Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami to Open This Spring

Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami, director and editor Sophie Fiennes’ critically acclaimed documentary exploring the public and private worlds of the legendary artist, is set for theatrical release nationwide this spring, following its highly regarded debut at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival. Kino Lorber is distributing the film in the United States and Canada.

Beginning with a New York theatrical run at Metrograph, BAM and the Film Society of Lincoln Center on April 13, Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami will quickly expand to Los Angeles on April 20, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, DC, Miami and Detroit. In Canada, the film will open in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver in the weeks following the New York release.

Recorded over the course of several years, Fiennes—best known for her experimental works with Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek—profiles Jones in full, both as larger than life performer, fashion icon and symbol; and as lover, daughter, mother, sister and grandmother in her day to day life.

Featuring live shots of Jones performing her iconic hits “Slave To The Rhythm” and “Pull Up To The Bumper” as well as more recent, introspective tracks like “Williams’ Blood,” “This Is” and “Hurricane” alongside intimate footage of time with her son Paulo and niece Chantal in her native Jamaica, the film investigates the full breadth of Jones’ life from childhood to the now, as she continues to perform worldwide.

Sophie Fiennes is a film director whose feature documentaries for theatrical exhibition include her collaborations with Zizek, The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema(2006), and The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2012), her portrait of German artist Anselm Keifer, Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (2010). Grace Jones; Bloodlight and Bami came about following Fiennes’ first feature documentary Hoover Street Revival (2001) about a Pentecostal church community in Los Angeles, and the sermons of its preacher, Bishop Noel Jones, brother of Grace Jones.

Previously, Kino Lorber released Sophie Fiennes’ feature documentary Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, about internationally acclaimed artists Anselm Kiefer, and Zeitgeist Films, currently in a distribution partnership with Kino Lorber, released Fiennes’ The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology and The Pervert’s Guide To Cinema in the U.S. All three films played at the world’s top film festivals, including Cannes, Toronto and Sundance.

Ms. Fiennes was awarded a NESTA fellowship in 2001 to develop her innovative approach to film, and the Arte France Cinema Award in 2008 at Rotterdam’s Cinemart.