SIFF DocFest: Devo
October 5, 2024
When a problem comes along, you must whip it. And when a movie about Devo comes along, you must watch it. Jump back in time with director Chris Smith (American Movie) for the unfiltered truth about the radical and deeply political band.
Individual Tickets: Select showtime to purchase
Passes: $100 | $75 Members - Provides access to all DocFest screenings
SIFF year-round passes are not valid for DocFest screenings.
"Chris Smith’s “Devo” is a documentary that’s every bit as fun as its subject. For Devo fans, it’s 90 minutes of irresistible pop history and dazzlingly edited surrealist audio-visual candy."—Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Since winning a Grand Jury Prize in 1999 at Sundance for American Movie, prolific documentarian Chris Smith has established himself as a go-to for getting genuine weirdos to talk about their art on camera. Recently, he’s stared into the blazingly disastrous Fyre Festival and shadowed Robert Downey Jr.’s emotional exploration of his father’s outsider filmmaking career. Smith’s latest assembles an authentic account of Devo, the metamorphic art rockers who formed amid traumatic disillusionment following the National Guard’s deadly confrontations with Vietnam War protestors at Kent State in 1970. Founding members Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh’s direct-to-camera recollections make up the spine of the film, but Smith deftly dodges talking head tropes. Engaging tales of their collective’s inspirations, uncertain early days, and rocky road to improbable ubiquity are ornamented with vibrant collages of contemporaneous footage, innovative costumes, and deep dives into an extensive library of ahead-of-their-time video projects. With a focus on the band’s massive first wave, the documentary contextualizes their music as just one arm of a wide-ranging philosophical project of “de-evolution.” Fans will revel in revisiting performances and hearing backstories of how admirers like David Bowie, Brian Eno, and Neil Diamond launched them from an annoying performance art project into an indelible facet of the collective conscience. Bring your Energy Domes; this one plays all the hits. —Josh Bis
- Director: Chris Smith
- Country: United Kingdom, USA
- Year: 2024
- Running Time: 93 min.
- Producer: Danny Gabai, Chris Smith, Anita Greenspan, Chris Holmes
- Cinematographers: Chris Smith
- Editors: Joey Scoma
- Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
- Filmography: Wham! (2023) Sr. (2022) Operation Varsity Blues (2021) American Movie (1999)
- Language: English
- Format: DCP
- International Sales: Fremantle