DOORS DOCUMENTARY DEBUTS AT SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL JANUARY 17

Wolf Films/Strange Pictures, in association with Rhino Entertainment, has announced that When You're Strange, the first feature documentary about The Doors, will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17 at 9 p.m., with additional screenings throughout the week (see schedule below).

Award-winning writer-director Tom DiCillo’s film uncovers historic, previously unseen footage from the seminal rock quartet and provides new insight into the impact of their music and artistic legacy.

The creative chemistry of  drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and singer/songwriter Jim Morrison, made The Doors one of America’s most iconic and influential rock bands of the late 60s.  Their influence continues to this day. When You're Strange is the first feature documentary to tell their story from their perspective. Using footage shot between their formation in 1966 and Jim Morrison’s untimely death in 1971, it follows the band from the corridors of UCLA’s film school, where Manzarek and Morrison met,, through their formative days in the clubs and bars of Los Angeles and the Sunset Strip and on to the stages of sold-out international venues.

Taking its title from the chorus of their hit “People Are Strange,” the film chronicles the creation of The Doors’ six landmark studio albums in just five years, as well as live performances. Rare cinéma vérité footage offers an intimate glimpse into their musical collaboration – and their offstage lives.

Says director Tom DiCillo,( who discovered Brad Pitt, and directed Living In Obliviion, Johnny Suede (Pitt's first movie), Box of Moonlight and Delirious, among others), "The Doors’ music is the rock equivalent to film. It has great drama, sex, poetry, and mystery. Their music is for all those who’ve ever felt the same way,"

Producer Dick Wolf adds, "Remember the phrase ‘If you remember the ‘60s, you weren’t there?’ In ’66 I was a sophomore in college. I don’t remember that, but I do remember the first time I heard The Doors that year. I'm still listening 42 years later and so is my 15-year old son. The Doors will be remembered, and listened to, as long as people have ears.”   Dick Wolf additionally booked the band in 1967 for a couple of early concerts.

He has gone on to be one of Hollywood's most influental and respected producers.

The soundtrack to When You're Strange, featuring classic studio and live tracks from The Doors, will also be released in the summer of 2009 from Rhino Entertainment.

Additional credit for When You're Strange include producers John Beug, Door's managerJeff Jampol, and Peter Jankowski.

The Sundance Film Festival, founded by Robert Redford, is the premier showcase  for U.S.and international independent films, held each January in and around Park City, Utah.. Presenting approximately 120 dramatic and documentary feature-length films in seven distinct categories and between 60 and 80 short films each year, the Sundance Film Festival has introduced American audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades, including sex lies and videotape, Maria Full of Grace, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Trouble the Water and Central Station.

Surviving Doors John Densmore, Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek will attend Sundance.

Public screenings for When You're Strange:

Sat. Jan 17 at 9:00 PM - Temple Theatre,Park City – (Premiere Screening)

Sun. Jan 18 at 2:30 PM - Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City

Tue. Jan 20 at 6:00 PM - Broadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC

Wed. Jan 21 at 9:00 AM - Temple Theatre, Park City

Fri. Jan 23 at 6:15 PM - Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City

PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENING

Sun. Jan 18 at 9:45 PM – Yarrow 1, Park City

The movie then moves on to the Berlin Film Festival.