Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis/VCG via Getty ImagesIf you can’t make it to the 2017 Sundance Film Festival next week to catch the world premiere of the new Grateful Dead documentary Long Strange Trip, you’ll be able to watch the four-hour film on Amazon Prime Video come May. Amazon has acquired the rights to the Martin Scorsese-produced project, which will debut on its streaming service on May 26 as a six-part series.
Long Strange Trip is fully sanctioned by The Grateful Dead and was directed by Amir Bar-Lev, whose credits include the critically acclaimed doc The Tillman Story. The film features new interviews with the band’s surviving members, as well as family members, road crew and fans. It also includes previously unseen concert and behind-the-scenes footage and photos of the group. Long Strange Trip not delves into the band’s inventive music and improvisational performances, while also looking at the group’s impact on the counterculture and its huge community of devoted followers, the “Deadheads.”
Founding Dead singer guitarist Bob Weir says of the film, “Over several decades a group of guys hung together making music in a group that was way tighter and lasted much longer than most marriages. Here’s the movie…”
Scorsese, meanwhile, says, “I’ve always admired the spirit and creativity of the Grateful Dead. They are revolutionary artists who forever changed the world of touring and recording live music. They were a cultural force — a lifestyle, that continue to influence new generations of fans.”
Long Strange Trip will get its world premiere this Monday, January 23, at 8:30 p.m. PT at the Yarrow Hotel Theatre in Park City, Utah. Among the stars expected to attend the event are Weir, Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, and Trixie Garcia, daughter of late Dead frontman Jerry Garcia.
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