Filmmaker Justin Kreutzmann is set to direct a new documentary about his father’s Grateful Dead bandmate, Jerry Garcia, Deadline confirmed on Wednesday.
The project will open up Jerry Garcia’s personal archives for the first time, providing an “intimate look and the definitive story of the man, the father, artist, husband, musician, friend, and a guiding soul and co-founder of the Grateful Dead.” The as-yet-untitled documentary will also feature never-before-heard interviews with Jerry and those closest to him.
The new documentary will be produced by RadicalMedia in partnership with the Jerry Garcia Family LLC and Red Light Management. The announcement of the new Jerry Garcia project follows RadicalMedia’s recent work producing the acclaimed, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson-directed Summer of Soul film, which won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary category at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Per Deadline, Dave Sirulnick, Jon Doran, and Jon Kamen will serve as producers on behalf of RadicalMedia alongside Executive Producers Marc Allan (Red Light Management) and Jerry’s daughter, Trixie Garcia (Jerry Garcia Family LLC).
As Justin Kreutzmann told Deadline about the project, “It’s such a wonderful honor that Trixie and the Garcia family have put that same faith in me to tell Jerry’s story. When people ask what I miss most about him not being around, I think it’s just missing Jerry, the person. People like him don’t come around very often. It’s my dream to capture the feeling you got when you hung out with Jerry and listened to him play music. A lot of people have told the world what they thought of Jerry but I want to show what Jerry thought of the world.”
As Sunshine Kesey, daughter of Ken Kesey, quipped in a social post on the official Jerry Garcia Facebook page, “Having Justin Kreutzmann as our resident filmmaker is proving to be better than having a doctor in the family.”
Jerry Garcia is also set to be the topic of a number of upcoming film projects. Another forthcoming documentary from Jerry Garcia Music Arts LLC, Jerry Garcia, Artist, is due to focus on a 1987 interview with Garcia filmed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Russell Carpenter. The Dead will also be the subject of a new, scripted biopic directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Jonah Hill as Jerry Garcia.
[H/T Deadline]