Director in Attendance Saturday-Monday (May 22-24)!
(Murray Lerner, USA, 1970, HD)
“This is the last festival, enough is enough, it began as a beautiful dream but it has got out of control and become a monster.” —Ron Foulk, concert promoter, (on Monday morning, September 1, 1970)
Forty years ago this summer, the legendary third-annual Isle of Wight Festival hit the stage with some 600,000 screaming fans in attendance, the biggest ever rock festival in Europe. It was a chaotic affair that redefined festival madness. The attendees, most without tickets, descended on East Afton Farm, on the tiny unsuspecting English Channel island, to hear the likes of The Who, Jimi Hendrix (in his last live festival performance; he died 18 days later in London), Jethro Tull, the Moody Blues, Miles Davis, Joan Baez, the Doors (in their final U.K. gig with Jim Morrison), Joni Mitchell and Sly and the Family Stone. Fortunately for us New York based filmmaker Murray Lerner was there to document the entire event. To kick off summer, we present nine of Lerner’s films, including nearly complete performances from eight artists and the two-hour documentary that puts the entire event into perspective. We’ll be offering a festival pass for the series, so come out and experience one of music’s most renowned events in almost its entirety!
Series pass $40/Film Forum members, $50/general
Take a Documentary Workshop & Critique with Murray Lerner!
Sponsored by KBCS 91.3FM