Clockwise from top left: Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (Emi); Stop Making Sense (Palm Pictures); Prince: Sign O The Times (Cineplex Odeon Films); Madonna: Truth Or Dare (DVD: Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment); Homecoming: A Film By Beyonce (Netflix); U2: Rattle And Hum (Paramount Pictures)Graphic: Libby...
- 10/12/2023
- by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
- avclub.com
This fall marks the 45th anniversary of Janis Joplin's death from an overdose in a Hollywood hotel room. Since then, she's been the subject of books, reissues, a boxed set, an off-Broadway show, and a still-in-development biopic, possibly starring Amy Adams. Everyone from Kim Gordon to Pink has given Joplin props for paving the way as a woman in a male-dominated rock climate, and the singer's raw delivery continues to resonate. "Even when I was 10 or 12 years old and first heard her sing," recalls Chan Marshall, a.k.a.
- 11/17/2015
- Rollingstone.com
It consists of countless bands, playing on and off a polychromatic train as it passes through innumerable cities. But Station To Station is no rockumentary. That it often features brilliant bands playing live on a train will perhaps evoke, for some, the choo choo cha boogie joy of 2006's Festival Express, which documented 60s musical greats traveling by train on a tour across Canada. Aside from the superficial connection -- both docs feature musicians on trains -- what's far more relevant is this: What made Festival Express such a marvel wasn't necessarily the shows along the way, but the spontaneous creative energies that occurred in between them. While the 60s were fraught with 'happenings', on a smaller scale, these intimate scenes were special because, without prior planning, they...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 8/20/2015
- Screen Anarchy
It consists of countless bands, playing on and off a polychromatic train as it passes through innumerable cities. But Station To Station is no rockumentary. That it often features brilliant bands playing live on a train will perhaps evoke, for some, the choo choo cha boogie joy of 2006's Festival Express, which documented 60s musical greats traveling by train on a tour across Canada. Aside from the superficial connection -- both docs feature musicians on trains -- what's far more relevant is this: What made Festival Express such a marvel wasn't necessarily the shows along the way, but the spontaneous creative energies that occurred in between them. While the 60s were fraught with 'happenings', on a smaller scale, these intimate scenes were special because, without prior planning, they...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 1/31/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg has a lot going on these days. Not only did her first narrative feature, "Every Secret Thing" (with a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener), just premiere at Tribeca (where it was, unfortunately, panned by critic John Anderson for Indiewire), she also has a documentary in the works tracking sex abuse within the film industry, notably focusing on the still unraveling Bryan Singer case. And now she has a new doc on Janis Joplin on her slate, being produced by another highly prolific documentarian, Alex Gibney, going to the Cannes market. "Janis: Little Girl Blue" is currently in production, and will reportedly "strip away Joplin's rock n' roll persona," and includes her performances at Monterey Pop in 1967, Woodstock in 1969 and Festival Express in 1970, the same year she died at age 27 of a heroin overdose. Meanwhile, Lee Daniels has been circling a Janis Joplin feature for a while --...
- 5/1/2014
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Content to begin sales at Cannes on Amy Berg’s Janis Joplin documentary, produced by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney.
Content Film has secured worldwide sales to Amy Berg’s upcoming Janis Joplin documentary and will introducing the film to buyers at the Cannes market this month.
Berg, who has made feature documentaries including Deliver Us From Evil and West of Memphis, will direct and produce Janis: Little Girl Blue.
Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side and The Armstrong Lie, is producing under his Jigsaw Productions banner with Jeff Jampol from Jam, Inc. Billy McMillin is editing.
Currently in production, the documentary aims to strip away Joplin’s rock’n’roll persona to reveal the woman behind the legend through rare and never-before-seen footage.
The singer, who performed at Monterey Pop in 1967, Woodstock in 1969, and Festival Express in 1970, died aged 27. The doc will include interviews with her family, friends and rock...
Content Film has secured worldwide sales to Amy Berg’s upcoming Janis Joplin documentary and will introducing the film to buyers at the Cannes market this month.
Berg, who has made feature documentaries including Deliver Us From Evil and West of Memphis, will direct and produce Janis: Little Girl Blue.
Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side and The Armstrong Lie, is producing under his Jigsaw Productions banner with Jeff Jampol from Jam, Inc. Billy McMillin is editing.
Currently in production, the documentary aims to strip away Joplin’s rock’n’roll persona to reveal the woman behind the legend through rare and never-before-seen footage.
The singer, who performed at Monterey Pop in 1967, Woodstock in 1969, and Festival Express in 1970, died aged 27. The doc will include interviews with her family, friends and rock...
- 5/1/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Rock n' Roll Will Never Die! kicks off at Trailers from Hell, with director Allan Arkush introducing "Festival Express."Director Bob Smeaton’s rock ‘n road-trip movie, featuring some of 1970′s preeminent musicians on a five day train tour through Canada, is an essential time capsule of what happened when the swinging sixties made its awkward leap into the unforgiving after-party of the ’70s. There are eye-opening run-ins with hostile fans along the way but the camaraderie of the musicians, including Janis Joplin, The Band and The Grateful Dead keeps spirits high (literally). Because the tour was a financial disaster, the footage sat unused in a garage for years before being resurrected for presentation at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival.
- 3/3/2014
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
Director Bob Smeaton’s rock ‘n road-trip movie, featuring some of 1970′s preeminent musicians on a five day train tour through Canada, is an essential time capsule of what happened when the swinging sixties made its awkward leap into the unforgiving after-party of the ’70s. There are eye-opening run-ins with hostile fans along the way but the camaraderie of the musicians, including Janis Joplin, The Band and The Grateful Dead keeps spirits high (literally). Because the tour was a financial disaster, the footage sat unused in a garage for years before being resurrected for presentation at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival.
The post Festival Express appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Festival Express appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 3/3/2014
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
If you missed it when it aired a week ago, for a limited time, PBS is making available its new two-hour documentary on the life of Jimi Hendrix, titled Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin, which was broadcast on the network last week, Tuesday, November 5, at 9pm, as part of its American Masters series. The documentary is directed by Bob Smeaton whose credits include several other music-themed films like The Beatles Anthology, Festival Express, as well as several Hendrix projects: Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child (2010) and Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock (2012). Regarding this new film, director Smeaton told the New York Times in an interview...
- 11/11/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Maybe just in time for the world premiere of Andre Benjamin's biopic All Is By My Side, at Tiff last month, a new two-hour documentary on the life of Jimi Hendrix, titled Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin, will be broadcast on PBS tonight, Tuesday, November 5, at 9pm, as part of its American Masters series. The DVD package will be accompanied by a CD with a previously-unreleased 1968 concert recording by the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Miami Pop Festival that year. The documentary is directed by Bob Smeaton whose credits include several other music-themed films like The Beatles Anthology, Festival Express, as well as several Hendrix...
- 11/5/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
After profiling its first-ever sports figure, Billie Jean King, tonight at 8pm, PBS doc series "American Masters" will turn to Jimi Hendrix with "Jimi Hendrix - Hear My Train A Comin'," slated to premiere Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at 9pm. The two-hour doc is directed by Bob Smeaton of "Festival Express" and "Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child," and an expanded home video edition will be released on the same day the film airs on PBS, as well as a CD and limited edition vinyl set for "Jimi Hendrix Experience: Miami Pop Festival," the first-ever release of one of the guitar virtuoso's most sought-after performances. "Hear My Train A Comin'" will include previously unseen performance footage and home movies taken by Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell as well as interviews with Paul McCartney, Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Eddie Kramer, Steve Winwood, Vernon Reid, Billy Gibbons, Dweezil Zappa and Dave Mason. Check...
- 9/10/2013
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
In Big Easy Express, director Emmett Malloy documents a tour by three cult-favorite indie-folk bands: Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Mumford & Sons. But the free-wheeling travelogue that develops is equal parts itinerant jam, extended family picnic, and traveling carnival, with Malloy and his crew as the cinematic roustabouts getting it all down for posterity. The film follows the three bands from Oakland to New Orleans, giving us a glimpse not only of their concerts but of their camaraderie as they live and travel on a train together, sharing songs, time, and experiences, and ultimately becoming more like a troupe of old-time troubadours than a batch of independent acts.
The main precedent for Big Easy Express is the 2003 documentary Festival Express, about a similar 1970 train tour featuring The Band, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and others. Big Easy Express feels like the 21st century torch-carrier...
The main precedent for Big Easy Express is the 2003 documentary Festival Express, about a similar 1970 train tour featuring The Band, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and others. Big Easy Express feels like the 21st century torch-carrier...
- 6/24/2012
- by Jim Allen
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In 1970, The Grateful Dead, The Band, Janis Joplin, and a handful of other rock bands set out on their own chartered locomotive to play a few dates across Canada. The tour was immortalized with the 2003 doc Festival Express, which someone apparently told Spin-certified guitar god Skrillex about because now he, Diplo, and Grimes are riding the rails across the 49th parallel this summer with their own Full Flex Express Tour. The tour kicks of July 13 at Fort York in Toronto, and then rolls down the line to the Pne Coliseum in Vancouver. According to Pitchfork, Full ...
- 5/8/2012
- avclub.com
A unique documentary of the seminal American rock band the Grateful Dead is on its way, centered around a 3-hour conversation with late lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, which was shot in 1987 at the peak of the band’s success. [Deadline]
Celebrated music documentarian Malcolm Leo shot the interview on negative film, complete with studio-quality lighting and production sound. Veteran talent manager John Hartmann (brother of late SNL alum Phil Hartmann) will co-produce the doc with Leo for their Leo/Hartmann Productions shingle. Leo intends to combine the interview with “an unprecedented amount of never-before-seen performances, documentary footage, and rare home movies.”
The pedigree of the filmmakers is top-notch: Leo previously worked on films about Elvis Presley, Crosby Stills & Nash and The Beach Boys. Hartmann’s resume includes stints as personal manager for Peter, Paul & Mary, The Eagles, Cs&N, Poco, America, and others. The duo are finalizing financing and distribution with...
Celebrated music documentarian Malcolm Leo shot the interview on negative film, complete with studio-quality lighting and production sound. Veteran talent manager John Hartmann (brother of late SNL alum Phil Hartmann) will co-produce the doc with Leo for their Leo/Hartmann Productions shingle. Leo intends to combine the interview with “an unprecedented amount of never-before-seen performances, documentary footage, and rare home movies.”
The pedigree of the filmmakers is top-notch: Leo previously worked on films about Elvis Presley, Crosby Stills & Nash and The Beach Boys. Hartmann’s resume includes stints as personal manager for Peter, Paul & Mary, The Eagles, Cs&N, Poco, America, and others. The duo are finalizing financing and distribution with...
- 1/6/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Magic Trip, the latest film from Oscar winning documentary maker Alex Gibney (Taxi To The Dark Side, Gonzo: The Life And Work Of Hunter S Thompson, Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room), comes to cinemas on 18 November 2011. The film tells the story of Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady and the Merry Prankster’ LSD-fuelled across the USA in the early 1960s. To mark its release we have a bundle of excellent documentaries on DVD to give away, including Gibney’s Gonzo, New York Doll and Festival Express.
In 1964, Ken Kesey, the famed author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” set off on a legendary, LSD-fuelled cross-country road trip to the New York World’s Fair. He was joined by “The Merry Band of Pranksters,” a renegade group of counterculture truth-seekers, including Neal Cassady, the American icon immortalized in Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and the driver and painter of the psychedelic Magic Bus.
In 1964, Ken Kesey, the famed author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” set off on a legendary, LSD-fuelled cross-country road trip to the New York World’s Fair. He was joined by “The Merry Band of Pranksters,” a renegade group of counterculture truth-seekers, including Neal Cassady, the American icon immortalized in Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and the driver and painter of the psychedelic Magic Bus.
- 11/17/2011
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Ahead of its 55th outing, Alastair Dant goes back to 1995 to work out what first got him hooked on the BFI London film festival
As per much of our second year at Ucl, Phil and I sat cross-legged beneath the Japanese table in our Camden flat, scheming. The table was heated; a luxury that suited our mode of repose. Conversation typically ranged between which half-cocked Britpop band had been lurking in our local or who'd won most games of pool. On this occasion, a more important matter was at hand: the table bore the programme for the 1995 BFI London film festival.
It's not clear where we got it. It could have been a record shop counter or a Soho cafe. What mattered was how neatly this event celebrated student life. It slipped easily into a schedule of late lectures and misspent afternoons. It coaxed us with the promise of world cinema and cheap matinee tickets.
As per much of our second year at Ucl, Phil and I sat cross-legged beneath the Japanese table in our Camden flat, scheming. The table was heated; a luxury that suited our mode of repose. Conversation typically ranged between which half-cocked Britpop band had been lurking in our local or who'd won most games of pool. On this occasion, a more important matter was at hand: the table bore the programme for the 1995 BFI London film festival.
It's not clear where we got it. It could have been a record shop counter or a Soho cafe. What mattered was how neatly this event celebrated student life. It slipped easily into a schedule of late lectures and misspent afternoons. It coaxed us with the promise of world cinema and cheap matinee tickets.
- 10/4/2011
- by Alastair Dant
- The Guardian - Film News
Documentary filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev (My Kid Could Paint That; The Tillman Story) is the latest non-fiction film director to make the transition to drama. I would say to fiction, but Bar-Lev's first non-doc project will be based on a true story, specifically on the life of Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia. According to Variety, the biopic will tackle the man's early years, so don't attempt to picture some actor wearing a bushy white beard on screen. This appears to be different from the Garcia biopic announced three years ago, as instead of producer Justin Berfield this involves the son of Michael Eisner and some of the guys behind Little Miss Sunshine.
The script is being written by Dungeons & Dragons writer Topper Lilien and will be based on parts of Robert Greenfield's Dark Star, an oral-history-styled biography that covers Garcia's entire life. How far into that life the film will go into is unclear,...
The script is being written by Dungeons & Dragons writer Topper Lilien and will be based on parts of Robert Greenfield's Dark Star, an oral-history-styled biography that covers Garcia's entire life. How far into that life the film will go into is unclear,...
- 7/23/2010
- by Christopher Campbell
- Cinematical
This week, the Big Music Machine springs forward with some lively releases to celebrate the coming end of winter. The best sounds of the season are loud, warm and travel to the outer regions of musical exploration. Play them while you pack up the sweaters and get ready for spring break. What's your favorite spring break song? [Poll] Play: The White Stripes, "Under Great White Northern Lights" Meg and Jack White took the Great White North for a 2007 tour that had the carnival shades of the famed 1970 Festival Express tour mounted by Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, the Band and other White Stripes forebears. "Under Great White Northern Lights" documents a band with a singular sense of musical purpose. It's a reminder of how much rock music has lost its sense of abandon, even though I'm unconvinced by Jack White's claim...
- 3/16/2010
- by Shawn Amos
- Huffington Post
Documentaries about bands may seem to be pretty niche films (which I suppose explains why there was a lot less participation in this poll than in previous weeks), but when you can find a story that relates to viewers outside of their fanbase, then you know you've got something special on your hands. Metallica's popularity probably helped push Metallica: Some Kind of Monster to #1 on last week's poll about rockumentaries, but the movie certainly doesn't make them out to be heroes. Similarly, the #2 and #3 movies Gimme Shelter and Dig! have great stories to them beyond the music. I'm a little disappointed that Shut Up & Sing was all the way down at #9 since it's also a great film, but I know a lot of people don't like The Dixie Chicks. Do you agree with the poll results? Will you watch a musical documentary even if you're not a fan of the band being featured?...
- 4/22/2009
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- Festival Express should rightfully take its place in rock history as one of the great performance films of all time. Assembled by Beatles Anthology ringmaster Bob Smeaton from footage shot on the all-star Festival Express tour of 1970, the film features blistering live performances from Janis Joplin, the Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers and The Grateful Dead, to name a few.
But the real draw is the footage of some extended jam sessions that took place on the five-day train ride between gigs as the Festival Express tour organizers managed to persuade the acts to travel together on the same train. The carriages were wired for sound, with drum kits and amplifiers, so that the musicians could while away the time jamming. Talents as diverse as Joplin, Jerry Garcia and Buddy Guy passed the journey exploring one another's musical styles.
Festival Express will have no trouble attracting classic-rock fans in most Western countries, and DVD extras will give it a second lease on life on disc. Thinkfilm will release theatrically in the United States in mid-July.
The trans-Canada Festival Express tour got off to a bad start in 1970 when demonstrators in Toronto tried to close down the opening gig, demanding that the bands play for free. After Toronto, promoter Ken Walker realized he was going to make a loss, but he thought he'd continue the tour for the hell of it. The Festival Express traveled 2,150 miles across Canada. A young Peter Biziou (who went on to shoot Mississippi Burning and The Truman Show) filmed the whole thing with another cameraman for a movie that didn't materialize at the time.
A standout performance is Joplin's wild and passionate rendition of Cry Baby. Other highlights include the Band performing I Shall Be Released -- a version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" was sadly omitted because there is no visual footage to match the audio -- and a late Burritos lineup grooving through Lazy Day. Jam sessions feature all and sundry.
Recent interviews with surviving participants conducted by Smeaton add context. More importantly, Smeaton has worked hard to ensure that the finished work is more than just a collection of clips.
But the real draw is the footage of some extended jam sessions that took place on the five-day train ride between gigs as the Festival Express tour organizers managed to persuade the acts to travel together on the same train. The carriages were wired for sound, with drum kits and amplifiers, so that the musicians could while away the time jamming. Talents as diverse as Joplin, Jerry Garcia and Buddy Guy passed the journey exploring one another's musical styles.
Festival Express will have no trouble attracting classic-rock fans in most Western countries, and DVD extras will give it a second lease on life on disc. Thinkfilm will release theatrically in the United States in mid-July.
The trans-Canada Festival Express tour got off to a bad start in 1970 when demonstrators in Toronto tried to close down the opening gig, demanding that the bands play for free. After Toronto, promoter Ken Walker realized he was going to make a loss, but he thought he'd continue the tour for the hell of it. The Festival Express traveled 2,150 miles across Canada. A young Peter Biziou (who went on to shoot Mississippi Burning and The Truman Show) filmed the whole thing with another cameraman for a movie that didn't materialize at the time.
A standout performance is Joplin's wild and passionate rendition of Cry Baby. Other highlights include the Band performing I Shall Be Released -- a version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" was sadly omitted because there is no visual footage to match the audio -- and a late Burritos lineup grooving through Lazy Day. Jam sessions feature all and sundry.
Recent interviews with surviving participants conducted by Smeaton add context. More importantly, Smeaton has worked hard to ensure that the finished work is more than just a collection of clips.
- 4/20/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Indie film unit ThinkFilm has sealed a deal to acquire North American rights to the rock documentary Festival Express, which played the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Express stars Janis Joplin, the Band and The Grateful Dead, among other classic rock legends, during the 1970 Canadian counterpart to Woodstock, called Festival Express. Express features largely unseen footage, shot by Peter Biziou, and also includes interviews with various participants, witnesses and survivors, assembled by director Bob Smeaton. Sales outfit Hanway reps worldwide rights to Express.
- 1/13/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
MILAN -- U.K. independent distribution company Optimum Releasing kicked off this year's MIFED market here with the acquisition of U.K. rights to four titles, headlined by the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. The British outfit picked up Moore's documentary -- which looks at links between the families of Osama bin Laden and President Bush -- from French sales company Wild Bunch. Optimum also sealed a deal with Wild Bunch for the documentary The Agronomist, directed by Jonathan Demme. It follows the life of journalist and activist Jean Dominique, who was murdered in Haiti in the late 1990s. The company, which is aiming to develop a diverse slate of releases for next year, also grabbed U.K. rights to Festival Express, directed by Bob Smeaton.
- 11/9/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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