It was revealed today that musician/singer/songwriter/actor Chan Marshall (also known as Cat Power) will be the voice narrating the upcoming Janis Joplin documentary “Janis” from Academy Award®-nominated director Amy Berg (“Deliver Us From Evil,” “West of Memphis”). The documentary will have its much anticipated World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival where it was just selected to screen out of competition.
Berg's documentary strips away Janis’ rock ‘n’ roll persona to reveal the raw, sensitive, innocent, uncensored and powerful woman behind the legend, in the quintessential story of her short, turbulent and epic existence that changed music forever. Marshall’s voice help’s bring this amazing story to life through Janis’ own letters to her family and lovers.
Featuring a soundtrack of Janis’ greatest hits – Cry Baby, Summertime, Piece of My Heart and many more, “Janis” is poised to join the pantheon of great music documentaries by providing a glimpse into the private life and inner struggles of one of the world’s most influential rock icons. The Joplin Estate has contributed and supported the film throughout production.
Academy Award®-winner Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side,” Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”) produced the film through his Jigsaw Productions banner with Amy Berg, Jeff Jampol (“The Doors: When You’re Strange”) from JAM, Inc. The documentary is executive produced by multiple Primetime Emmy®-winner Susan Lacy (“Woody Allen: A Documentary,” “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth”), Primetime Emmy®-winner Michael Kantor (“Broadway: The American Musical,” “Make ‘Em Laugh”), Noah Haeussner (“The Brass Teapot,” “Buffalo Girls”), Michael Raimondi (“No Cameras Allowed,” “Hateship Loveship”), and Stacey Offman (“Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine”, “Death Row Stories”).
Disarming Films, Jigsaw Productions and THIRTEEN Productions LLC’s “American Masters” co-produced “Janis” in association with Sony Music Entertainment and UEG (Union Entertainment Group).
Content Media is overseeing worldwide sales for “Janis”.
Director Amy Berg said: “After attempting to get this film off the ground for 7 years, I am ecstatic that the film is finally ready to be seen. This has been a labor of love and I cannot wait to share Janis’ unique, intimate story with the world. Chan Marshall (Cat Power) has delivered a beautiful, introspective voice of Janis’ by reading her letters. ”
“I am delighted and honored to have played a supporting role in producing Amy’s riveting film about the extraordinary life and music of Janis Joplin in collaboration with Jeff Jampol and Janis’s family, says producer Alex Gibney. And I was thrilled to hear that Cat Power, aka Chan Marshall – whose songs I have used in a number of my own films – would be the voice of Janis. Chan has inhabited her spirit.”
Chan Marshall is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music fuses folk, country and blues as heard on albums like Moon Pix and The Greatest.
Marshall was part of the New York punk rock scene before releasing her debut Dear Sir. She’s released several lauded albums over the years, including You Are Free, The Greatest, and the empowering, electronic Sun in 2012. Marshall’s eclectic mix of sounds has garnered her a loyal cult following around the world. For more information on Marshall please visit http://www.catpowermusic.com/
Janis Joplin was a rock icon and a goddess of sound, but there was actually far more to her than that. Janis serves as the narrator for her own life story – intimate, personal letters she wrote to her family, friends and lovers take us on a journey starting from her childhood. Her talent and magnetism is self-evident in rare and never-before-seen footage. We follow Janis performing at Monterey Pop in 1967, Woodstock in 1969, and Festival Express in 1970 as well as witness interviews with her family, friends and rock star contemporaries who paint a new, intimate portrait of Janis the woman and tell the heartbreaking tale of her demise.
About Content Media Corporation
Content Media Corporation Ltd is a London and LA-based private company that owns and distributes a significant library of film, television, and digital assets. The Company’s library of rights includes over 5,000 hours of television programming, 200 hours of digital programming and 275 feature films.
Content Media recently closed a multi-faceted deal with Bruno Wu’s Beijing-based Seven Stars Entertainment and Media, Ltd., in which Content acquired the Alive Group of companies allowing Content to distribute its extensive library of film and television rights through the Alive Group to the Chinese market, as well as a direct equity investment by Seven Stars into Content
The film sales division launched in 2002 and represents high profile, commercial feature films with great artistic and theatrical ambition. In addition to handling worldwide sales, marketing, and publicity, the company assists film producers in securing financing.
Content’s impressive international sales slate includes the supernatural horror “Don’t Knock Twice,” starring Katee Sackhoff, Lucy Boynton and Nick Moran; the Maria Callas biopic “Callas,” starring Noomi Rapace with Niki Caro directing; the 2015 Cannes Classics selection “Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans” the extraordinary, moving and white-knuckle documentary about one of the greatest movie stars of all time; the uplifting emotional drama “Life at these Speeds” starring Billy Crudup and Graham Rogers; Academy® Award winning director Mike van Diem’s return romantic comedy “The Surprise”; the star-studded romantic drama “The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” starring Jason Sudeikis, Maisie Williams, Jessica Biel, Orlando Jones, with Paul Reiser and Mary Steenburgen; Adam Rehmeier’s intense action feature “Save a Bullet For Me”; the smash hit HBO documentary “Going Clear: Scientology and The Prison of Belief” from Academy Award® winning director Alex Gibney, which was the network's most watched documentary premiere in a decade; Alex Winter’s “Deep Web,” narrated by Keanu Reeves; Rodney Ascher’s acclaimed horror documentary “The Nightmare”; the action/thriller “Pandemic” starring Rachel Nichols, Mekhi Phifer, and Missi Pyle, and Alfie Allen; the intense horror film “The Diabolical” starring Ali Larter; the supernatural heist thriller “The Trust”; and Oscar Wilde's “The Canterville Ghost” voiced by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
