EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures has landed U.S. rights to It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg’s portrait of the late musician who developed an adoring fan base before his untimely death at the age of 30.
Magnolia plans to release the film theatrically (available in Dolby Atmos) on August 8. The documentary, which enjoys a 100 percent critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, will premiere on HBO and stream on HBO Max this winter, as part of the Music Box series created by Bill Simmons.
“Told through never-before-seen footage from Buckley’s archives and intimate accounts from his mother Mary Guibert, former partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser, Jeff’s former bandmates, including Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred, and luminaries like Ben Harper and Aimee Mann, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley illuminates one of modern music’s most influential and enigmatic figures,” notes a release. “His only studio album, Grace, was released to astounding reviews and challenged conventional ideas of genre and gender. His intimate and influential cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ further catapulted him to fame. Still, under pressure to produce his second album, he retreated to Memphis to escape the spotlight and the ever-growing glare of the public eye. In a tragic accident, Buckley drowned in the Wolf River in Memphis in 1997, leaving behind an unfinished second album and a legion of devastated family, friends and fans.”
Magnolia Pictures co-CEOs Eamonn Bowles and Dori Begley said in a statement, “With only one studio album, Jeff Buckley became a legend. Amy Berg has captured his brilliance and complexity in this incandescent film that no true fan can miss.”
Berg’s credits include the Academy Award-nominated Deliver Us From Evil (2006); West of Memphis (2012); Prophet’s Prey (2015); the Emmy-nominated docuseries The Case Against Adnan Syed (2019), and Janis: Little Girl Blue, her 2015 documentary about iconic singer Janis Joplin.
Jeff Buckley in 1993
Photo: Merri Cyr/ Courtesy: Everett Collection
“I’ve spent practically my entire career trying to make this film which takes a very intimate look at one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time,” Berg commented. “I’m so excited Magnolia and HBO have come onboard to share this film with the world and give old fans and new audiences a chance to experience Jeff from this unique vantage point. I couldn’t imagine a better team to roll this into the world!”
A Topic Studios and Fremantle Film, It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley is produced by Ryan Heller (A Real Pain), Christine Connor (Nuclear Family), Mandy Chang (The Mona Lisa Curse), Matthew Roozen (A Mouthful Of Air), Jennie Bedusa (The Space Within) and Amy Berg. Executive producers are Mary Guibert, Alison Raykovich, Brian A. Kates, Michael Bloom, Jennifer Westin, Maria Zuckerman, Brad Pitt, and Ian Stratford.
“Working with Amy on this labor of love has been a gift,” said Topic Studios’ Ryan Heller and Christine Connor. “And we are delighted that our friends at Magnolia and HBO are joining us to help ensure that Jeff’s remarkable story reaches the widest possible audience.”
Mark Reynolds, Global Head of Documentaries & Factual, Fremantle, noted, “We are delighted to have partnered with Amy Berg and Topic Studios on this deeply human and beautifully made film – with such intimate recollections of an artist who continues to inspire – honoring Jeff’s legacy with the care and reverence it deserves. We’re equally excited to be collaborating with Magnolia as our North American distributor to help share this powerful story with audiences.”
(L-R) Director Amy Berg and executive producer Mary Guibert, mother of musician Jeff Buckley, attend the premiere of ‘It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley’ at Sundance
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
The acquisition deal was negotiated by Magnolia Pictures SVP of Acquisitions John Von Thaden, with Submarine’s Josh Braun, Dan Braun and Matt Burke on behalf of the filmmakers.
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to screen at festivals around the world including CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, the Sydney Film Festival in Australia, the Provincetown International Film Festival and Nantucket Film Festival – both in Massachusetts.
Musician Ben Harper, who as noted above appears in the documentary, became friends with Buckley after they met at a rock festival in France. In an interview with Deadline at Sundance, he told us about the power of Buckley’s voice.
“You just hadn’t heard anything like it until he came along. It was as singular an instrument as has existed in the world of sound. As powerful and raw, it was equally as vulnerable and fragile. And to have those two counterpoints all within the same instrument was just something unheard of… To be that raw, but that elegant at the same time, and to be that powerful yet that fragile at the same time was just shocking.”
Ben Harper and director Amy Berg at the Deadline 2025 Sundance Film Festival Portrait Studio
Michael Buckner for Deadline
At Sundance, Berg shared more about her long effort to make the Buckley documentary. “I finally met up with Mary [Guibert, Jeff Buckley’s mom] in 2010, but she didn’t give me the rights for another nine years,” she told Deadline. “But every time I finished a film, I would reach out to Mary. She did share the archive with me back then, and I was blown away by the voicemail messages and the DAT recordings and his candor, and I just kept at it. I always wanted to tell a love story about Jeff because he brought so much love and authenticity to his music. So, I chose people that had a real deep connection with him to be in the film. It’s a love story that simply transcends time. ”
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