Your Survival Guy has enjoyed many a Newport Folk Festival from the Tom Sawyer, including the performance this year by Luke Combs. The festival has gotten some more attention recently with the return of Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon, and the recent Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown. Now, a new film is being released to delve further into the festival’s history. Its title is Newport & The Great Folk Dream, and it’s premiering this week at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Rolling Stone’s Andy Greene says it’s “packed with rare footage of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, and many other icons.” He writes:
The upcoming documentary film Newport & The Great Folk Dream will correct that by presenting the event as it actually went down between 1963 and 1966, utilizing never-before-seen footage and interviews with Joan Baez, Noel “Paul” Stookey, Jim Kweskin, Taj Mahal, Judy Collins, Joe Boyd, Peter Yarrow, Maria Muldaur, and many others. The film screens on Friday at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and you can check out the trailer right here.
Newport & The Great Folk Dream was directed by Robert Gordon, whose previous films include Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied, Johnny Cash’s America, and Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan: ‘Cowboy’ Jack Clement’s Home Movies.
“The footage over these four years, 1963-1966, documents how fast changes occur,” Gordon says in a statement. “We’re living through radical change now, and we hope this movie inspires more music, more understanding, more courage. It was an honor to curate these artists — and a very difficult task. Bob Dylan goes electric, Phil Ochs leaps to the present, and Mississippi John Hurt makes time stand still. Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul & Mary evolve before our eyes. The film is rife with surprises — and unusual sounds.”
Much of the footage from the Newport Folk Festival was captured by filmmaker Murray Lerner, and it appeared in his pivotal 1967 documentary Festival. In 2007, Lerner created The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival. It was built around his archive of Dylan footage from the events.
Watch the film’s trailer here:
Action Line: If you plan on attending the Newport Folk Festival next year, email Your Survival Guy at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com, and let’s talk about your visit to Newport. And, click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.