Festival! (1967)
Dir. Murray Lerner 
98 min 
Digital restoration courtesy Criterion and Janus Films  

Murray Lerner’s Oscar-nominated documentary was shot over four years at the Newport Folk Festival.  The film features Donovan, Joan Baez (wearing Marimekko), Odetta, Peter Paul & Mary, and Bob Dylan’s infamous 1965 electric set.

Anna Sui first moved into her current Greenwich Village apartment while working on her Fall 1999 collection inspired by folk rock. Coincidentally, Murray Lerner was her new next-door neighbor and the two became fast friends. The New England preppy bohemia of Festival! became one of Sui’s main inspirations for the collection, and Lerner made an abbreviated version of the film to project for the runway.

For this screening, we will be joined by Murray Lerner’s son Noah Lerner and Anna Sui.