Alex Gibney confirms he’s finished filming new Paul Simon documentary
American documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney has confirmed a new Paul Simon documentary as his next project.
Following a three-year filming process, Gibney recently finished In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon, a new movie documenting Simon’s career. The film largely follows the making of his most recent studio album, Seven Psalms, and his struggle with hearing loss.
The documentary will contain rarely-seen footage, including video of Simon during his brief sojourn to England in 1964, a 16mm documentary from 1969 and early rehearsal videos from Simon’s first days in South Africa during the making of Graceland. Wynton Marsalis, Lorne Michaels and Simon’s wife, Edie Brickell offer are among the figures interviewed.
“In early 2021 amid the pandemic, Paul invited me to film him while he was making his most recent album, Seven Psalms,” Gibney said in a statement. “Paul was losing his hearing in one ear, and it was a devastating time. His tribulations in making that album about faith and mortality are the emotional heart of this story,”
“Creating a visual dreamscape to meet Paul’s life as an artist has been painstaking, and one of my greatest joys,” Gibney added.
Jigsaw Productions produced the doc alongside Closer Media and Anonymous Content. “Paul Simon’s songs, solo and with Simon and Garfunkel, were my favourites as a student in the U.K. in the ‘80s as a girl fresh from China having grown up during the Cultural Revolution when there was no exposure to the outside world,” said Zhang Xin, Executive Producer and Founder of Closer Media.
Listen to Seven Psalms in full down below.
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