We know it exists. We know people have seen it. But where can we non-London or Copenhagen residents see it? And when? The new CC-Films Vashti Bunyan (TMT Interview) documentary is something like a velociraptor in that way. We know they existed once, but when will they come back?
Let's take a look at the facts. Filmmaker Kieran Evans recently collaborated with St. Etienne on their film love letter to London, Finisterre, and now Vashti Bunyan: From Here To Before has been making its way around the fall film festival circuit -- well, at least in the previously mentioned Copenhagen, where it was screened earlier this month, and London, where the film debuted at The Times 52nd London International Film Festival. Described as "a lyrical, modern day road movie," the documentary chronicles Bunyan's first big London show, 30 or so years after she recorded the undeservedly long-forgotten Just Another Diamond Day, and features interviews with big-name music execs like Joe Boyd, Andrew Loog Oldham, and Robert Kirby. The documentary also retraces the horse and buggy journey!!! Bunyan took across Great Britain to join a commune in Scotland (during which she recorded her debut LP with Joe Boyd) and appearances by Adem Ilhan, Max Richter, and, of course, Devendra Banhart.
Alas, no upcoming screenings have been announced, and no DVD news is pending, but if we've learned anything from Jurassic Park I-III, it's that if people want something bad enough -- be it a bloodthirsty, fast-running tiny lizard monster or a documentary about a critically-acclaimed English folk artist -- it won't be too long before it shows up in a theater near you.
