FESTIVAL! DVD
- 1967 documentary of 1963-1966 Newport Folk Festivals;
filmed, directed, and produced by Murray Lerner.
- NTSC, resolution 720x480, 95 minutes
- This version is brand new ("hot off the
presses"), authored with menu and chapters
Many of us have heard about, or maybe even seen,
Festival! So far, however, the
film has only been available via very rare public viewings. This priceless "period piece"
documents the early-mid 1960s cultural movement, as reflected in the music
performed during three years of the Newport Folk Festival, and includes concert
footage of and interviews with these artists among others: Joan Baez, Theodore
Bikel, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, The Butterfield Blues Band, Johnny
Cash, Judy Collins, Donovan, Bob Dylan, Richard and Mimi Fariña, Freedom
Singers, Ronnie Gilbert, Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Jim Kweskin and the
Jug Band, Mel Lyman, Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry, Odetta, Peter Paul and
Mary, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Pete Seeger, and the Staple Singers.
Some info from Alan Fraser's "Searching for a
Gem" site --
Dylan content includes the following:
R-0041 All I Really Want To Do - recorded live at the
Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI, 26 Jul 1964 (part of the performance on 24
Jul 1965 is also shown)
R-0300 Maggie's Farm - recorded live with the Paul
Butterfield Blues Band at the Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI, 25 Jul 1965
R-0304 Mr. Tambourine Man - recorded live (solo acoustic)
at the Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI, 25 Jul 1965
The film also has fragments from the band soundcheck:
organ riffs, Maggie's Farm and Like A Rolling Stone.
"It is a very remarkable film as it very obviously
serves as a forerunner to the festival films Monterey Pop and Woodstock in the
same way these later bigger festivals followed the annual Newport Jazz and Folk
festivals. The film gives a very good impression of the folk music scene to
which Dylan came and went and to which he belonged for several years. The
editing is perfect, especially the build-up of the now historic scenes
featuring Dylan’s 1965 electric appearance alternated with performances by
traditional folk acts. Only from this footage and how it was edited for the
film you can understand that Dylan had to force his way out of the scene by
playing loud electric music."
http://www.searchingforagem.com/VHS-DVD.htm
More details here -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061658/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9ZmVzdGl2YWx8aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=2;ft=7;fm=1