Drafthouse Films has acquired North American rights to the rockumentary A Band Called Death, directed by Jeff Howlett and Mark Covino.
The film made its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year, screening in competition, and is scheduled to next screen at the SXSW Film Festival in March.
The film's synopsis reads:
Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was Death. Formed in the early '70s by three teenage brothers from Detroit, Death is credited as being the first black punk band, and the Hackney brothers, David, Bobby, and Dannis, are now considered pioneers in their field. But it wasn’t until recently — when a dusty 1974 demo tape made its way out of Bobby’s attic nearly 30 years after Death’s heyday — that anyone outside a small group of punk enthusiasts had even heard of them. Equal parts electrifying rockumentary and epic family chronicle, the story of Death is one of brotherly love and fierce, divinely inspired expression.
Of course, the film features David Hackney, Bobby Hackney, Sr., Dannis Hackney.
Drafthouse, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, is planning a theatrical and VOD release of the film this summer.
Watch the trailer that's currently in circulation; I expect a new one will be recut for the film's commercial release: