Sam Dunn (born 20 March 1974) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, musician, and anthropologist, best known for his series of documentaries on heavy metal music. He co-owns

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

-based production company

Banger Films Banger Films is a Canadian film and television production company, which specializes in documentary films and television series on music and culture. The company was launched in 2004 by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn to create and distribute their fi ...

with Scot McFadyen. Dunn holds a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

where his thesis work focused on Guatemalan refugees. Dunn's first documentary film, '' Metal: A Headbanger's Journey'', won a Gemini Award for Best Writing in a Documentary. His additional credits include the Grammy-nominated '' Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage'' and '' Super Duper Alice Cooper'', winner of Best Feature-Length Documentary at the

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

. Dunn co-directed and hosted the biggest-ever TV series on the history of heavy metal, '' Metal Evolution'', which reached #1 on VH1 Classic (USA) and M3 (Canada), and most-recently co-directed the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

original series

Hip-Hop Evolution ''Hip-Hop Evolution'' is a Canadian music documentary series that originally aired on HBO Canada in 2016.Peabody, an

International Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...

, and a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...

Films

upright=0.6, Dunn in 2017

''Metal: A Headbanger's Journey''

Dunn's first film, co-directed with Scot McFadyen and Jessica Wise, was released in 2005. The film follows Dunn on a journey to document the origins, culture and appeal of heavy metal. It also explores themes of heavy metal, such as violence, death, religion and Satanism, gender and sexuality. The documentary featured interviews with

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib; July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968, at the re ...

of Rush and Bruce Dickinson of

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

, whose bands Dunn would profile in later documentaries.

''Global Metal''

Released in 2008, Sam directed a new film, titled ''Global Metal''. In the film, directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn set out to discover how the West’s most awesome musical genre – heavy metal – has impacted the world’s cultures beyond Europe and North America. The film follows metal fan and anthropologist Dunn on a whirlwind journey through Asia, South America and the Middle East as he explores the underbelly of the world’s emerging extreme music scenes — from Indonesian death metal to Israeli

Oriental metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...

and Chinese

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

to Iranian

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

, etc. The film reveals a worldwide community of metalheads who are not just absorbing metal from the West – they are transforming it, and creating a new form of cultural expression in societies dominated by conflict, corruption and mass-consumerism.

''Iron Maiden: Flight 666''

Dunn co-wrote and co-directed the 2009 documentary ''Iron Maiden: Flight 666'' with Scot McFadyen. The film chronicles the band's 2008 tour in which a converted

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its mai ...

was flown from country to country by

vocalist Bruce Dickinson.

''Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage''

In 2009 Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen started working on a documentary about Rush. The film premiered at the 2010

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

in New York on April 29, winning the festival's Audience Award.

''Metal Evolution''

Dunn has produced the documentary series '' Metal Evolution'' for

VH1 Classic MTV Classic (formerly VH1 Smooth, VH1 Classic Rock, and VH1 Classic) is an American pay television network owned by Paramount Media Networks. It was originally launched in 1998 as VH1 Smooth, an adult contemporary and smooth jazz channel. It w ...

on various metal genres. Its premiere was on November 11, 2011, considered by many to be National Metal Day.

''Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland''

Is a concert DVD, Blu-ray and double CD by Canadian hard rock band Rush released on November 8, 2011. It was filmed on April 15, 2011 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio during the band's Time Machine Tour.

''En Vivo!''

''En Vivo!'' is a live/video album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Filmed during The Final Frontier World Tour at Estadio Nacional,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

on April 10, 2011, it was released on March 26, 2012 and March 27 in the United States and Canada.

''Satan Lives''

Released October 27, 2015, this movie examines the origins of Satan and his influence in popular culture.

''ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas''

Dunn directed ''ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas'', a profile of the Texas blues rock band

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sou ...

, featuring interviews with vocalist/guitarist

Billy Gibbons William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flas ...

, bassist/vocalist

Dusty Hill Joe Michael "Dusty" Hill (May 19, 1949 – July 28, 2021) was an American musician who was the bassist of the rock band ZZ Top for more than 50 years. He also sang lead and backing vocals and played keyboards. Hill was born in Dallas, Texas, an ...

, and drummer Frank Beard. The film had a Los Angeles premiere at the

Cinerama Dome Pacific Theatres' Cinerama Dome is a movie theater located at 6360 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Designed to exhibit widescreen Cinerama films, it opened November 7, 1963. The original developer was William R. Forman, founder of Pa ...

on August 13, 2019, prior to the band's 50th anniversary tour. The documentary was released to home media on February 28, 2020, and Netflix shortly after.

Musical activities

Dunn formerly played bass for the

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

/ funk band Fungkus; they disbanded in 2000. Dunn also formerly played bass for Toronto-based extreme metal band Burn to Black; they disbanded in November 2008. One of Sam Dunn's first bands was Dementia, in which he played bass. He also formed the progressive

band Scrape Chamber years later with Kelly Nordstrom. Dunn now occasionally plays bass for the Toronto band Machado and His Men.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Banger Films official site

Metal: A Headbanger's Journey official site

Rush: The Documentary page on The Internet Movie Database

Burn to Black
profile at

Encyclopaedia Metallum Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives (commonly known as Metal Archives per the URL or abbreviated as MA) is an online encyclopedia based upon musical artists who predominantly perform heavy metal music along with its various sub-genres. En ...

Interview
with Sam Dunn About Global Metal/A Headbanger's Journey {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Sam 1974 births Living people York University alumni Canadian anthropologists Canadian documentary film directors Canadian heavy metal bass guitarists Musicians from Toronto Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film