Film opens this fall
Joan Baez I Am A Noise, the film that profiles the folk legend, is getting a theatrical release this fall. Directed by Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky and Maeve O’Boyle, the nearly two hour film opens on October 6th via Magnolia Pictures. It was an Official Selection of Berlinale 2023 and SXSX 2023.
Neither a conventional biopic nor a traditional concert film, Joan Baez I Am A Noise is a raw and intimate portrait of the legendary folk singer and activist that shifts back and forth through time as it follows Baez on her final tour and delves into her extraordinary archive, including newly discovered home movies, diaries, artwork, therapy tapes, and audio recordings.
Baez is remarkably revealing about her life on and off stage – from her lifelong emotional struggles to her civil rights work with Martin Luther King, Jr., and a heartbreaking romance with a young Bob Dylan during a performance at the Newport Folk Festival. A searingly honest look at a living legend, this film is a compelling and deeply personal exploration of an iconic artist who has never told the full truth of her life, as she experienced it, until now.
Baez has long been a musical force of nature throughout the decades that has transcended genres in folk, rock, country and others. Her work has inspired countless others in and out of music. Her earliest albums are home to some of her most traditional ballads, including “Diamonds & Rust.” In 1963, she unselfconsciously introduced Bob Dylan to the world. Her performance at 1969’s original Woodstock festival in upstate New York gave her global fame. Ryan Adams, Steve Earle, Natalie Merchant and others have all been influenced by Baez’s music.
Throughout the decades, she’s served as a non violent social and political activist. She’s marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, was also an advocate during the Free Speech Movement, organized resistance to the Vietnam War, inspired Vaclav Havel in his fight for a Czech Republic, and more.
In 2018, Baez began her final formal tour. She made the declaration shortly after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in April 2017. During that time, Baez also released her first new studio album in a decade, Whistle Down The Wind, which earned a Grammy-nomination and gathered songs by some of Baez’s favorite writers, including Tom Waits to Mary Chapin Carpenter.
In recent years, Baez has been recognized for her work by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Library of Congress, Kennedy Center and Amnesty International, among others.
