An experimental David Bowie documentary, with never-before-seen footage and narration by the late star himself, premiered at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday, ahead of its Cannes screening next month.
“Moonage Daydream”, due in theaters next September, is the first film officially approved by David Bowie’s rights holders, who have given director Brett Morgen access to thousands of hours of archival footage. “You can’t define Bowie. You can experience it,” says the filmmaker.
“We built + Moonage Daydream + as a unique cinematic experience to live in theaters, to offer the public what they might not get from a book or an article”, he develops.
Experience to discover
Neither biopic nor traditional documentary, the film mixes songs by David Bowie, excerpts from his concerts, images taken by fans and a series of abstract and surreal images to create an “acoustic and visual spectacle”, summarizes producer Bill Gerber (“A Star is Born”). Brett Morgen will have spent two years scouring the drawers of David Bowie’s archives.
Attendees of the CinemaCon festival, which opened Monday in Las Vegas, were able to see long excerpts from the film where Bowie performs his hits “Hallo Spaceboy” and “Heroes”. “I think we took responsibility for creating the 21st century in 1971,” Bowie can be heard explaining in the commentary.
“We wanted to blow up everything that came from the past. We questioned all established values and all taboos”, continues the artist, for whom “everything was nonsense, and when it’s nonsense that’s wonderful”.
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