Last week I didn't know much about Little Richard and I knew even less about the Indigo Girls, so sitting down to watch documentaries about them back to back felt like a crash course in two very different but equally as iconic musical legends. In completely separate ways, both Little Richard and the Indigo Girls changed the landscape of music and queer culture simply by being unapologetically themselves.
The Tower Theatre is collaborating with BendFilm to bring "It's Only Life After All" and "Little Richard: I Am Everything" to Bend, fresh from their premieres at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
"We're excited to bring these two amazing music documentaries to Bend for an exclusive Oregon premiere," says Todd Leiser, tech and programming manager at Tin Pan Theater. "Little Richard and the Indigo Girls are both musicians who have been important trailblazers as queer outsiders and these films are each a celebration of their careers."
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls have been making music together since 1981 and their effortless comfort with each other is immediately evident in "It's Only Life After All." Amy documented most of their career, so one of the really remarkable aspects of the film is the sheer breadth of footage available. We are allowed behind the scenes to over three decades of their lives and as someone who really had no connection to the band before the documentary, I felt like I knew them by the end.
"These films are both timeless and speak directly to our current time," says BendFilm Festival Executive Director Todd Looby. "They are for audiences of all backgrounds as well. Whether you want an insider's look into the creative process of groundbreaking musicians, to understand singular LGBTQ+ experiences, or celebrate Black and Women's achievement, these films will deliver. Each member of our community will take away something from these films. And the fact that these are the first screenings after their Sundance premieres makes it that more special."
The Indigo Girls are also tireless activists, whether for indigenous rights, removal of confederate monuments, gun control, LGBTQ rights or working to abolish the death penalty. A lot of their activism goes back to the late-'80s and early-'90s, before social media made activism into something more performative. Plus, as out lesbians since the early '90s, the Indigo Girls have never wasted a moment using their platform to fight for causes they believe in and to amplify queer and other marginalized voices.
"Little Richard: I Am Everything"
"The phrase 'larger than life' could have been created to describe Little Richard, who defies categories and surprises people relentlessly," says head of BendFilm Festival Programming Selin Sevinc. "Just when you think you got him, another layer and complexity emerges. This doc reveals Little Richard's many layers lovingly and compassionately. At the end of the film you have this feeling of having to say goodbye to Little Richard, who's such an enticing, energizing figure that you don't want to part with him. The doc is a gem and a gift to rock 'n roll history."
Director Lisa Cortes (who will be in attendance for the screening and participating in a Q&A after the film) infuses the documentary with the energy of Little Richard himself, constantly moving and revealing new layers to an audience that can only stare in wonder. The film follows him from his childhood in Macon, Georgia, in the 1930s to the last months of his life and, just as with "It's Only Life After All," we truly do feel like we got to know the human being as well as the artist.
Both of these documentaries explore the nature of being treated as an outsider while simultaneously being popular and in the public eye, and it's a fascinating dichotomy. It's a bit of a coup for BendFilm to get these movies shown theatrically so close to their premieres at Sundance and it'll probably be quite some time until the films are more widely available after these screenings.
The timing for "It's Only Life After All" is also pretty perfect since Hayden Homes Amphitheater just announced that the Indigo Girls will play with Neko Case on June 27. If you're a fan of either the Indigo Girls or Little Richard, these docs are not to be missed.
