Our screening on Monday 14 September will be followed by a Q&A with director Grant Gee.

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a biographical drama film about the famous jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans.

1961. Bill Evans is playing with what he considers the perfect musical trio until tragedy strikes in the premature death of his bass player, Scott LaFaro – his musical soulmate. Traumatised by grief, Evans stops playing for the first time since his childhood. A tug-of-war between personal torment and the seemingly safer haven of familial love will see Evans oscillate between New York and suburbia, his genius always bubbling beneath the surface.

The Garden Cinema View:

Everybody Digs Bill Evans is a strange fever dream of a film, portraying the fragile state of maverick pianist in the aftermath of Scott LaFaro’s (his bassist’s) death in a car crash. Through fragmented black and white snapshots and constant shifts back and forth in time, we observe his complex relationships with his brother, his long-time partner, and his parents.

An interesting tension lies at the heart of the film: whilst Evans is clearly depressed and fighting addiction, his friends and colleagues regard him with a mixture of envy and love. Evans, in turn, stoically observes them, during a period when he has withdrawn from music altogether.

This low-budget, experimental biopic – far more interested in Evans the man than his music, and full of abstractions – could easily have failed. Yet it works, emerging as a strange and singular experience, which is a remarkable achievement for a modest Irish-British production.

An excellent performance by Anders Danielsen Lie anchors the film, matched by brilliantly heightened work from Bill Pullman and Laurie Metcalf, while Piers McGrail’s cinematography gives the whole thing its dreamlike quality.

Cast:
Anders Danielsen Lie, Bill Pullman, Laurie Metcalf, Barry Ward, Valerie Kane