Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground

A feature-length documentary on The Velvet Underground received its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival this July, at the 2,300-seat Grand Théâtre Lumière. ‘The Velvet Underground’ is directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Haynes, and is his first documentary following a string of celebrated music features.

After debuting in 1991 with ‘Poison’, a primary text in the New Queer Cinema movement, Haynes solidified his reputation with the 1998 cult classic ‘Velvet Goldmine’ — a glam-rock odyssey based on the lives of David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. The film stars Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale in a fictional tale about a rock star in early ‘70s Britain and boasts a soundtrack of works by Brian Eno, Roxy Music and members of Radiohead, Suede and The Verve.

Haynes returned to the field of music features with the avant-garde Bob Dylan biopic ‘I’m Not There’ in 2007. But in 2021, as revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he’s determined to transport audiences back to ‘60s New York to experience The Velvet Underground’s music in the context it was created in.

His new film is highly anticipated thanks in part to the participation of surviving band members John Cale and Maureen “Moe” Tucker. With Haynes’ regular collaborator Christine Vachon (‘Kids’, ‘I Shot Andy Warhol’) producing, and Affonso Gonçalves (editor of Jim Jarmusch’s The Stooges documentary ‘Gimme Danger’) also on board, ‘The Velvet Underground’ will bid to become an essential text on one of the most important rock bands in history.

‘The Velvet Underground’ premieres at Cannes Film Festival in July 2021.