a-ha THE MOVIE director Up Next on Tom Needham’s SOUNDS OF FILM

a-ha THE MOVIE director, Thomas Robsahm, Up Next on Tom Needham’s SOUNDS OF FILM

The music of Queen and the Velvet Underground instilled a sense of destiny in three teenagers living in a small town in 1970s Norway. That dream led to A-ha: the synth-pop trio featuring keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, vocalist Morten Harket, and guitarist Pål Waktaar-Savoy. No Norwegian act had broken through internationally quite like they did when they burst onto the international scene with 1985’s “Take on Me,” buoyed by an iconic sketch-animation video by Irish-British director Steve Barron. The band became global sensations and heartthrobs overnight, but it remained to be seen how they would adapt to their newfound fame. How would they follow their original dream: to make music? Featuring new interviews with the band and previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage, Thomas Robsahm’s A-HA, THE MOVIE delves into this very question. By following the band’s ups and downs—sojourns to post-punk-era England, their James Bond theme song for The Living Daylights thriller, and slow-simmering interpersonal rifts—Robsahm captures a band that constantly strove to challenge itself, never content to simply repeat earlier successes. The result is a moving story of creative intuition and invention.

The film was a recent selection at the Port Jefferson Documentary Series.

Tom Needham's THE SOUNDS OF FILM is the nation's longest running film, music and ideas themed radio show. For the past 30 years, the program has delivered a popular mix of interviews and music to listeners all over Long Island, parts of Connecticut and streaming worldwide live on the internet at wusb.fm. Past people interviewed for the show include Alec Baldwin, Billy Joel, Noah Baumbach, Matthew Broderick, Ralph Macchio, Marco Beltrami, and Alexander Payne.

Worldwide listeners can tune into the internet livestream of THE SOUNDS OF FILM on Thursday at 6 pm EST at wusb.fm.