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Dig! - Anton Newcombe, Courtney Taylor, Ondi Timoner

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2004, Dig! Is a remarkable feature documentary that gives a cinéma vérité spin to the endlessly fascinating pop-music soap opera formula of VH1's Behind the music. Shot over the course of seven years and culled from a staggering 1500 hours of footage, the movie follows the twin paths of the two indie rock bands, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, on their stumbling and highly dramatic path to rock stardom.

Cast members Brent DeBoer (The Dandy Warhols) and Matt Hollywood (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) will be making the trip out to Australia for the première and will perform an exclusive after-screening gig in both Sydney and Melbourne.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film documentary music Dandy Warhols Brian Jonestown Massacre

Persons of interest

Anton Newcombe .... Himself
Courtney Taylor-Taylor .... Himself
Joel Gion .... Himself
Matt Hollywood .... Himself
Peter Holmstrom .... Himself
Zia McCabe .... Herself
Brent DeBoer .... Himself
Eric Hedford .... Himself
Dean Taylor .... Himself
Ondi Timoner .... Screenwriter
Ondi Timoner .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Dig! official movie site
Dig! production notes
Dig! QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

London Film Festival 2004: Film on the Square
resfest Digital Film Festival 2004
Sundance Film Festival 2004: Won: Grand Jury Prize: Documentary (Ondi Timoner)

FYI: The Jonestown Massacre refers to the deaths of over a thousand members of a suicide cult called The People's Temple, led by Reverend Jim Jones, in Guyana, South America
See also The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Studios and distributors:

Madman Cinema * The AV Channel

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Whew! From the first frame of Dig! you are completely aware that Anton Newcombe is a raving lunatic. What keeps you watching the film is the same thing that makes people see The Brian Jonestown Massacre live: you want to know what madness he's going to get up to next. The comparison between the two bands, one reaching for the gutter, the other reaching for the stars is a valid and poignant one. There is no victory as sweet as success and no loss as bitter as defeat. And if you can't win yourself, the best fun is to be had in watching someone else lose.

Heh, heh, heh.

There are lots of shots of both bands in concert, backstage and off-stage, separately and together. If you know the Dandys or the Jonestown this makes for some good looking, listening and learning. I've heard of the titles before so it was a bit of culture shock to sit through a couple of hours of complete strangers running around in front of a camera, but I managed to get to the end, no worries.

It's all good.