Bozeman Magazine

The Bozeman Doc Series continues Thursday, December 3rd, at the Emerson Center with a special event co-sponsored by the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and a presentation of the critically-acclaimed documentary, Janis: Little Girl Blue. The evening will begin at 5:30pm with a reception hosted by the organizers of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. The largest cinema event in Montana and the premiere venue for non-fiction film in the American West, The BSDFF draws an audience of 20,000 viewers yearly, and receives over 1400 film entries from every corner of the globe. Recently listed among Moviemaker Magazine’s “50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee”, the festival continues to rise in prestige in the worldwide documentary community. Join the Big Sky Doc Fest and Bozeman Doc Series teams for beer, wine and appetizers at the reception before and continuing after the film. Meet the festival’s Executive Director, Gita Saedi Kiely, as well as programmers and other members of the BSDFF team, and learn more about one of Montana’s most vibrant cultural events. Starting at 7pm, an award winning short film from this year’s festival will be screened before the feature presentation of Janis: Little Girl Blue. One of the most revered and iconic rock & roll singers of all time, Janis Joplin remains a tragic and misunderstood figure who thrilled millions of listeners and blazed new creative trails before her death in 1970 at age 27. Academy® Award-nominated director Amy Berg and Academy® Award-winning producer Alex Gibney strip away Joplin’s rock ‘n roll persona in Janis: Little Girl Blue, to reveal the gentle, trusting, sensitive but powerful woman behind the legend, in this quintessential story of a short, turbulent, and epic existence that changed music forever. From her childhood in small-town Texas to the height of her fame, Janis: Little Girl Blue examines Joplin’s story in depth for the first time on film, presenting an intimate and insightful portrait of a complicated, driven, often beleaguered artist. Via the intimate, personal letters she wrote to her family, friends, and lovers, many of them made public here for the first time (and read by singer/actor Chan Marshall, also known as Cat Power), Janis serves as the narrator of her own life story. A powerhouse when she sang, her talent and magnetism is evident in rarely and never-before-seen footage of Janis performing at Monterey Pop in 1967, Woodstock in 1969, and Festival Express in 1970. Janis: Little Girl Blue joins the pantheon of great music documentaries by providing an intimate glimpse into the private life and inner struggles of one of the world’s most influential rock icons. “A MASTERFUL BIOGRAPHY…ELECTRIC, INTIMATE AND HEARTBREAKING” ★★★★★ -Owen Gleiberman, BBC “ESSENTIAL VIEWING. Berg’s film presents a well-rounded, deeply admiring picture of a maverick talent who paved the way for countless female rockers…tells the legendary singer’s story with vitality and heart.” -David Rooney,