Tonight, the World Premiere of Gorman Bechard’s WHERE ARE YOU, JAY BENNETT? will go down in Chicago, Illinois, at the David Theater. As Wilco fans know, Bennett was involved with the band during a very crucial era. The documentary will likely do deep on the stretch of albums that Bennett made with Wilco from 1996-2001.
Filmmaker Bechard puts it like this, “If you love Being There, Mermaid Avenue, Summerteeth, and/or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, this is a film that will captivate you, and fill in the blanks about a great musician who’s truly a part of your musical life.”
Bechard had help releasing his Bennett project via a Kickstarter campaign.140 backers stepped up to pitch in to reach the final funding goal and then some.
As a long-time fan that came in on the groundfloor, Bennett had always been seen as an essential member of the band, close to an equal partner as he was doing a lot of writing and engineering. As Bennett’s story was told in another documentary WILCO; I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART, a few books, scores of blog posts and magazine articles, it will be extremely interesting to see what Bechard’s film brings to the table.
Watch the trailer for WHERE ARE YOU, JAY BENNETT? here.
I wish I could be in Chicago to see Bechard’s obvious love and on the big screen too. Like many, I’ll have to wait for the DVD or whatever streaming service may offer it. I’ll have to settle for seeing the doc another place/another time.
Oh, and while we’re on the subject, check out Bechard’s website, whatwerewethinkingfilms.com, for info for not only the Bennett film, buts his vast array of other works including docs on the Replacements, Sarah Shook, Archers of Loaf, Lydia Loveless, and Grant Hart. Bechard has also made many dramatized movies such as PSYCHOS IN LOVE, THE KISS, FRIENDS (WITH BENEFITS), and BROKEN SIDE OF TIME among them.
The site, also gives access to music videos, and short films produced by the fiercely independent filmmaker.
More later…
