Part of Music City Mondays and Staff Picks and programmed by Jason, who says: “A vision of the future where bands don’t need guitarists or drummers to rock a stadium, and destructive strains of interpersonal drama can be kept in abeyance by the strength of community and great songs. Parallel lives, always a step ahead of the grabbing hands. DeMott and Kreines will never lead you astray.”
When synth-pop warhorses Depeche Mode ended up collaborating with stalwart documentarians D.A. Pennbaker, Chris Hegedus and David Dawkins, no one could have imagined that the resulting film would prove prescient in its depiction of a new kind of concert experience — as well as divining a new form of interpersonal documentary that would come to define the protean art form of reality television. The former angered rockists the world over, depicting a band that had neither guitarist (except for a few bits during a couple of songs) nor a drummer delivering stadium-sized thrills. The latter, in conjunction with filmmakers Joel DeMott and Jeff Kreines (SEVENTEEN, DEMON LOVER DIARY), envisions a post-Loud Family pre-”The Real World” means of storytelling rooted in kindness and community, passion and care rather than chaos and marketing. Together, they make DEPECHE MODE 101 a singular document of a specific point in music and media history.
“For all of us it was an incredible journey. We always tell people that the time we spent on the road with Depeche Mode was our favorite film adventure.” —D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus
