Joy Division
Grant Gee
UK-USA
2006
Listening in bed to John Peel’s radio show, I heard that the band’s singer Ian Curtis had killed himself and I experienced a brand new/strange sense of adolescent loss.
93", HD CAM
Color, English
about the film
In 1976 four young men from ruined, post-industrial Manchester, England went to see the Sex Pistols. They formed a band, Joy Division. Three years later it was a matter of art, life and death. Now thirty years later, they are enjoying a larger audience and more influence than ever before with a profound legacy that resonates fiercely in today’s heavily careerist music industry and over-mediated pop culture. Featuring the unprecedented participation of the surviving band members (now known as New Order), the film examines the band’s story as depicted through never-before-seen live performances, personal photos, period films and newly discovered audiotapes. Joy Division chronicles a time of great social and political change in the UK and tells the story of four men who transcended economic and cultural barriers to produce an enduring musical legacy.
about the director
Grant Gee was born in Plymouth, Devon in the UK. He studied Geography at Oxford University, followed by graduate studies at the University of Illinois, USA. Essentially he is a geography teacher but he is perhaps best known for his work as a filmmaker on the Grammy-nominated 1998 documentary about the rock group Radiohead, Meeting People is Easy. As director of photography he filmed the award winning Faster and co-directed the film of Gorillaz’ Demon Days Live. His short films have been shown in numerous festivals.
awards
2007 Toronto Film Festival


