Jerry Garcia photo by Elliot Newhouse
Co-producers Jerry Garcia Music Arts LLC together with Malcolm Leo and Dean Loring Gelfand of Malcolm Leo Productions are set to make an immersive doc experience “that focuses on the creative spirit of Jerry Garcia,” says a statement released late March.
Jerry Garcia, Artist will be a documentary based on a 1987 interview directed by Leo and filmed at Front Street Studio in San Rafael, California, by the Academy Award-winning cinematographer Russell Carpenter. It will feature Garcia speaking in his own voice directly to his audience about his music and art.
Garcia’s family is co-producing the documentary and has contributed visual art and music to the project. In the statement, the makers say that “the film includes a charitable component that will benefit the Jerry Garcia Foundation as well as a charity of the co-producer’s choice.”
“We envision an uplifting, immersive experience focused on my father’s art and music,” said Keelin Garcia, Jerry Garcia’s daughter, co-producer of the project and president of Jerry Garcia Music Arts. “The story is authentic. My father narrates the film in his own words, directly to the audience.”
The statement also underlines how “the documentary captures Garcia at a peak moment as he eloquently reflects about the life he lived and the music he loved to make.” He was “unabashedly open” to a wide array of subjects, offering a “nothing-off-limits” interview. The documentary provides a journey into Garcia’s artistic world through his personal musings, drawings and insights, including unpublished rare family photos and home movies and newly discovered performances.
Producer/director Leo and Gelfand, producer, have been combining their special talents rooted in the music industry through their work with Malcolm Leo Productions and, more recently, MELLOWDEE. The Jerry Garcia venture is therefore a natural fit, they stress.
“This project is a labour of love for all involved,” said Leo. “And it is the fulfilment of a promise I made to Jerry long ago to do something special with the footage. The film will honour one of the country’s most beloved musical heroes and cultural icons.”
