FILMS WE LIKE PRESENTS
MAVIS!
A film by Jessica Edwards
Mavis! opens theatrically and on iTunes on November 13th
Opens in Toronto on Friday, November 13, 2015
Bloor Hot Docs Cinema - Purchase Advance Tickets
Also playing:
Vancity, Vancouver, Saturday, November 14
Winnipeg Cinematheque, Friday, November 20
Cinema du Parc, Montreal, November date TBD
After a standing ovation at the World Premiere screening at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and at Hot Docs 2015 where it had its Canadian Premiere, Toronto based distributor Films We Like announces that director Jessica Edwards’ MAVIS! will open in theatres in Canada starting Friday, November 13 at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.
MAVIS! is the first documentary on gospel/soul music legend and civil rights icon Mavis Staples and her family group, The Staple Singers. Beginning in the gospel church, Mavis’ music spans from the freedom songs of the ‘60s and hits like “I’ll Take You There", to funked-up collaborations with Prince and her recent albums with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. Over the course of her unrivaled career, Mavis has stayed true to her roots, kept her family close and reinvented herself as a solo artist at the age of 65. With dynamic live performances, rarely-seen archival footage and conversations with musical legends Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Levon Helm, Chuck D, Sharon Jones and more, MAVIS! reveals the struggles and successes of her journey. At 75, Mavis is making the most vital music of her career and her message of love and equality is needed now more than ever.
Said Staples, “I've been touring since 1954, and I've been to all kinds of festivals, but I don't think I was at a film festival until my movie screened in Austin. That was something else. I cried all my mascara off. And I am so grateful, knowing all these young people – whole new generations – they want to hear my songs and my family's story and what I have to say… I’m really blessed.”
About Mavis Staples
Soul/gospel legend Mavis Staples released a new four-song EP Your Good Fortune (ANTI-) on April 21st, and in July 2015 she toured the US, co-headlining 12 dates with Patty Griffin. Her 2010 Album You Are Not Alone (ANTI-) won the Best Americana Album Grammy. Mavis is a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, National Heritage Fellowship award winner, was named to Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers, and has a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
About Director-Producer Jessica Edwards
Jessica Edwards award-winning short documentary Seltzer Works premiered at SXSW and went on to screen at Hot Docs, Full Frame, Silverdocs (now AFIDocs) before airing on the prestigious PBS documentary series POV in 2010. Her subsequent film, Tugs, screened at SxSW, Full Frame, Silverdocs and BAMCinemafest in Brooklyn in 2011. Her short film The Landfill, which she co-directed with Gary Hustwit, premiered at Sundance in 2012.
In 2013, Edwards edited and self-published Tell Me Something: Documentary Filmmakers, a book of advice from documentary filmmakers including Al Maysles, DA Pennebaker, Martin Scorsese, Errol Morris, Michael Moore, Barbara Kopple, and over 50 more international filmmakers. The book was lauded in the New York Times, Documentary Magazine, Filmmaker Magazine and others.
Edwards has a BFA in Cinema from Concordia University in her native Canada and a Masters Degree in Documentary Studies from The New School in New York City.
About Films We Like
Founded by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential, Altman) Films We Like is a boutique distributor of documentary, independent and international films in Canada. Recent releases include Force Majeure, Finding Vivian Maier, and the Academy Award-winner Ida.
Running time: 81 minutes
Download press kit and high rez images
Media Contact:
Virginia Kelly, Meghan Parnell
V Kelly & Associates