Ondi Timoner’s ability to spend 7 years filming the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Dandy Warhols for the brilliant documentary DiG! was quite the feat, but Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara’s upcoming decade-spanning Stephin Merritt documentary may give that flick a run for its money (though it definitely won’t in terms of controversy).
According to a press release last month (via Pitchfork), the pair spent 10 years filming the Magnetic Fields mastermind, covering “his first musical forays, his development as a writer— from proofreader and copy editor at Spin to becoming one of Time Out New York’s most dynamic scribes— and his response to charges of elitism and racism.”
We thought that our first look at the film would be at San Francisco’s Noise Pop Film Fest later this month (more screenings here), but lo and behold, an official trailer has hit the internets! The 3-minute sneak peek doesn’t reveal much in the way of older footage, but does include a funny exchange between Merritt and a cab driver, great quotes from Neil Gaiman and Daniel Handler, and a teaser of Merritt’s heaping stash of unpublished poetry/lyrics.
Watch the official Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields trailer hereor below: