The BBC Films/BFI/Irish Film Board-backed production on a new documentary on Grace Jones from director Sophie Fiennes – the first of its kind – is set to be launched at the ongoing Cannes Film Market, which kicked off this week. It’s been a long journey for the production which kicked off 5+ years ago, and is finally on the verge of making its debut, with leading international film sales and finance company WestEnd Films taking world sales rights to the film, boarding the project to represent it at the Market.
A cinema verité-style film, described as an observational portrait, the feature, previously titled “Grace Jones – The Musical of My Life,” is now called “Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami” and it’ll weave a multi-narrative journey through the private and public realms of the legendary singer and performer, mixing intimate personal footage with unique staged musical sequences.
Incredibly, this will be the first comprehensive feature film (fiction or non-fiction) on the personal and professional life of Grace Jones.
Director Fiennes said: “This film began in a collaborative creative spirit. Grace had fiercely controlled her public image, but made the bold decision to un-mask. She never sought to control my shooting process, and I didn’t second-guess the narrative of the film as I was shooting. I just gathered evidence. The film is a deliberately present-tense experience; for me this is the thrill-ride of verité cinema.”
The film is currently in post-production, and a late 2017 premiere date is expected – likely at the Toronto International Film Festival in the fall. Jones is currently on an international tour, with recent stops in South America and countries across Europe, with dates scheduled in other markets, throughout the summer.
In addition to the upcoming “thrill-ride of verité cinema,” Jones shared with Screen International magazine in an interview this week that she is also in talks with “well known” film production companies to adapt her autobiography “I’ll Never Write My Memoirs” as a scripted feature film. Published in 2015, Jones, who co-wrote the bio with Paul Morley, gives readers “an in-depth account of her stellar career, professional and personal life, and the signature look that catapulted her into the stardom stratosphere” (Amazon).
Assuming a deal is reached with one of the producers she’s in discussions with, we just might be talking about a Grace Jones biopic in the very near future. One significant and immediate question would be, who can play Grace Jones? We’ll tackle that when the time comes.
While we wait for the documentary currently in post-production, and the possible biopic, check out this awesome video below put together by Made to Measure (M2M), a new fashion video network. Produced under their “Iconic” series of videos, this one covers “the ABCs” of Grace Jones, literally A through Z. Just watch to understand and appreciate.
“Fashion, art, and music all converged in the form of Grace Jones. The gender-bending, androgynous, hyper sexual supermodel whose influence is still felt throughout pop culture today is a testament to the power of individuality.”
Check out “Iconic: Grace Jones” – from A to Z.
