EXCLUSIVE: As NBC prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, it’s interesting to recall the show’s second official musical guest – singer-songwriter Janis Ian. On October 11, 1975, she riveted the audience with a performance of her smash hit “At 17,” a ballad of high school heartbreak and rejection.
The full breadth of Ian’s life and career is explored in the documentary Janis Ian: Breaking Silence directed by Varda Bar-Kar (Fandango at the Wall). Today, Greenwich Entertainment announced it has acquired U.S. rights to the film, with plans to release it theatrically on March 28.
The film, a Wild Rose Pictures production in association with Groundstorm Media and American Masters Pictures, will make its broadcast and streaming premiere as part of the PBS series American Masters later this year.
Janis Ian in 1975
Courtesy of Peter Cunningham
“In the mid-60s, Janis Ian, a teenage singer-songwriter from New Jersey, scores a controversial hit single called ‘Society’s Child,’ about an interracial love relationship,” notes a release about the documentary. “The song launches her illustrious career but also ignites death threats, plunging her into an emotional tailspin – only to emerge from the ashes in the 1970s with an even bigger hit, ‘At Seventeen,’ ahead of its time in confronting lookism and bullying. Janis overcomes significant obstacles – embezzlement, record industry misogyny, homophobia, and heartbreak – to find love and produce an indelible body of searingly honest songs that earned her a devoted following and critical acclaim. Janis Ian: Breaking Silence features Janis Ian, friends, and collaborators, including Joan Baez, Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart, Laurie Metcalf, and Arlo Guthrie.”
Greenwich’s co-president Edward Arentz said in a statement, “Janis has seemingly lived several lifetimes in her storied protean career, and Varda Bar-Kar brings them all to vivid dramatic life.”
“It’s a privilege to bring to contemporary audiences Janis Ian’s extraordinary life, music, and the times she’s lived through,” Bar-Kar commented. “Her story of defiant resilience could not be more timely.”
Janis Ian flanked by Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel in 1973. Behind her is radio DJ Ed Sciaky
Courtesy of Peter Cunningham
Janis Ian: Breaking Silence is produced by Varda Bar-Kar, Alessandra Pasquino, and Brooke Wentz, and written by Bar-Kar and Pierre Hauser. Executive producers include Pierre Hauser, Michael Kantor, and Gloria Ann Evans. Cinematography is by Matthew Steven Wilder, with music by Janis Ian and David Melchor. Ryan Larkin edited the film.
Greenwich Entertainment’s Arentz negotiated the acquisition with David Koh, Curatorial on behalf of the filmmakers.
The documentary premiered last November at DOC NYC. Jaie Laplante, the festival’s artistic director, wrote of the film, “Janis Ian had one of the most remarkable debuts in modern music history. At the age of 13, she began performing her original songs at New York City gigs alongside future legends. From there, the precocious teenager turned fearless singer-songwriter built a career with many chapters–winning Grammys while navigating personal and professional highs and lows–in a remarkable trajectory now entering its fifth decade. Ian’s emotionally transporting songbook and turbulent life story make compelling echoes for the generation of American women who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s, discovering and voicing their power.”