Tuesday, June 2, 2009
And speaking of rural lesbian artists . . .
This new documentary about rural British Columbian singer-songwriter Ferron looks wonderful. We look forward to seeing it, and probably owning the DVD eventually.
Labels:
documentary,
Ferron,
lesbian,
music
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Swannee wrote:
ReplyDeleteI saw this last night at Frameline (the annual San Francisco LGBT film fest); the place was packed solid. The film covers a three-city Canadian tour that marked a reunion with her long-time band after a disastrous experience with Warner Bros. Records. Ferron is amazing; funny, emotional, and providing some good observations about the nature of artistic creation and collaboration. Several of the band members are also interviewed, with mixed results. However, I was pretty unhappy with the editing; they show her performing several of her classics, but after about two or three verses they always cut to an interview and NEVER go back to the song. Nowhere did this tick me off more than with "Ain't Life A Brook," the only song Ferron does without the band, an intense song about a breakup. On the last verse, there's a line, "And I think that's great," which she traditionally follows with a bit of mugging that adds rather than distracts from the emotional impact. I would have LOVED to have that captured on tape, but no.
The film is supposed to be out on DVD by the end of the summer. Check out http://www.augustaproductions.com/store/ to get on the pre-order list. The DVD is supposed to contain two hours' worth of extras; let's hope that includes unedited concert footage. There was also mention of a CD, but no date attached.
Oh yes. Shortly before the film started, I glanced to my right and noticed a woman in a beautiful dark blue hapi coat who looked vaguely familiar. I caught on about the same time as the rest of the audience, and we broke into applause followed by a standing ovation. Ferron stood smiling uncertainly, then flipped on her sunglasses and proceded to her seat. At the Q&A afterwards, she said this was the first time she'd seen the film since its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival--"There are only three places: Toronto, where I was born; San Francisco, where I was _really_ born; and Newfoundland, where I live."