By Glenn Dunks
At least once a year, we do a round-up of some of the music documentaries that are making the rounds. This year there is a particular focus on women in music with a range of titles covering pop (Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl), punk and new wave (The Go-Go’s), rock (Suzy Q) and whatever it is that sits in between all of them (Sisters with Transistors)—and they of course sit alongside names like Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn in Ken Burns' Country Music, which we looked at recently.
I have actually already written about Liam Firmager and Tait Brady’s Aussie-made Suzi Q upon its local Australian release last year. I was impressed by its high energy retelling of the career of the “Devil Gate Drive” and "Can the Can" singer and guitarist Suzi Quatro. A rollicking is simply structured documentary that is...
At least once a year, we do a round-up of some of the music documentaries that are making the rounds. This year there is a particular focus on women in music with a range of titles covering pop (Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl), punk and new wave (The Go-Go’s), rock (Suzy Q) and whatever it is that sits in between all of them (Sisters with Transistors)—and they of course sit alongside names like Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn in Ken Burns' Country Music, which we looked at recently.
I have actually already written about Liam Firmager and Tait Brady’s Aussie-made Suzi Q upon its local Australian release last year. I was impressed by its high energy retelling of the career of the “Devil Gate Drive” and "Can the Can" singer and guitarist Suzi Quatro. A rollicking is simply structured documentary that is...
- 7/22/2020
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
The most obvious point of comparison for “Suzi Q,” a new documentary about the pioneering 1970s rocker Suzi Quatro, is “Bad Reputation,” a two-year-old doc about Joan Jett. That’s not least of all because Jett is a frequent on-camera presence in the new movie, and comes off as such an acolyte of the woman who broke glass ceilings slightly before her, that you can almost imagine there’s some kind of “All About Eve” story in the wings. There doesn’t seem to be, although Quatro does mention with a hint of rue that when the other singer’s smash “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” came out, people mistakenly congratulated her. In some sense, Quatro was Jett before Jett was really Jett — laying down the leather law when no female rocker had yet managed the combination of sex appeal and pure machisma.
Ultimately, though, Quatro comes off quite differently...
Ultimately, though, Quatro comes off quite differently...
- 7/2/2020
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
The shorthand summary of the story of Suzi Quatro story is simple: a pioneering female rock ‘n’ roll musician from Detroit who became a big star overseas in the 1970s but couldn’t find the same appreciation at home. And “Suzi Q,” a film by Liam Firmager that premieres on VOD this week, tries to right that imbalance, trotting out an array of female musicians to testify about Quatro’s importance in helping establish the very idea that it was Ok for women to pick up instruments and play rock alongside the guys.
That’s a worthy goal for the film, given Quatro’s influence on people like Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, the Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth and the Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, among others. Valentine, for one, said she’d never even thought of women playing instruments — and then she saw Quatro on the British TV show “Top of the Pops,...
That’s a worthy goal for the film, given Quatro’s influence on people like Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, the Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth and the Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, among others. Valentine, for one, said she’d never even thought of women playing instruments — and then she saw Quatro on the British TV show “Top of the Pops,...
- 6/29/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The bass-playing singer and songwriter, Suzi Quatro, is an icon. Maybe not so much in the U.S. where she is best known for her Happy Days role as Leather Tuscadero, backed up by The Suedes and playing sock hops in middle America. But to the rest of the world, Quatro was the first female face of the rock generation.
Directed by Australian filmmakers Liam Firmager and Tait Brady, the documentary Suzi Q shows Quatro as a true pioneer. She redefined the role of women in rock ‘n roll. There were female singers and musicians before Suzi, but she was the first to break through as lead vocalist who was also just part of the band. Female musicians took note and took notes, if not patterns. In the new documentary, Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads says Quatro was the reason she chose the bass.
Quatro was a British sensation...
Directed by Australian filmmakers Liam Firmager and Tait Brady, the documentary Suzi Q shows Quatro as a true pioneer. She redefined the role of women in rock ‘n roll. There were female singers and musicians before Suzi, but she was the first to break through as lead vocalist who was also just part of the band. Female musicians took note and took notes, if not patterns. In the new documentary, Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads says Quatro was the reason she chose the bass.
Quatro was a British sensation...
- 6/24/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
"People have overlooked her – that's their mistake." Utopia Distribution has unveiled an official Us trailer for a rock doc film called Suzi Q. For four and a half years, Australian filmmakers Liam Firmager and Tait Brady have been working on this feature documentary about legendary rocker Suzi Quatro, inspired by her lengthy career and fearless character, and fueled by a sense that Suzi's trailblazing status wasn't sufficiently recognized by the music industry and contemporary audiences, especially in North America. Along the way, Suzi Q - the film - "has become revisionist history of 'women in rock'n'roll', and an intimate insight into a driven, ageless performer." The documentary is a thrilling look back at her story, then and now, and how she "helped redefine the role of women in rock 'n' roll when she broke out in 1973." A totally rockin' story to tell. Here's the official Us trailer (+ new poster) for Liam Firmager's doc Suzi Q,...
- 5/11/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Debbie Harry, Alice Cooper and more appear in the trailer for Suzi Q, a new film about pioneering female rock star Suzi Quatro, out this summer.
Directed by Liam Firmager, the documentary chronicles Quatro’s career, from her beginnings in Detroit to her breakthrough in 1973. “She was the first, and broke the ice and kicked the doors for us gals,” Cherie Currie says in the opening of the clip. “If people have overlooked her, that’s their fault.”
“A lot of girls had tried to be Suzi Quatro,” Cooper notes.
Directed by Liam Firmager, the documentary chronicles Quatro’s career, from her beginnings in Detroit to her breakthrough in 1973. “She was the first, and broke the ice and kicked the doors for us gals,” Cherie Currie says in the opening of the clip. “If people have overlooked her, that’s their fault.”
“A lot of girls had tried to be Suzi Quatro,” Cooper notes.
- 5/7/2020
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
“Suzi Q,” a documentary about Suzi Quatro, who preceded Joan Jett onto the scene in the early ’70s as a leather-clad rock pioneer, has been picked up for North America by Utopia. The company will give the rock doc a one-night theatrical release July 1, followed by digital and DVD distribution two days later.
A U.S. premiere has been set for the Sonoma International Film Festival on March 29, where Quatro will make an appearance. The film already opened last fall in the UK and Australia, two territories where Quatro, a Detroit native, had her biggest chart successes.
Besides interviewing Quatro herself, filmmakers Liam Firmager and Tait Brady also sought out contemporaries like Alice Cooper and female musicians who felt Quatro’s impact, including Deborah Harry, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie of the Runaways, Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Donita Sparks of L7.
“Over...
A U.S. premiere has been set for the Sonoma International Film Festival on March 29, where Quatro will make an appearance. The film already opened last fall in the UK and Australia, two territories where Quatro, a Detroit native, had her biggest chart successes.
Besides interviewing Quatro herself, filmmakers Liam Firmager and Tait Brady also sought out contemporaries like Alice Cooper and female musicians who felt Quatro’s impact, including Deborah Harry, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie of the Runaways, Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Donita Sparks of L7.
“Over...
- 3/10/2020
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
‘Judy & Punch.’
Fox/Chernin Entertainment’s Ford v Ferrari easily retained pole position in another soft weekend at Australian cinemas while Mirrah Foulkes’ writing and directing debut Judy & Punch struggled.
Foulkes’ savage satire starring Damon Herriman and Mia Wasikowska as husband-and-wife puppeteers in an anarchic world has garnered a 79 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes since the world premiere at Sundance.
But critical acclaim often doesn’t reflect cinemagoers’ tastes, particularly for niche titles which are as challenging and dark in tone as this. The Madman Entertainment release fetched $29,000 on 38 screens last weekend and $108,000 with festival screenings.
Cinema Nova’s Natalie Miller says: “I think the title is a bit of a hindrance as people don’t know if it’s a children’s film and would find it quite different and confronting, despite great acting.”
Produced by Michele Bennett, Blue-Tongue Films’ Nash Edgerton and Vice Media Australia’s Danny Gabai,...
Fox/Chernin Entertainment’s Ford v Ferrari easily retained pole position in another soft weekend at Australian cinemas while Mirrah Foulkes’ writing and directing debut Judy & Punch struggled.
Foulkes’ savage satire starring Damon Herriman and Mia Wasikowska as husband-and-wife puppeteers in an anarchic world has garnered a 79 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes since the world premiere at Sundance.
But critical acclaim often doesn’t reflect cinemagoers’ tastes, particularly for niche titles which are as challenging and dark in tone as this. The Madman Entertainment release fetched $29,000 on 38 screens last weekend and $108,000 with festival screenings.
Cinema Nova’s Natalie Miller says: “I think the title is a bit of a hindrance as people don’t know if it’s a children’s film and would find it quite different and confronting, despite great acting.”
Produced by Michele Bennett, Blue-Tongue Films’ Nash Edgerton and Vice Media Australia’s Danny Gabai,...
- 11/25/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Musicians from Debbie Harry to Joan Jett salute the trailblazing bassist in a chronicle that stays just the right side of fawning
This is a fan-servicing but not necessarily hagiographic documentary from Australian director Liam Firmager, which recounts the life and career of rocker Suzi Quatro. All the usual stations of the rock-doc biopic cross get a stop-off here, from the humble origins (in the suburbs of Detroit), the slog up the success ladder, collision with the big time, and then the decline, comeback and Hall of Fame phase, often capped by the release of a documentary exactly like this.
Quatro’s story differs from the mean simply because she was one of the very few hard-rocking women in the business in the 70s; she was a mere slip of girl when she hit the big time, barely taller than the bass she played. To the film’s credit, obeisance...
This is a fan-servicing but not necessarily hagiographic documentary from Australian director Liam Firmager, which recounts the life and career of rocker Suzi Quatro. All the usual stations of the rock-doc biopic cross get a stop-off here, from the humble origins (in the suburbs of Detroit), the slog up the success ladder, collision with the big time, and then the decline, comeback and Hall of Fame phase, often capped by the release of a documentary exactly like this.
Quatro’s story differs from the mean simply because she was one of the very few hard-rocking women in the business in the 70s; she was a mere slip of girl when she hit the big time, barely taller than the bass she played. To the film’s credit, obeisance...
- 10/11/2019
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Further new openers include Lionsgate’s ‘Farming’, eOne’s ‘The Day Shall Come’.
Two contrasting titles are among the new openers at the UK box office this weekend, as Universal’s animated comedy Abominable goes up against Paramount’s Will Smith action drama Gemini Man.
However the new openers will have to score strongly to knock Warner Bros’ Joker from top spot, which scored a huge £12.6m debut last weekend.
Abominable is a DreamWorks Animation production, about a magical Yeti in Shanghai on a quest to reunite with his family on Mount Everest. Chloe Bennet, Albert Tsai and Tenzing Norgay Trainor lead the voice cast.
Two contrasting titles are among the new openers at the UK box office this weekend, as Universal’s animated comedy Abominable goes up against Paramount’s Will Smith action drama Gemini Man.
However the new openers will have to score strongly to knock Warner Bros’ Joker from top spot, which scored a huge £12.6m debut last weekend.
Abominable is a DreamWorks Animation production, about a magical Yeti in Shanghai on a quest to reunite with his family on Mount Everest. Chloe Bennet, Albert Tsai and Tenzing Norgay Trainor lead the voice cast.
- 10/11/2019
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
Margot Robbie in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood’.
The 2019 Melbourne International Film Festival is being touted as the largest yet, with some 259 features, 123 shorts and 16 Vr experiences, including Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.
The 1969-set film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, will screen on the opening weekend in the Astor Theatre on 35mm. An elegy to the Golden Age of Hollywood, it also features Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate and Damon Herriman as Charles Manson, as well as Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant, Dakota Fanning, Damien Lewis and Luke Perry.
Of his first program, which includes 44 films straight from Cannes, Miff artistic director Al Cossar said: “I am absolutely thrilled to share my first festival with Melbourne in 2019. Rich in its diversity, this program is a true celebration of cinema: promising countless adventures into the kinds of places and people,...
The 2019 Melbourne International Film Festival is being touted as the largest yet, with some 259 features, 123 shorts and 16 Vr experiences, including Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.
The 1969-set film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, will screen on the opening weekend in the Astor Theatre on 35mm. An elegy to the Golden Age of Hollywood, it also features Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate and Damon Herriman as Charles Manson, as well as Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant, Dakota Fanning, Damien Lewis and Luke Perry.
Of his first program, which includes 44 films straight from Cannes, Miff artistic director Al Cossar said: “I am absolutely thrilled to share my first festival with Melbourne in 2019. Rich in its diversity, this program is a true celebration of cinema: promising countless adventures into the kinds of places and people,...
- 7/10/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Suzi Quatro.
Four years in the making, producer Tait Brady and director Liam Firmager are in fine cut of their theatrical feature documentary on rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer Suzi Quatro.
Suzi Q charts the career of the Detroit-born, UK-based singer/songwriter/bassist/bandleader/actor Susan Kay Quatro, hailed as the first female rocker to break through into the mainstream.
“It’s quite personal, an essay on the price of fame,” Brady tells If. “We look at her marriage and divorce, her children and sibling rivalry.”
Film Victoria is an investor in the doc produced by Brady’s The Acme Film Company, which he will release later this year via Label Distribution.
The international sales agent Kew Media began pre-sales at the European Film Market in Berlin, with deals to be announced.
Firmager met Quatro via a mutual connection when she was touring Australia four years ago. She agreed to take...
Four years in the making, producer Tait Brady and director Liam Firmager are in fine cut of their theatrical feature documentary on rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer Suzi Quatro.
Suzi Q charts the career of the Detroit-born, UK-based singer/songwriter/bassist/bandleader/actor Susan Kay Quatro, hailed as the first female rocker to break through into the mainstream.
“It’s quite personal, an essay on the price of fame,” Brady tells If. “We look at her marriage and divorce, her children and sibling rivalry.”
Film Victoria is an investor in the doc produced by Brady’s The Acme Film Company, which he will release later this year via Label Distribution.
The international sales agent Kew Media began pre-sales at the European Film Market in Berlin, with deals to be announced.
Firmager met Quatro via a mutual connection when she was touring Australia four years ago. She agreed to take...
- 3/17/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Efm runs from February 7 - 16.
Sales agent Kew Media Distribution has added four titles to its slate ahead of the upcoming European Film Market.
The new additions include Rock documentary Suzi Q, which recounts the life of the rock musician, with testimony from contemporaries including Alice Cooper, Debbie Harry and Joan Jett. Liam Firmager directs.
Also new is documentary Glitch In The Matrix from Rodney Ascher, exploring Simulation Theory through the stories of real people questioning if they are living in the real world or a computer simulation.
Writer-director Julius Amendume’s Rattlesnakes is a neo-noir psychological thriller adapted from...
Sales agent Kew Media Distribution has added four titles to its slate ahead of the upcoming European Film Market.
The new additions include Rock documentary Suzi Q, which recounts the life of the rock musician, with testimony from contemporaries including Alice Cooper, Debbie Harry and Joan Jett. Liam Firmager directs.
Also new is documentary Glitch In The Matrix from Rodney Ascher, exploring Simulation Theory through the stories of real people questioning if they are living in the real world or a computer simulation.
Writer-director Julius Amendume’s Rattlesnakes is a neo-noir psychological thriller adapted from...
- 2/4/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Julius Amedume’s neo-noir psychological thriller “Rattlesnakes,” rock documentary “Suzi Q” and the elevated horror thriller “Itsy Bitsy” are among the new titles that Kew Media Distribution will be introducing to buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market, which kicks off Thursday.
They join a slate that includes three buzz-worthy documentaries: Rodney Ascher’s “Glitch in the Matrix, Michael Jackson expose “Leaving Neverland,” one of the talking points at Sundance, and Nick Broomfield’s “Marianne & Leonard – Words of Love,” also a hot title in Park City.
Scripted and directed by Amedume, “Rattlesnakes” tells the story of California life guru and family man Robert McQueen. What begins as a typical day of therapy sessions with his clients takes a turn for the worse… He’s expecting to meet a regular client in a rented apartment, but instead he’s ambushed by three masked men and held hostage.
McQueen is accused of...
They join a slate that includes three buzz-worthy documentaries: Rodney Ascher’s “Glitch in the Matrix, Michael Jackson expose “Leaving Neverland,” one of the talking points at Sundance, and Nick Broomfield’s “Marianne & Leonard – Words of Love,” also a hot title in Park City.
Scripted and directed by Amedume, “Rattlesnakes” tells the story of California life guru and family man Robert McQueen. What begins as a typical day of therapy sessions with his clients takes a turn for the worse… He’s expecting to meet a regular client in a rented apartment, but instead he’s ambushed by three masked men and held hostage.
McQueen is accused of...
- 2/4/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Projects involving Damian Jones and Versailles breakout star George Blagden also pitched at Edinburgh’s first works in progress event.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (June 15-26) hosted its first works in progress event on Sunday, presenting seven British features still in production.
Films were looking for a combination of sales company representation, festival interest and final finance.
Between pitches were meetings and networking with industry representatives from Protagonist, Metrodome, Carnaby, Stray Dogs, Film4, Studiocanal, Lionsgate, Soda and Creative England.
Festival representatives attended from Tallinn Black Nights and International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Holly Daniel, Edinburgh’s head of industry and talent development, told Screen: “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while now. There’s a gap across the UK for films looking for the final piece of the puzzle…Given all our work with emerging talent already, that put us in a good position to provide that platform.”
“We are very...
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (June 15-26) hosted its first works in progress event on Sunday, presenting seven British features still in production.
Films were looking for a combination of sales company representation, festival interest and final finance.
Between pitches were meetings and networking with industry representatives from Protagonist, Metrodome, Carnaby, Stray Dogs, Film4, Studiocanal, Lionsgate, Soda and Creative England.
Festival representatives attended from Tallinn Black Nights and International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Holly Daniel, Edinburgh’s head of industry and talent development, told Screen: “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while now. There’s a gap across the UK for films looking for the final piece of the puzzle…Given all our work with emerging talent already, that put us in a good position to provide that platform.”
“We are very...
- 6/20/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
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