''When We Were Beautiful'', also known as ''Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful'', is a 2009 feature

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 ...

of the American rock band

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...

, marking the band's 25th year. Premiered at the 2009

Tribeca Film 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 ...

as a work in progress production, the film documents Bon Jovi's

Lost Highway Tour The Lost Highway Tour was a worldwide concert tour by American rock band Bon Jovi in support of their 10th studio album, '' Lost Highway''. It took place from October 2007 to July 2008. Originally planned as a 2008 greatest hits tour, the tour w ...

in 2007 and includes interviews with band members. The film is directed by Phil Griffin and produced by Jon Kamen, Jack Rovner and Justin Wilkes. The production company for the release is Radical Media.

Production

Phil Griffin stated that “throughout the process of working with Bon Jovi, I was amazed at the candor and humility Jon and his band showed me. The result is not a neatly wrapped up bundle of staged interviews and musical interludes, but rather a series of open and sometimes difficult conversations, explored against a backdrop of music spanning 25 years. It is a film about the peace of Tico, the complexity of Richie, the drive of Jon and the brutal honesty of Dave. It is their willingness to share their stories that gives us what I hope is a very human story—that humanity is what I believe has seen this band stand the test of time.”

Release

The film premiered at the 2009

on April 29, 2009.

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and Lead vocalist, frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was fo ...

was present at the premiere. The film explored the band's 25-year career as well as looking at their live show on their 2008 Lost Highway tours. The documentary premiered on SHOWtime October 24 in its entirety, and an edited version was released as a DVD with certain copies of the band's 11th studio album, '' The Circle'', released in the US on November 10 and the edited version is also included on the Live at Madison Square Garden Blu-ray. A book of the same name as the film was also released in hardcover form on November 3, 2009 and in paperback form on November 2, 2010. When We Were Beautiful the single was also released.

References

External links

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Information on Tribeca Film
{{Bon Jovi songs 2009 films Rockumentaries American documentary films Bon Jovi 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films