Originally published August 25, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood is the subject of the new forthcoming documentary helmed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The documentary entitled Junun, which follows the alternative rock guitarist on a trip to northwest India’s Rajasthan, will debut at the New York Film Festival (NYFF) beginning in late September.
The focus of Junun is the making of Greenwood’s latest album, taking place at the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort. According to The Film Society of Lincoln Center, PT joined Greenwood, Radiohead engineer Nigel Godrich and Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur on the trip, which resulted in a film “just under an hour” in length and described as “pure magic.”
Anderson’s documentary film, featuring over a dozen musicians and singers including Aamir Bhiyani, Soheb Bhiyani, Ajaj Damami, Sabir Damami, Hazmat, and Bhanwaru Khan, Ehtisham Khan Ajmeri, Nihal Khan, Nathu Lal Solanki, Narsi Lal Solanki, Chugge Khan, Zaki Ali Qawwal, Zakir Ali Qawwal, Afshana Khan, Razia Sultan, Gufran Ali, Shazib Ali, Dara Khan and Asin Khan, will make its World Premiere at this year’s 53rd New York Film Festival. The film documents the best in artistic collaboration and music-making, and ultimately promises to deliver mind-blowing, one-of-a-kind sonic results.
The news of Junun comes on the heels of the release of PT’s latest music video effort, which saw the auteur teaming up with artist Joanna Newsom’s on her latest single “Sapokanikan” (released last week). Newsom, a friend of Anderson, recently took on the role of the narrator Sortilège in his most recent film “Inherent Vice.” Similarly, Greenwood’s teaming up with PT follows an almost decade-long collaboration between the two — the former scoring the latter’s last three films, There Will Be Blood, The Master and Inherent Vice.
William Fanelli is a regular contributor to Flickering Myth – You can follow him on Twitter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=8k_v0cVxqEY
