By Peter Jones
Amy Ray shuffles through a rack of clothing to find an unusual sleeveless western shirt.
Who would wear such a thing… she wonders out loud.
“I would.”
The lighthearted scene from It’s Only Life After All, in a sense, typifies the determined, almost rugged independence of the Indigo Girls, a folk-pop group that has long lived by its own rules in everything from song craft to sexual expression. The new documentary profiling the enduring duo premiered January 19 at the Ray Theater.
Director Alexandria Bombach mixes archival footage of the Indigo Girls with new and old interviews, creating a comprehensive and honest biography that is told exclusively in the words of Ray and her musical partner, Emily Saliers. Although the frequent juxtaposition of past to present is visually striking, the pair’s harmonies remain so perfect that even edits within the same song — culled from separate performances decades apart — are seamless with nary a compromising key change.
In the Q&A after the screening, Saliers said the musical duo developed an immediate rapport with Bombach, a longtime Indigo Girls fan who wanted to chronicle the group’s story for the first time in a full-length documentary.
“Sometimes trust is a chemical,” Saliers said. “When me met Alexandria, we just felt a calm with her … We knew that she was gifted, and we were really overwhelmed to be asked. It was a shocker.”
That’s not to say the filmmaking process was always easy on the two musicians.
“There are days when you don’t want to put a microphone pack on your butt,” Saliers said. “[But] the word ‘trust’ keeps coming up — and that’s it. Not only trust, we really love the people who worked on this film.”
Bombach said one of the main challenges of making the documentary was figuring out how to edit the film, including a plethora of archival footage the Indigo Girls had collected over the years.
“I wanted it to go on and on and on,” the director said of the two-hour biography. “It was really hard to make it this short. There was so much to cover. … It was painful what I had to leave out.”
Sifting through the archives was half the enjoyment for Ray.
“I got that from my daddy and his parents. I have a family that loves to document — on both sides. Books, diaries, film, and everything. For me, I always wanted to film everything. It’s fun,” she said.
The film takes turns serious and comical as Ray and Saliers wax nostalgic, reflect thoughtfully on their personal demons, and at one point hilariously, yet poignantly, read out loud a decades-old, brutally scathing review from The New York Times — occasionally agreeing with its venom. Indigo Girls would eventually find their place, not in the genre-defining women’s folk scene that birthed them, but in the post-punk alternative world that encouraged their “outlaw” approach.
It’s Only Life After All, whose title is lifted from the group’s hit “Closer to Fine,” has many moments of illumination — the duo’s awakening to a less sanitized environmentalism, their initial differences on the idea of “coming out,” the lesbian pair’s determined lack of romantic attraction for each other, and an utterly charming view on the Indigo Girls as doting mothers.
But perhaps the most arresting revelation in the new documentary is that these two acoust
Article Written by: Josh Martin, 2016 With
A Brighter Summer Day playing at the AFS through this weekend (first week of April 2024), we’re resharing an article on the film written by AAAFF Special Programs & Film Programmer, Josh Martin, back in 2016.
The “New Cinema”—the 1980s explosion of talent that put Taiwanese film on the world map—is also known as the “Taiwanese New Wave,” part of a still-prevalent tendency to liken any emergent national cinema to the French example of the ’50s and ’60s. In at least one small and accidental sense, the analogy is apt. Much as Godard and Truffaut are often upheld as the twin pillars of the nouvelle vague, two figures of Taiwan’s New Wave loom above the others. One is Hou Hsiao-hsien, who before his recent retirement was something of a one-man force in Taiwanese cinema. The other is Edward Yang, who died in 2007 and left behind seven features, every one a masterpiece or something close to it.
Unfortunately, neither Hou nor Yang have had the exposure accorded to Godard and Truffaut. In Yang’s case, only his swan song Yi Yi (2000) received a U.S. release. Limited access to both filmmakers’ work led some to propose a simplistic, binary opposition, with Hou as the chronicler of Taiwan’s past and Yang of its present. This was never entirely accurate for Hou, who started with contemporary features before switching to period pieces; in any case, he’s now widely recognized for modern dramas like Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996). Yang, for his part, made a single period film halfway through his too-short career. Praised to the skies by cinephiles lucky enough to see it, it remained virtually inaccessible to most of the viewers who discovered Yang through Yi Yi—an injustice only finally corrected in 2016 with the first U.S. release of his epochal A Brighter Summer Day (1991).
No definite explanation has ever been given for the film’s frustrating unavailability, but part of it might be down to runtime. In Yang’s preferred edit, A Brighter Summer Day clocks in at nearly four hours. Most theatrical screenings in the ’90s used a cut-down three-hour version, but this still must’ve seemed like a daunting commercial prospect—especially in the U.S., where the New Cinema was long neglected by critics and distributors. Many Taiwanese films of the period also suffer from unspecified “rights issues,” which may explain why Yang’s film was formerly available to home viewers only on laserdisc, Video CD, and Nth-generation bootlegs thereof. (As a small consolation, the video releases used the full 237-minute cut, as does the new restoration.)
Despite its epic length, A Brighter Summer Day was inspired by a seemingly minor event: a 1961 murder involving students at Yang’s Taipei high school. In case anyone thinks this is a spoiler, the film’s Chinese title is simply “The Guling Street Youth Murder Incident,” and the original marketing materials left little doubt about the identity of the killer. For Yang, the murder is much less important than the social milieu in which it took place, which also happened to be his own: that of young mainlanders in postwar Taiwan.
Newspaper account of the &ld
WHO: ~Pourri, the iconic company that transforms life’s stinkiest moments, teams up with Rolling Stone, the authority in music and culture news, to invite guests to “Get Funky. Stay Fresh.” with a week full of fun-filled events tapping into the magic of South by Southwest (SXSW) 2024.
WHAT: Making its SXSW debut, ~Pourri along with the storytelling maestros at Rolling Stone, are hosting a series of events that will elevate conversations, champion change and sprinkle a bit of cheeky charm throughout the festival. Together, they will spritz up SXSW with a whiff of the unexpected, proving that they’re more than just a breath of fresh air; they are the catalysts for change.
~Pourri x Rolling Stone SXSW activations include:
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The Funk Factory, March 14-16: a speakeasy where guests will be whisked away into a vibey room filled with delightful aromas, interactive zones, VIP areas, live music, DJs, panel discussions and more. To add to the fun, Suzy Batiz, CEO and Founder of ~Pourri and PREACHER (artist formerly known as Keite Young) will be co-hosting special celebrity guests on the rooftop Terrace for the Holy Sh!t with Suzy: a podcast series of live, unfiltered discussions covering a wide range of topics, from personal growth, creativity and business insights to navigating the unexpected twists and turns of life.
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Thursday, March 14, Doors open at 1:00 PM, Terrace59 only
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Friday, March 15, Terrace59 doors open at 12:00 PM, Ballroom doors open at 6:00 PM
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Saturday, March 16, Terrace59 doors open at 12:00 PM, Ballroom doors open at 3:00 PM;
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Special evening performances on Friday and Saturday include: DJ Questlove, DJ Johnny Jane aka Janelle Monáe, PREACHER, Danielle Ponder, Soul in the Horn with Natasha Diggs, and more.
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Address: The Funk Factory - 412 Congress Ave. D, Austin, TX 78701
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Future of Funk, March 15: an industry mixer and show brought to life alongside Music Forward Foundation, a national nonprofit in the Live Nation family, is dedicated to uplifting underrepresented artists. Voices that typically go unnoticed, Future of Funk is a platform to ensure diverse voices are heard. Guests can enjoy a full day of live performances by emerging artists such as Jimi Brass and more in an intimate setting.
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Friday, March 15, Doors open at 5:00 PM
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Address: The Funk Factory - Saloon
412 Congress Ave. D, Austin, TX 78701
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Camp Funk, March 13 - 16: takes us back to the 90s/2000s, eliciting nostalgic memories of hot summer days, sweaty pits, late-night swims and endless ice cream. Amidst a high energy festival, you
Day 14 • Closing Night • February 26, 2024 • 3 Screenings
Read our interview with Lisa D’Apolito director of SHARI AND LAMB CHOP 
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Your Daily Festival Digest
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Closing Night Selection: Shari and Lamb Chop
Awards Show • Q&A with Mallory Lewis and Lamb Chop • Dessert Reception
SSPAC • 7:00 PM
Sure to awaken cherished memories, this heartfelt mix of nostalgia and showbiz insights honors a visionary spirit, Shari Lewis, and her beloved sock puppet Lamb Chop, kindling the imaginations of dreamers and storytellers across generations.
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