Sing-along: EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2026 Sodankylä Iso Teltta)

Baz Luhrmann: EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (AU/US 2025).

Sing-along: EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2026 Sodankylä Iso Teltta). Hosted by Juhana von Bagh. Front row left: lead sing-along singer Marjo Leinonen. Front row middle: Antti Alanen and Laila Alanen.

AU/US 2025. PC: Authentic Studios, Bazmark Films • P: Baz Luhrmann, Jeremy Castro, Matthew Gross, Colin Smeeton, Schuyler Weiss. D: Baz Luhrmann. ED: Jonathan Redmond • S: Wayne Pashley • Copy: Finnkino • DCP • in English • sing-along subtitling in English • 96 min

    Track listing: see below.

    Helsinki premiere: 27 Feb 2026

    Sodankylän Elokuvajuhlat / Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) 2026

    Sing-along event.

    Iso Teltta, 11 June 2026.

EPiC = Elvis Presley in Concert.

Kaisu Tervonen (MSFF 2026): "The hips of Elvis are still well worth talking about. Blending concert footage with documentary, Epic sees the virtuoso performer gyrate with such intensity that the audience’s sciatica twinges as their defences dissolve."

"When Australian director Baz Luhrmann was making his swinging biopic Elvis (2022), he combed through both unseen and familiar footage, eventually turning to two previous concert films: Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972). Unused footage was also discovered, which Luhrmann restored for Epic. He utilised technology from the studio of New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson, who had previously used it for his three-part Beatles documentary Get Back (2021)."

"The result is dazzling both visually and aurally. Luhrmann spends the first half hour flashing his rapid-fire editing style to recap Elvis’s life, but the remainder of the movie is all about the hips, “Hound Dog”, big-band arrangements, “Burning Love”, the intimacy of the rehearsal room, “In the Ghetto” and a closing medley. The recordings are seen and heard with a clarity whose power is undeniable: whatever Elvis Presley was offstage, on stage he truly was the King. The crowd in the karaoke tent is his court for this performance." Kaisu Tervonen

Kaisu Tervonen (MSFF 2026): "Elviksen lanteista on syytä puhua edelleen. Konserttielokuvan ja dokumentin yhdistävässä Epicissä armoitettu esiintyjä vatkaa lanteitaan niin, että katsoja tuntee iskiaksensa ärtyvän mutta vastarintansa murenevan."

"Kun australialaisohjaaja Baz Luhrmann teki svengaavaa elämäkertaelokuvaansa Elvis (2022), hän kolusi läpi ennennäkemätöntä ja jo nähtyä materiaalia ja päätyi kahden aiemman konserttielokuvan ääreen: Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970) ja Elvis on Tour (1972). Niistä löytyi myös käyttämätöntä materiaalia, jonka Luhrmann restauroi Epiciä varten. Apunaan hänellä oli uusiseelantilaisohjaaja Peter Jacksonin studion teknologia, jota Jackson käytti myös kolmeosaisessa Beatles-dokumentissaan Get Back (2021)."

"Jälki häikäisee niin visuaalisesti kuin auraalisesti. Kun ensimmäisen puolen tunnin ajan Luhrmann näyttää sähäkkää editointityyliään kerratessaan Elviksen elämänkaarta, elokuvan loppuosa täyttyy lanteista, ”Hound Dogista”, ison orkesterin soundista, ”Burning Lovesta”, harjoitusten välittömästä tunnelmasta, ”In the Ghettosta” ja lopusta biisikimarasta. Taltioinnit nähdään ja kuullaan tarkkuudella, jonka todistusvoimaa ei voi kiistää: mitä tahansa Elvis Presley oli lavan ulkopuolella, lavalla hän tosiaan oli kuningas. Karaoketeltan yleisö on hänen tämänkertainen hovinsa." Kaisu Tervonen

AA: I considered Baz Luhrmann's Elvis (AU/US 2022) the best Elvis movie I had seen and also the greatest achievement of Baz Luhrmann as a director.

Luhrmann's first Elvis movie was a fictional biopic, Austin Butler playing the part so well. EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is a compilation documentary. It is also great, and completely different. For sing-along purposes it is slightly too fragmentary. Even when songs are played in extenso, they are cut with inserts.

But we all had a great time in the biggest circus tent of Finland, lead by the rhythm & blues veteran Marjo Leinonen.

EPiC is a non-fiction biopic based on authentic documents and little known interviews with the entertainer himself. This is a contemporary view. We don't need or want varnish or polish. We can face the harrowing aspects of excess and abuse. Also the garish lack of taste.

Through this his soul goes marching on, fuelled by his biggest love affairs: first with his mother, and then with his audience. He gives all and wins all. In the purgatory of multiple addictions he never loses his ability to give a great performance.

The track list covers major periods out of chronology: the Sun years with "That's All Right (Mama)" and "Blue Moon", further early hits like "Love Me" and "Hound Dog", US Army years with "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", gospels like "How Great Thou Art" and "Oh Happy Day", civil rights in "In the Ghetto" and "Walk a Mile in My Shoes", heartfelt interpretations of great contemporary songs ("A Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Something"), psychedelic surprises ("A Change of Reality") and the late confessions "Always On My Mind" and "Suspicious Minds".

Singing along I was thinking about Marilyn Monroe, a contemporary, whose centenary we celebrated last week. Both were stars of a new generation with a frank, optimistic and life-affirming attitude, in tune with the New Frontier. Sex symbols maybe, but neither saw themselves that way. Both were All-American and embracing civil rights ideals.

More deeply integrated than before I felt the role of spirituals in the Elvis songbook. He was more than the sum of his contradictions, and the clash of the sacred and the profane may have been the most profound among them. The Swedish hymn "How Great Thou Art" ("O Store Gud", 1885) is one of the most popular worldwide, but Elvis's interpretation is by far the most powerful I have heard.

TRACK LISTING FROM WIKIPEDIA (incomplete)

No. / Title / Artist(s) / Length

1. "Can't Help Falling in Love" (EPiC intro) / Presley / 0:21

2. "Also sprach Zarathustra / An American Trilogy" (EPiC version) / Presley • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / 1:49

3. "That's All Right" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:02

4. "Tiger Man" (EPiC version) / Presley / 1:41

5. "Wearin' That Night Life Look" / Presley • Jamieson Shaw / 3:12

6. "Hound Dog" (EPiC version) / Presley / 1:20

7. "Polk Salad Annie" (EPiC version) / Presley / 5:43

8. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (EPiC version) / Presley / 4:21

9. "Little Sister / Get Back" (EPiC version) / Presley / 3:04

10. "Burning Love" (EPiC version) / Presley • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / 3:22

11. "Never Been to Spain" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:15

12. "Love Me" (Jamieson Shaw remix) / Presley • Shaw / 3:49

13. "I Can't Stop Loving You" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:13

14. "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (EPiC version) / Presley / 1:47

15. "Always on My Mind" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:30

16. "How Great Thou Art" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:51

17. "Oh Happy Day" (EPiC version) / Presley • Shaw / 3:11

18. "A Big Hunk o' Love" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:06

19. "Bridge over Troubled Water" (EPiC version) / Presley / 4:14

20. "In the Ghetto" (Jamieson Shaw remix) / Presley • Shaw / 4:09

21. "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" (EPiC version) / Presley / 2:00

22. "Suspicious Minds" (EPiC version) / Presley / 4:50

23. "Bring the Curtain Down" (EPiC outro) / Presley / 1:10

24. "Can't Help Falling in Love" (EPiC version) / Presley / 1:56

25. "American David" (EPiC version) / Bono • Elliott Wheeler / 0:48

26. "A Change of Reality (Do You Miss Me?)" / Presley • Shaw / 3:10

27. "Don't Fly Away" (Pnau remix) / Presley • Pnau / 4:08