Directed By Academy Award Winning Filmmaker Barbara Kopple and Executive Produced By Original Festival Organizer Michael Lang, Film Will Also Be Simulcast On VH1 Classic
In the summer of 1969, on a farm about 90 miles north of New York City, more than 500,000 people gathered for a three day music festival that in an instant, defined a generation and changed popular culture forever … Woodstock.
Now, 40 years after that historic moment, VH1 Rock Docs and History have joined forces for a unique television collaboration: the definitive two-hour documentary, “Woodstock: 40 Years Later” (working title), which will premiere this August on VH1, History and VH1 Classic. Directed by two-time Academy Award winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple and Executive Produced by Michael Lang, the original festival organizer, the film examines Woodstock from the perspectives of not only the musicians who graced the stage, but the fans who gathered in mass, the concert promoters who risked everything and countless others whose unique experiences help paint a tapestry of Woodstock that hasn’t been seen in recent years.
“Woodstock: 40 Years Later” explores the frenzied days leading up to and throughout the festival, from how the planners scrambled to find a concert site and the traffic jams that shut down the New York State thruway to the infamously bad “brown acid,” the thunderous rain and mud and, of course, the music. Weaving together first-hand accounts with rare archival images and an iconic soundtrack, the documentary allows those who were there a chance to relive the experience and gives an entirely new generation an opportunity to feel the magic of that time.
The film will also take an important look at Woodstock’s legacy through the eyes of today’s musicians and activists examining why Woodstock and all it symbolizes is still relevant in today’s culture.
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In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, VH1 has partnered with Warner Home Video on several cross-marketing initiatives in support of each other’s Woodstock-related projects. Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music — the four-hour director’s cut of the 1970 Oscar(R)-winning documentary about the landmark music event that featured some of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll performers in history — will be released this summer in a spectacular new Blu-ray and DVD Ultimate Collector’s Edition (UCE). With two extra hours of rare performance footage — some of it newly-discovered, some only seen in part and some never seen at all — the UCE is destined to make its own history.
“Woodstock: 40 Years Later” is the newest film in the Emmy Award-winning VH1 Rock Doc franchise. VH1 Rock Docs are feature-length documentaries that tell unique stories of artists and music from a wide range of genres, styles, and musical perspectives.
“Woodstock: 40 Years Later” is part of History’s celebration of the historic events that took place during the summer of 1969. History will premiere a series of new specials that also include “Moonshot” and The “Sexual Revolution.”
“Woodstock: 40 Years Later” is a co-production of VH1 and History(TM), in association with Cabin Creek Films and Woodstock Ventures, Inc. Brad Abramson, Stephen Mintz, Shelly Tatro and Jeff Olde serve as executive producers for VH1 and Julian P. Hobbs is the executive producer for History. For Cabin Creek Films, Barbara Kopple serves as director and Michael Lang as executive producer.
VH1 connects viewers to the music, artists and pop culture that matter to them most with TV series, specials, live events, exclusive online content and public affairs initiatives. VH1 is available in 95 million households in the U.S. VH1 also has an array of digital channels and services including VH1Classic, VH1 Soul, VH1 Mobile, VH1Games and extensive broadband video on VH1.com. Connect with VH1 at VH1.com.
History(TM) and History HD(TM) are the leading destinations for revealing, award-winning, original non-fiction series and event-driven specials that connects history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. Programming covers a diverse variety of historical genres ranging from military history to contemporary history, technology to natural history, as well as science, archaeology and pop culture. Among the networks’ program offerings are hit series such as Ax Men, Battle 360, The Universe, Cities of The Underworld and Ice Road Truckers, as well as acclaimed specials including King, Life After People, 1968 With Tom Brokaw, Lost Book of Nostradamus, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed and Sherman’s March. History has earned four Peabody Awards, four Primetime Emmy(R) Awards, 12 News & Documentary Emmy(R) Awards and received the prestigious Governor’s Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network’s Save Our History(R) campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. Take A Veteran to School Day is the network’s latest initiative connecting America’s schools and communities with veterans from all wars. History’s website, located at www.History.com, is the definitive historical online source that delivers entertaining and informative content featuring broadband video, interactive timelines, maps, games podcasts and more.
Source: VH1
