Franklin docu to finally see the light

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‘Amazing Grace’ important part of singer’s legacy

NEW YORK, Nov 6, (Agencies): More than 46 years after it was shot, the Aretha Franklin concert film “Amazing Grace” will finally be released, ending one of the most tortured and long-running sagas in documentary film.

The late gospel singer’s estate and film producers said Monday that “Amazing Grace” will premiere Nov 12 at the DOC NYC film festival with the full support of Franklin’s estate. The film, largely shot by Sydney Pollack, captures Franklin’s performance at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood in January 1972.

The music from the two performances was released as a landmark double live album in 1972. But Pollack’s footage proved virtually impossible to edit because the filmmaker failed to sync the sound. After acquiring the film’s rights from Pollack in 2007, producer Alan Elliott brought in a team to construct the film, which Elliott calls “a labor of love”.

“Aretha’s fans will be enthralled by every moment of the film as her genius, her devotion to God and her spirit are present in every frame,” Elliot said in a statement.

Franklin first sued Elliott in 2011 for planning to release the film without her permission. “Amazing Grace” nearly saw the light of day in 2015, but it was yanked at the last minute from the Telluride and Toronto film festivals after Franklin’s attorneys obtained an injunction against its release. They argued the film was “the functional equivalent of replaying an entire Aretha Franklin concert,” and couldn’t be screened without her consent.

A Colorado court largely agreed, ruling in 2016 that the concert film didn’t constitute “fair use,” prompting a new round of negotiations. Telluride also listed the film in its 2016 lineup only to pull it yet again. Last year, Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger told Variety that “(Franklin’s) resolve for it not being shown is so intense, and I don’t think any us really understand it all the way.”

Franklin passed away in August. Pollack died in 2008.

The late singer’s estate said “Amazing Grace” was an important part of Franklin’s legacy.

“’Amazing Grace’ is the heart and soul of Aretha Franklin,” Sabrina Owens, Franklin’s niece, said Monday. “This film is authentic and is my aunt at her core. She was a daughter of the church, she loved gospel music, and she always incorporated some form of sacred music in her concerts.”

An Oscar-qualifying release of “Amazing Grace” is planned for this fall, with a larger rollout in theaters likely coming next year. The film doesn’t yet have distribution.

“In recent weeks, Alan presented the film to the family at the African American Museum here, and we absolutely love it,” said Sabrina Owens, the late star’s niece and executor of her estate, in a phone interview from Detroit Sunday. “We can see Alan’s passion for the movie, and we are just as passionate about it. It’s in a very pure environment, very moving and inspirational, and it’s an opportunity for those individuals who had not experienced her in a gospel context to see how diverse her music is. We are so excited to be a part of this.”

Planned

The premiere is a very late addition to the long-since-announced DOC NYC festival; tickets for the Nov 12 screening at the SVA Theatre go on sale this afternoon. “Amazing Grace” is then set for a qualifying run at the Laemmle Monica Nov 20-27, followed by a week at Manhattan’s Film Forum Dec 7-14. Official premiere events for LA and Detroit are in the early stages of being planned for next year. The Franklin family and Elliott believe a distribution deal will come quickly but wanted to get the film ready for awards consideration first, then cross that bridge.

Elliott had been friends for years with Owens, who invited him to Franklin’s funeral in Detroit on Aug 31. Two weeks later, he went back to the Charles Wright African American Museum to screen the movie for Franklin’s family and their friends, who were all seeing it for the first time. The reaction there, they both say, was jubilant, with a feeling of urgency coming out of the screening about getting it before the public sooner rather than later.

“I think the movie stands by itself, so it would have a good run whether it’s next year or it was two or three years ago,” says Elliott. “But obviously, her singularity and her absence are really felt right now, so I think there is that energy toward rediscovering things that she did. And I feel that this performance is really her crowning achievement – and I think she felt that way too. As much as anything, I wish she had been here to be a part of it, especially since she said she loved the movie.”

Douglass worked on the movie, like a lot of participants, on his own dime a few years ago. Is he surprised to be working in 2018 on something he started in 1972? “I’m never surprised,” Douglass laughs, taking a break while Franklin’s perspiring image appears frozen above the mixing board. “Am I happy I’m working on it one more time? Of course I am. Always. Alan tracked me down years ago and showed up with this amazing project, and as far as I was concerned, I was the only person on the planet who should have my hands in it. There’s nobody else around who was as close to that whole school that’s actually still out there slaying the beast and still making hits that should be touching this. I was like, ‘That’s mine, I’m sorry.’ And here we are.”

Viewers might quibble over whether it’s technically a concert movie or a church service movie, but it’s foremost a music movie. “Aretha says six words in the movie,” Elliott points out. “She says, ‘What key is it, E?’ and then she says, ‘Water.’ So, obviously getting the music right is the thing we can do best by her legacy, I think.”

For Owens, the film “shows Aretha in a very different light. She’s very youthful, very shy, and her voice is just beautiful throughout, at an age when her voice was absolutely crystal-clear and very pure. It’s very moving and inspirational, and I enjoy it as a fan of the church and gospel music beyond just the fact that it’s my aunt singing. This just seems like the best time, because I think any time an artist passes, they’re fresh on people’s minds and hearts. But also, I think people want something in a very spiritual mode, and I think this is a feel-good movie that could be very uplifting in a time of turmoil in our country.”

Elliott adds an additional, slightly less philanthropic goal for what he’d like to see the movie accomplish. “Aretha always wanted to be a movie star, and we feel this is her chance to be a movie star,” he says. “No, she is a movie star.”

 

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