Pearl Jam Twenty

TIFF 2011 Audience Award 2nd Runner Up “PEARL JAM TWENTY”

To have encore screenings in Toronto starting

Friday, October 7th @ The Royal

TORONTO, ON – Oct 3, 2011: In celebration of their 20th Anniversary, Pearl Jam recently premiered Pearl Jam Twenty, a definitive portrait of the band as told by the Academy Award®-winning filmmaker and music journalist Cameron Crowe, at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival (“TIFF”), where it was named 2nd runner up for the Audience Award.

Starting Friday, October 7th, this highly anticipated documentary will have an encore performance at the Royal following a sold out one night screening across Canada on September 20th.

Told in big themes and bold colours with blistering sound, Pearl Jam Twenty chronicles the years leading up to the band’s formation, the chaos that ensued soon-after being catapulted into superstardom, their step back from the spotlight with the instinct of self-preservation, and the creation of a trusted circle that would surround them—giving way to a work culture that would sustain them. The film celebrates the freedom that allows the band to make music without losing themselves, their fans, or the music lovers they’d always been.

“We put so much into the film – moments, pieces of footage shot by band members, audio snippets, visual bursts, new and old interviews – many different formats, all meant to show the emotional scrapbook of what it felt like to be a member of the band on this twenty-year journey,” said Cameron Crowe. “The richness of the footage made our path very clear – just tell the story of the band and let the music guide us. It was a joy to make this film, and we’re thrilled to share it with the fans.”

The captivating documentary gives fans and audiences an intimate first glimpse into Pearl Jam’s journey culled from more than 1,200 hours of rarely and never-before-seen footage, over 24 hours of recent interviews with the band, as well as live footage of their spellbinding concert performances.

To coincide with this unique theatrical release, The Pearl Jam Twenty soundtrack, released by Columbia Records/Sony Music Entertainment, is currently available at http://www.PJ20.com .  Comprised of a selected track listing by Cameron Crowe—the album is a true companion piece to the film.

In addition, as part of their year-long celebration, Pearl Jam released a Pearl Jam Twenty book on September 13th. Published by Simon & Schuster in Canada and the U.S. and Atlantic Books in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, the Pearl Jam Twenty book is an aesthetically stunning chronicle of the band’s past two decades. Compiled and written by veteran music writer Jonathan Cohen with Mark Wilkerson, the book includes a foreword by Cameron Crowe (and material from all his own band interviews) as well as original interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and Dave Grohl.  The book is also available for at http://www.PJ20.com. 

Pearl Jam Twenty is being distributed in Canada by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential), through his company FilmsWeLike, a boutique distributor of documentary, independent and international films in Canada. Recent releases include: “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop”, “Bill Cunningham New York”, and the Cannes Palm D’or winner “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.”

Pearl Jam Twenty is a Vinyl Films production in association with MonkeyWrench Inc. and Tremolo Productions. The film was produced by Cameron Crowe, Kelly Curtis, Morgan Neville, and Andy Fischer and executive produced by Michele Anthony.