Although a fictionalized account of an actual trip John Lennon and the Beatle's manager Brian Epstein took to Barcelona in 1963, the film charts the acknowledged intensity of their friendship and perfectly captures the calm before the storm of Beatle-mania. With its black and white cinematography starkly evoking the early 1960's, The Hours & Times was nominated for Best Director and for the Grand Jury Prize at The Sundance Film Festival; whilst Ian Hart's performance as Lennon was so acclaimed he later reprised the role in ‘Backbeat'.