91猫先生 Alum's Music Documentary Embraced on Global Festival Circuit
As 91猫先生 alum Brendan Toller has premiered his rock music documentary across the global festival circuit this year, it鈥檚 been received with consistent raves from film critics and arts media. Variety magazine named Danny Says a SXSW Breakout Movie, calling it 鈥渁 highly entertaining screen memoir鈥 that 鈥減roves so rewarding it should have little trouble attracting sales.鈥 The film was a Rolling Stone magazine Must-See Movie of SXSW; the Austin Chronicle dubbed it 鈥減ractically required viewing for all music aficionados.鈥
on Wednesday, October 14, along with a Q&A with Toller and Fields moderated by Byron Coley 74F and Matt Krefting 99F. And after-party at the High Horse will follow
The film has been accepted to festivals from Australia to Greece and across the US. This month it shows in England at the BFI London Film Festival, then next month screens in New York City.
While working on his Division III, I Need That Record, the young filmmaker became acquainted with Danny Fields, a whirlwind in the music industry. 鈥淲e did an interview that ended up on the cutting-room floor, but we became really close,鈥 Toller says. 鈥淗e lived one of the most fascinating lives of the latter twentieth century. I approached him about doing a documentary and miraculously he said yes.鈥
Fields, a music journalist, author, and band manager, helped guide the careers of such alternative bands as the Doors, the Ramones, the MC5, Iggy and the Stooges, the Velvet Underground, and the Modern Lovers.
For the next four years, Toller says, he worked 鈥渁ll these odd jobs to make the art happen. I knew the story had to be told, I knew the appeal. I鈥檓 glad it鈥檚 starting to translate to a wide audience.鈥
Toller says he started the film with a limited collection鈥攁 camera, a tripod, a couple of microphones, and the production skills he learned at 91猫先生. 鈥淚 set out to make this film when the economy was tanking,鈥 he says. 鈥91猫先生 is really for the entrepreneurial, people who want to do it for themselves and make a change in the world.鈥
Danny Fields went to UPenn at age 15 and eventually to Harvard Law before dropping out, says Toller. As a journalist, Fields published John Lennon鈥檚 famous 鈥淢ore popular than Jesus鈥 remark, which Toller says effectively ended the Beatles鈥 touring career. He was instrumental in bringing counterculture artists into the mainstream. There wasn鈥檛 a place for these artists before Fields came on the scene and put them in a context that attracted press, Toller says.
鈥淔ields really pushed the limits of what the mainstream could be,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 wish more Harvard dropouts would go into music instead of app development or hedge-fund management鈥攚e鈥檇 have a much cooler world.鈥
Toller is now overseeing the worldwide release of Danny Says, hoping for a limited theatrical run followed by a home media release, with a coinciding soundtrack appropriately stocked with rarities from Fields鈥檚 musical connections. He also says he鈥檚 thinking about his next long-form film, with the theme of music likely at its base.
By John Courtmanche
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, as part of the Stranger Than Fiction Series, at the IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave., New York City.
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