The official LED ZEPPELIN documentary “Becoming Led Zeppelin” has been added to the Venice International Film Festival in Italy.
Directed by Bernard MacMahon, the film, which will have its world premiere out of competition at the Venice festival, documents the legendary rockers’ “meteoric rise to stardom.”
The 78th Venice International Film Festival is organized by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera. It will take place at Venice Lido from September 1 to September 11. The festival is officially recognized by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Association).
The aim of the festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The festival also organizes retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.
MacMahon said in a press release: “‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ is a film that no one thought could be made. The band’s meteoric rise to stardom was swift and virtually undocumented. Through an intense search across the globe and years of restoration of the visual and audio archive found, this story is finally able to be told.”
“Becoming Led Zeppelin” will feature new interviews with guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant and bassist John Paul Jones, as well as rare archival interviews with the late drummer John Bonham. It marks the first time members of LED ZEPPELIN have participated in a documentary about the group.
MacMahon previously directed the Emmy-nominated music documentary series “American Epic” about the early American roots music recordings of the 1920s. Page praised the film back in 2019, saying: “When I saw everything Bernard had done both visually and sonically on the remarkable achievement that is ‘American Epic’, I knew he would be qualified to tell our story.”
Plant added: “Seeing Will Shade and so many other important early American musicians brought to life on the big screen in ‘American Epic’ inspired me to contribute to a very interesting and exciting story.”
Jones stated: “The time was right for us to tell our own story for the first time in our own words, and I think that this film will really bring this story to life.”
An official LED ZEPPELIN book, “Led Zeppelin By Led Zeppelin”, came out in October 2018.
