This event is part of the Woodstock Film Festival's Awards Season Screening Series.
Hosted by Jonathan Gray and Yoruba Richen
Followed by a Q&A with Director Lisa Cortés. Moderated by Jason Fine, editor of Rolling Stone.
LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n' roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator -- the originator -- Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard's complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon's life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n' roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes — he was unabashedly everything.
"As well as making a convincing case for Little Richard’s pioneering songwriting, Cortes’s film also offers a fascinating take on his role as a cultural revolutionary." — Daily Express
"Does an impressive job of reminding us how much generations of rock stars, from Tom Jones to Mick Jagger, Elton John and Prince, have owed to Little Richard, and how radical his presence was in a world not yet ready to pay for his talent." — Observer UK
Award-winning director and producer Lisa Cortés generates bold, explosive art that shines light on important stories hidden from view. Little Richard: I Am Everything (CNN Films), which she directed and produced, had its world premiere in January 2023 as the opening night selection in the US documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Also premiering at Sundance was Invisible Beauty, the documentary about Black fashion industry pioneer Bethann Hardison, which she produced. In June 2023, The Space Race (National Geographic Documentary Films) premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Cortés directed and produced this gripping saga of African-American astronauts at NASA and in space. Cortés founded her own production company, Cortés Filmworks, and is committed to telling complex, powerful stories from new perspectives and elevating the talent often overlooked by the mainstream.