The music documentary “Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All,” which was critically acclaimed when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, will hit theaters for a one-night-only release on April 10, about a month before it becomes available for home viewing.
“It is a beautiful documentary that captures the life force of our community,” said the duo’s Emily Saliers, in a statement. “Now our community has an opportunity to see it on the big screen — we are thankful for that.”
Echoing that language, director Alexandra Bombach emphasized her belief in the power of seeing the film in cinemas with likeminded fans. “Festival audiences have embraced and celebrated this story of Amy and Emily, and now we get to bring this film to fans in theaters all over the country,” she said. “A film about community should be seen in community.”
Oscilloscope Laboratories posted a list of theaters set to show the doc, here.
The home digital release of the film will follow on May 7.
“It’s Only Life After All” takes its title from a line in the duo’s signature song, “Closer to Fine,” which found new life in 2023 after being featured repeatedly in the blockbuster film “Barbie.” (See Variety‘s interview with Saliers about the “Barbie” usage here.)
Variety‘s original review of the documentary said, “The Indigo Girls make a far more intriguing subject for a music doc than most who’ve gotten the treatment in recent years, and director Alexandria Bombach doesn’t blow that promise… The film celebrates Amy Ray’s and Emily Saliers’ status as among the first figures in the rock world to come out while enjoying gold and platinum success, as the duo did in their initial late ’80s and ’90s heyday. But beyond exploring what the pair meant to millions of fans who found succor in their records and success during leaner days for musical role models, Bombach’s movie finds its real flavor in exploring the differences in the duo’s two very distinct personalities, which up till now might have seemed like a fuzzy, singular unit by all but the most hardcore fans.”
“Perhaps most winningly of all for the film’s chances with a wider audience,” continued Variety‘s review, “Ray and Saliers just turn out to be a couple of women that almost anybody would want to spend a couple of hours with, whether you knew it or not from distant memories of the singers as one-time icons of VH1.” The review predicted that viewers “will surely come away here with new respect for the IGs as LGBTQ OGs.”
Indigo Girls music is also used to soundtrack a forthcoming dramatic jukebox musical, “Glitter & Doom.”
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