The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) – a usual annual first stop for many awards season contenders – has unveiled its 2017 documentary program, TIFF Docs, which will open with Sophie Fiennes’ much-anticipated Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami, the BBC Films/BFI/Irish Film Board-backed production on the iconic performer – the first of its kind. It’s been a long journey for the production which kicked off 5+ years ago, and is finally on the verge of making its world premiere.

Incredibly, this is the first comprehensive feature film (fiction or non-fiction) on the personal and professional life of Grace Jones.

A cinema verité-style film, described as an observational portrait, the feature, previously titled Grace Jones – The Musical of My Life, weaves 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.

Director Fiennes said in a previous statement: “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.”

TIFF has premiered a first trailer for Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami, which is embedded below.

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 a couple of months ago that she has also been 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 has been 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.

 

In the meantime, get ready for Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami by watching the first trailer below: