Nitin Sawhney

"A superb documentary about the once little-known American singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, and his huge popularity in South Africa, which starts with a rumour about him killing himself by setting fire to himself on stage. His real story then reveals itself to be very different. This film delves into mythology, how it develops, and the way we elevate musicians as beacons in culture. It’s also a film about an incredibly underrated guy, and how difficult it was to find lost stars before the internet took off. It couldn’t happen now."

"This film traces the evolution of flamenco, from its origins in India through Egypt, through eastern Europe to the west – “latcho drom” means safe journey. The director is Romany himself, and there’s no narrator, so the story is told through song and subtitles with no contrivance at all. You feel properly immersed in new worlds as a result – I play flamenco, and you feel the echoes of ancient traditions in it, but this is something else. The most powerful scene is of three women singing on a hilltop about how they’ve been disenfranchised. It’s unbelievably moving."

"I’ve played in heavy rock bands, funk bands, jazz bands, and this film captures the hilarious madness of touring life: the egos of musicians and managers, the pedantry behind getting the right things on riders, the bathos behind big epic concerts… I got lost in a labyrinth of corridors before getting to the stage once, just like Spinal Tap! This remains a tour bus favourite because of the attention to detail, particularly in the actors’ performances. I couldn’t believe it when I realised that Michael McKean from Better Call Saul was the guy who played David St Hubbins. But of course he was. He was always that good."

"An incredibly bold portrait of Ian Curtis’s life, which manages to take his story away from mythology really convincingly. You’re shown a young man trying to balance life in music and his illness with a domestic existence, and the performances of Sam Riley as Curtis and Samantha Morton as his wife, Deborah, are very powerful. I wasn’t a huge Joy Division fan when they were around – I was studying nearby in Liverpool – but this film absolutely captures the mood of that time, as does the black-and-white cinematography. It also nails that struggle of being an artist and a human being. That isn’t captured enough."

"A beautiful film about Charlie Parker, played brilliantly by Forest Whitaker, and directed by an actor who’s obviously a big jazz fan. Bird really shows you how ludicrously gifted Parker was, how his mind worked on a completely different level, but also how much he got lost in self-loathing, and how addiction made everything fall apart. Parker was 34 when he died, but the coroner thought he was 60, looking at his body. By getting into the New York club scene and looking at aspects of racism, this film also shows just how much Parker achieved, given everything he was fighting against."