The late soul icon’s long-unseen 1972 concert film of her astounding gospel performance has seen the light of day.
On April 5, the documentary Amazing Grace was released with very limited dates and locations across the country.
– KANSAS CITY screening will be on Thurs., April 18, with two times: 7 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. at the Alamo Draft House, 1400 Main St. KCMO.
– WICHITA will have a one-time screening of the film thanks to the efforts of Rev. LeSean Tarkington, pastor of Grant Chapel AME Church. The screening starts at 7 p.m. on Mon., April 15, at the AMC Northrock, Wichita. Admission tickets are $20 and include a snack card. Seating is limited and tickets must be purchased in advance. For tickets call: Pastor Tarkington , 404-323-4737 or Carla Williams 316-305-9191. 100% of ALL PROCEEDS will be split between the non-profit groups Black Women Empowered in Wichita and the Sunflower Chapter of GMWA – Gospel Music Workshop of America.
In January 1972, Aretha Franklin came to Los Angeles to create what would become her greatest artistic statement. Over two consecutive nights at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, before a live audience that included her father Rev. C.L. Franklin and her mentor Clara Ward (as well as Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts), she recorded her return to the gospel music she had grown up singing as a teenage prodigy. Accompanied by Rev. James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir, Aretha’s sessions would be released later that year as the double album “Amazing Grace.” Her most personal record, it also became her most popular release, certified double-platinum, the biggest-selling album of her career as well as the best-selling gospel album of all time.
But the liner notes of the original vinyl record revealed what must have been Aretha’s greatest frustration: “The recording of this album was filmed by Warner Brothers Inc. with Sydney Pollack directing.” No movie was ever released, and the fate of what had become of the film project remained one of Hollywood’s most enduring mysteries. Enter Alan Elliott, a young Atlantic Records employee in 1990 when he first learned about the long-lost movie. Over the next 28 years, Elliott worked like a cinematic Sherlock Holmes to crack the case (it turns out Pollack, who died in 2008, had neglected to use a clapper to sync images with audio) and then to salvage the film.
Along the way, Elliott mortgaged his home several times to buy the existing footage, edit the film, and pay for insurance and lawyers; he needed the latter in abundance, as Aretha sued several times to prevent the movie from being screened, including its scheduled world premiere at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival. After Aretha passed away at 76 in August, her family and Elliott quickly came to an arrangement, and last month, the film — a remarkable document of the Queen of Soul at the height of her powers — finally premiered at two sold-out, emotional screenings at the Doc NYC festival.