Update (1/1/16): The airdate for the television premiere of Janis: Little Girl Blue has been announced. The documentary will debut on PBS’ American Masters series on May 3rd.
Ever since her untimely death in 1970, Janis Joplin‘s life and career have been a subject of interest for filmmakers and singers and actors who want to portray her. But it’s been difficult to get a Hollywood biopic off the ground. The latest attempt, Get It While You Can, set to star Amy Adams as the rock legend, has faced roadblock after roadblock and still doesn’t have an official release date.
Fortunately, Joplin fans can get their fix before the end of the year via Janis: Little Girl Blue, which opened November 27th in New York and December 4th in Los Angeles and San Francisco before rolling out to select cities and home media. You can still see it in various cities in the U.S. and throughout the world. Click here for dates and theaters.
Directed by Oscar nominee Amy Berg (Deliver Us from Evil, West of Memphis), the film shares insight into Joplin’s family life and musical evolution in the iconic singer’s own words, via letters she wrote to her parents over the years. (They’re read by singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power.) Also featured are concert sequences, rough studio footage and interviews with music industry vets, collaborators and close friends like Clive Davis, filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, Kris Kristofferson, founding Grateful Dead member Bob Weir and Joplin’s younger siblings, Laura and Michael.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, and follows the release of Amy and Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, about Amy Winehouse and the Nirvana frontman, both of whom died at age 27 like Joplin.
