20 Feet from Stardom (2013)

Directed by

Morgan Neville

Genre

documentary film, musical film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 31m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 262 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary tells the stories of backup singers who spent their careers supporting famous artists from just a few feet away on stage. It mixes archival footage and new interviews to show their lives, their craft, and what it means to love singing without needing the spotlight.

reverentinspiringintimatecelebratoryreflectiverevealinguplifting

What happens

20 Feet from Stardom is a 2013 American documentary film directed by Morgan Neville and produced by Gil Friesen, a music industry executive whose curiosity to know more about the lives of background singers inspired the making of the film. Using archival footage and new interviews, it details the behind-the-scenes experiences of such backup singers as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, Jo Lawry, Claudia Lennear, and Tata Vega. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 86th Academy Awards, 22 years after In the Shadow of the Stars (1991), a similar documentary that focused on the members of an opera chorus, won the same award. Lisa Fischer has described backup singing: "I reject the notion that the job you excel at is somehow not enough to aspire to, that there has to be something more. I love supporting other artists." She added: "Some people will do anything to be famous. I just wanted to sing." In 2023, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." It is the eighth film designated in its first year of eligibility, as well as the third most recently released film in the Registry. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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