"Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza" with Michael John Warren

Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

Siouxsie and the Banshees. Ice-T. Nine Inch Nails. All were on the slated for the first Lollapalooza lineup in 1991. But as Michael John Warren, director of the new 3-part Paramount+ series “Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza,” tells us in our live interview at Sundance, his account of the history of the festival–first intended as a goodbye tour for Jane’s Addiction–is more than a trip down memory lane for Gen X.

The festival, he explains, pulled together a number of threads from the LA Alternative scene and beyond: Not just tattoos and piercings, but politics as well. As Michael describes it, the results of his nostalgia trip revealed that the themes over 30 years ago still are “heartbreakingly” relevant today: LGBTQ rights, abortion rights, and censorship amongst others.

The result is a series that like much of Michael’s work is both incredibly fun as well as attuned to the issues that still matter today.

Thanks to Amos Cochran of Edit/Score for hosting our 2024 Sundance interviews. Edit/Score is a new music library with an innovative approach to finding music for your film. Listen to the library and learn more at editscoremusic.com

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