in shaping music history.
The feature-length documentary chronicles how English-born drummer Hanton joined Lennon rounding up their friends in 1950s Liverpool to form The Quarry Men, a group that would evolve in just a few years into the biggest and most influential band in music history – The Beatles.
PRE FAB! could be considered the last Beatles story to tell, taking viewers back to the early days where it all began. Hanton serves as a jovial tour guide through this history-in-the-making narrative about the rise of “skiffle” music (an acoustic blend of folk, blues, and jazz) and its impact, along with American rock ‘n’ roll, on post-World War II British youth. Skillfully combining archival footage and music of the period, along with interviews with the surviving Quarry Men, family, friends, Liverpool residents and many others, Director Todd Thompson (Woman in Motion, Paramount+), along with story partners Mark Bentley, Joe Millin,
Ryan Conroy, Hanton and Hall, have created a joyous and enlightening documentary that forever preserves an important piece or music history.
After three years in production, the film’s first look screening in Central Florida is particularly relevant because McCartney has ties to the area (his stepson is a graduate of Rollins College), and Thompson and several members of the film’s producing team reside here.
“Our selection committee just fell in love with this feel-good and enlightening film, catching Beatles fever much like the British youth in the 1950s” said Matthew Curtis, programming director for the Festival. “PRE FAB! is the perfect cinematic gem to kick off our Festival as we strive to deliver compelling, inspirational, and break-through films.”
“Peter Jackson’s Get Back was the epic and surprising conclusion to the Beatles story; PRE FAB! shows us the origins of the Fab Four before they were ‘fab,’” Bentley, a Tampa-based attorney who also executive produced the film noted. “It is my hope that viewers leave the theater with both a clearer understanding of how The Beatles evolved, as well as a sweet reminder that life may sometimes seem unfair, but eventually works out just the way it’s supposed to.”
“Our film’s selection as the Florida Film Festival’s opening night feature is a great honor and a heartfelt homecoming for me,” added Thompson. “Not only do I attribute a lot of my creative inspiration to the remarkable films I have enjoyed at the Festival over the years, but as a former volunteer, the Enzian and Festival teams are like family.”
PRE FAB! will kick-off 10 days of Florida Film Festing April 8, 2022 at 7pm at Enzian Theater and 8pm at Regal Cinemas Winter Park Village. The event will include a Q&A with the filmmakers followed by an evening of opening night festivities at the newly-constructed Winter Park Events Center.
