Zappa
Director: Alex Winter Run Time: 129 min. Rating: NR
Starring: Frank Zappa, Pamela Des Barres, Steve Vai
Presented in the Virtual Screening Room in partnership with Magnolia Pictures.
“… a movie that plunges into the Zappa legend and touches, one way or another, on just about every aspect of his life and career.”
–Owen Gleiberman, Variety
About the film:
Official Selection of SXSW. Nominated for Best Music Documentary by the Critics Choice Awards.
The first and only authorized documentary about the life and work of Frank Zappa, funded by a kickstarter that more than doubled their initial fundraising goal. With the support of thousands of Zappa fans and total access to the Zappa family trust and archival footage, Alex Winter presents a definitive look at the rock legends career, personal life and innovative work.
About the filmmaker:
Filmmaker and activist Alex Winter first entered show business as a child co-starring in The King and I and Peter Pan on Broadway. Familiar to many for his iconic role in the Bill & Ted franchise, his first major role was in The Lost Boys while a film student at NYU. He wrote, co-directed and starred in the cult classic Freaked, and his solo directorial debut Fever was an official selection in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
After founding Trouper Productions, Winter began crafting critically acclaimed documentaries, including Downloaded on Napster and the digital revolution. The film was nominated for an Audience Award at SXSW 2013 and premiered for free online. Winter cooperated in secret with journalists from around the world to film The Panama Papers. Most recently, the HBO documentary Showbiz Kids pulls back the curtain on the experience of growing up in the entertainment industry.
With Zappa, Winter tells the dramatic yet very human saga of a great American artist and thinker. The highest funded documentary in Kickstarter history, the production also helped cover the costs of preserving and archiving the Zappa Family Trust’s vault.
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