Iconic Band, 'Low', Featured in LOW MOVIE, Debuts at Lincoln Center Tonight

By: Jul. 29, 2013
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Low Movie shows tonight, July 29, at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The film follows the entire career of iconic band Low and their relationship with director Philip Harder. For twenty years they have made music videos and short films together, filming on ice, in railroad yards, and in rapidly disintegrating rooms.

Low formed in 1993. Before the band's debut record, Harder, armed with a 16mm camera, filmed the band on Lake Superior in minus 30 windchill. At the time Low bucked rock protocol by turning their volume down and the haunting visuals helped define their minimalist approach. As Low matured they turned up and the lyrics grew more aggressive and political. The visuals followed suit resulting in clips that were never released due to the violent subject matter. Year after year, for two decades, Harder continued to shoot Low's music.

For Low Movie, Harder went back into the vaults and reassembled all of his 16mm negatives, including outtakes, new material mixed with old, much of which has never been seen by anyone, including the band.

Low Movie was created by the one person - other than members Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker - who has worked with the band Low over its entire existence.

In the film, Phil Harder has an exceptional eye, a zany imagination, and remarkable skill with the texture of old 16mm and other formats - and in these films it joins with a singular body of work inspired by the voice of God and mixed with Harry Smith and Bob Dylan's "Old, Weird, America." Lead performer Alan Sparhawk really is a National Treasure, for so many reasons - the music, the lyrics, the unearthly presence onscreen and onstage, the obtuse but very real commentaries on American religious history (the Salem witchtrials, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, the emergence of punk rock), as well as his legendary generosity in the upper Midwest and beyond. Combined, in this film, Harder, Sparhawk, Mimi Parker, and the band as it has evolved over the years have created an exceptional and unique program which we hope you'll be able to see.

In addition to New York at Lincoln Center, this summer and early fall, this odd collection film has shown or will show in more than 20 cities across the U.S., in venues including the American Film Institute, the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Museum of Fine Arts-Boston, SIFF Cinema Seattle, Stagenorth, Wadsworth Atheneum, the Roxie, Filmstreams, Downtown Independent, and many other places. International dates are in development.

For further information, please visit the Official page for the film


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