EN: Copeland / PT: Copeland
(Spain, 2026, 75 min)
Stewart Copeland is one of the most influential musicians of the last fifty years. Known worldwide as a driving force behind The Police, his creative legacy reaches far beyond rock music. This film reveals the artist behind the icon: composer, innovator, storyteller, and relentless explorer.
This is not a conventional talking-head documentary. Stewart Copeland guides us through his own story with honesty, humour, and insight. Through intimate conversations, performances, and archival material, audiences experience the journey directly from the man who lived it.
While The Police remains a defining chapter of his career, Copeland’s artistic journey stretches across continents and disciplines: African musical projects, film and television scores, opera, orchestral compositions, and groundbreaking collaborations. The documentary explores the full scope of a career that continues to evolve.
Cast & Crew:
Director: Pablo Aragüés
Writer: Pablo Aragüés
Cinematography: Adrián Barcelona
Music: Stewart Copeland
Editing: Pablo Aragüés, Irene Solanas
Sound: Conner Rhodes
Archive Coordinator: Craig Betts
Producer: Pablo Aragüés, Marta Cabrera
Executive Producers: Tarquin Gotch, Shawn Rhodes, John Alexander
Production company: Redwood Films
Screenings:
Cinema Ideal – Lisboa, 2 August 2026, 21:30 (Q&A with Pablo Aragüés, talk with Portuguese musicians Vítor Rua and Dico)
Why was it selected:
Pablo Aragüés was able to capture the extroverted personality of Stewart Copeland in a unique way, allowing us to follow this musician’s very diverse path, showing that he is much more than the guy who loved to bang stuff within The Police. Given Copeland’s foray into film scores, CLIT opened an exception to its usual policy of not screening in regular film theatres. Since legend has it that before their 1980 concert at Estádio do Restelo, in Lisbon, The Police gave an impromptu concert at Bairro Alto, Cinema Ideal was the obvious choice. Besides being the only theatre in the center of the Portuguese capital, it’s the country’s oldest cinema still in operation and one of the oldest in Europe.