The 19th edition of Tribeca Film Festival will kick off with a tribute to a presidential hopeful who harnessed the power of music on his road to the White House. Deadline reports that Mary Wharton’s “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President” is set to open Tribeca 2020.
Described as a “rockumentary-style presidential portrait,” the doc “shows how popular music helped propel the folksy peanut farmer from rural Georgia” all the way to the Oval Office. “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President” recalls how President Carter used music “to transcend racial, generational, and often party lines,” and features interviews with President Carter, filmed in 2018 at the age of 93, as well as archival footage from Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, and Paul Simon, among others.
The fest is said to be highlighting “the power of inspiring change through art, politics, and community” this year, so it’s only fitting for a political doc to be named as its opening film. Tribeca will include a “get-out-the vote effort,” and is promising to “provide audiences access to online tools to make voting easy, including text updates, and education on ways to get involved in their local elections. To do that, Tribeca has partnered with Democracy Works and Civic Alliance, a nonpartisan coalition of businesses,” the source details.
Wharton’s directing credits include “Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound” and episodes of “Biography.”
Check out a clip of “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President” below. “I think music is the best proof that people have one thing in common no matter where they live, no matter what language they speak,” President Carter says.
