Weather

20°

Home arts Performing Arts Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

SHARE FACEBOOKTWITTER

 

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

April 2013

  • Robert Dunstan

Cult American power pop band Big Star are the subject of the documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me which will screen at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square from May 26 to June 12 as part of their Long Play program.

The feature-length documentary highlights the fact that while the Memphis band went on to influence groups such as REM, Flaming Lips, Scotland’s Belle & Sebastian and Australia’s Even, they never cracked the mainstream. The film also contains never before seen footage, unreleased songs and in-depth interviews.

The group had begun life in 1971 when singer Alex Chilton (formerly of The Box Tops who had enjoyed a huge hit with The Letter in 1967), Chris Bell, Andy Hummel and Jody Stephens came together to record an album at Ardent Records in Memphis. While met with critical favour, distribution problems and a lack of promotion meant that their debut had no success and the band’s follow up, Radio City, and their third album, Third/Sister Lovers, also met similar fates.

They returned to the stage, however, in 1993 with a line-up of Chilton and Stephens alongside Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, both of The Posies. A few days before the band were set to play Austin’s SXSW, Chilton suffered a fatal heart attack but the musicians, joined by Mike Mills of REM, The Lemonheads’ Evan Dando, original member Andy Hummel and Chris Stamey, went ahead and played the festival in tribute to Chilton.

A scheduled performance in their hometown a few weeks later was turned into a final tribute concert to the band and the team behind the making of Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me decided it would be a great addition to their film which had been in the making since 2007.

The documentary has since been widely acclaimed and was screened in the Official Selection at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival and made its world premiere at the BFI, London. Its US premiere was at the Indie Memphis Film Festival and it enjoyed sell out sessions at DOC/NYC. It now comes to Melbourne.

 

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me shows at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Federation Square, from May 26 to June 12.

 

acmi.net.au

Galleries

Weather

20°

Latest Edition

February Issue
February Issue
January Issue
January Issue
December Issue
December Issue

Video

Stars Of The Lid – Goodnight

Twitter

Facebook