Paul Thomas Anderson Made a Documentary About Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood
Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood has been working on a new album with Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and Indian musicians for a good part of this year, and its was announced today (Aug. 21) that the process will be documented in the upcoming documentary Junun by Boogie Nights and Inherent Vice director Paul Thomas Anderson.
The film will debut at the New York Film Festival, which takes place from Sept. 25 to Oct. 11. A description on the festival's website says of the documentary:
Earlier this year, Paul Thomas Anderson joined his close friend and collaborator Jonny Greenwood on a trip to Rajasthan in northwest India, where they were hosted by the Maharaja of Jodhpur, and he brought his camera with him. Their destination was the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort, where Greenwood (with the help of Radiohead engineer Nigel Godrich) was recording an album with Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and an amazing group of musicians: Aamir Bhiyani, Soheb Bhiyani, Ajaj Damami, Sabir Damami, Hazmat, and Bhanwaru Khan on brass; Ehtisham Khan Ajmeri, Nihal Khan, Nathu Lal Solanki, Narsi Lal Solanki, and Chugge Khan on percussion; Zaki Ali Qawwal, Zakir Ali Qawwal, Afshana Khan, Razia Sultan, Gufran Ali, and Shazib Ali on vocals; and Dara Khan and Asin Khan on strings. The finished film, just under an hour, is pure magic. Junun lives and breathes music, music-making, and the close camaraderie of artistic collaboration. It’s a lovely impressionistic mosaic and a one-of-a-kind sonic experience: the music will blow your mind.
Watch a clip of Greenwood and Shye Ben Tzur performing together in 2014 below. Of course, this isn't the first collaboration between Anderson and Greenwood. The Radiohead multi-instrumentalist composed the scores for 2007's There Will Be Blood, 2012's The Master and last year's Inherent Vice.