Little Richard: I Am Everything

25th TiDF: International Premiere

Like a quasar burning past the gaslight, director Lisa Cortés’s eye-opening documentary explodes the whitewashed canon of American pop music. A film shines a clarifying light on the Black, queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, and establishes the genre’s big bang: Richard Wayne Penniman. Testimonials from legendary musicians and cultural figures, Black and queer scholars, Penniman’s family and friends, and interviews with the artist himself all exuberantly reclaim a history that was willfully appropriated by white artists and institutions. Updating the canon with a treasure trove of rarely seen archival footage of Penniman, Cortés depicts Penniman’s complex journey as a conflicted revolutionary who careened between religion, sex, and rock ’n’ roll, navigating the extreme tensions of race and sexuality of his time. She reminds us that outsiders and outcasts can possess superpowers that, given the chance, can create new worlds for us all to dance in.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Lisa Cortés

Cinematography: Keith Walker, Graham Willoughby

Editing: Nyneve Minnear, Jake Hostetter

Music: Tamar-kali

Production: Bungalow Media + Entertainment for CNN Films, HBO Max

Producers: Robert Friedman, Caryn Capotosto, Lisa Cortés, Liz Yale Marsh

Co-production: Rolling Stone Films

Co-producers: Jarobi Moorhead

Executive producer: Dee Rees, Mike Powers, Anita May Rosentstein, Gus Wenner, Jason Fine, Amy Entelis, Courtney Sexton

Format: DCP