''It's Only Life After All'' is a 2023 American

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

film, directed, produced, and edited by

Alexandria Bombach Alexandria Bombach is an American filmmaker. Career Bombach is from Santa Fe, New Mexico. They graduated from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. In 2009, they founded the production company, Red Reel. Their first film, ''23 Feet'' (2011), "c ...

. It follows the lives and careers of the band

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duet (music), duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in Primary school, elementary school and began performing together as Secondary school, hig ...

. It had its world premiere at the

2023 Sundance Film Festival The 2023 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to 29, 2023. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 7, 2022. Films U.S. Dramatic Competition * '' The Accidental Getaway Driver'', directed by Sing J. Lee ...

on January 19, 2023, and was released on April 10, 2024, by

Oscilloscope An oscilloscope (formerly known as an oscillograph, informally scope or O-scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying voltages of one or more signals as a function of time. Their main purpose is capturing i ...

Premise

Explores the lives, careers, and activism of the band

Production

In May 2020, it was announced

would direct a documentary film revolving around

. Initially the documentary was set to follow the band on tour in a

Cinéma vérité Cinéma vérité (, , ) is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about '' Kino-Pravda''. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subje ...

style, but the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

changed the way the film was made. During post-production, Bombach had 1,000 hours of footage to work with.

Release

''It's Only Life After All'' had its world premiere at the

on January 19, 2023. It also screened at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

on March 14, 2023. and

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

on June 14, 2023. In December 2023,

acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on April 10, 2024.

Reception

Critical reception

Robyn Bahr of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote: "The rare confessional rockumentary that envelops you like a soft blanket." Jude Dry of '' IndieWire'' gave the film a B+ writing: "Brimming with previously unseen footage and refreshingly frank interviews with the artists, it’s an adoring opus befitting two long overlooked musicians and activists."

References

External links

* 2023 films 2023 documentary films Documentary films about musical groups Documentary films about women in music 2020s American films 2023 LGBTQ-related films Documentary films about lesbians American LGBTQ-related documentary films Impact Partners films {{2020s-US-documentary-film-stub