FESTIVAL

Details

• Release Year: 1967
• Genre: Documentary, Music
• Plot: Before Woodstock and Monterey Pop, there was Festival. From 1963 through 1966, Murray Lerner visited the annual Newport Folk Festival to document a thriving, idealistic musical movement as it reached its peak as a popular phenomenon. Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Cash, the Staple Singers, Pete Seeger, Son House, and Peter, Paul and Mary were just a few of the legends who shared the stage at Newport, treating audiences to a range of folk music that encompassed the genre’s roots in blues, country, and gospel as well as its newer flirtations with rock and roll. Shooting in gorgeous black and white, Lerner juxtaposes performances with snapshot interviews with artists and their fans, weaving footage from four years of the festival into an intimate record of a pivotal time in music—and in American culture at large.
• Cast: Joan Baez, Horton Barker, Fiddler Beers, Theodore Bikel, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Cousin Emmy, Donovan, Bob Dylan, Mimi Fariña, Richard Farina, Ronnie Gilbert, Mrs. Ollie Gilbert, Fannie Lou Hamer, Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, John Koerner, Jim Kweskin, Tex Logan, Mel Lyman, Spokes Mashiyane, Fred McDowell, Brownie McGhee, Pappy Clayton McMichen, Sonny Terry, Odetta, Bobby Osborne, Sonny Osborne, Joe Patterson, Peter Yarrow, N. Paul Stookey, Mary Allin Travers, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Pete Seeger, Howlin' Wolf, Blue Ridge Mountain Dancers, Ed Young Fife And Drum Corps, The Freedom Singers, Fritz Richmond, Sacred Harp Singers, Georgia Sea Island Singers, Moving Star Hall Singers, The Staple Singers, The Swan Silvertones, Murray Lerner
• Director: Murray Lerner
• Runtime: 1:38
• Company: The Criterion Collection, Janus Films
• Media Format: Movie