Long Strange Trip is a six-part documentary series about the rock band the Grateful Dead Directed by Amir Bar-Lev. It will be screened at the Greensboro Project Space on November 16th, February 8th, and April 26th paired with discussions hosted by guest speakers.


November 16th, 6:30pm
Screening # 1: "The Band," led by Richard Barton (UNCG, History). It’s Alive & This is Now. The series premiere explores how the band was created and commits itself to constant change. The second episode illuminates how the Grateful Dead scored success on their own terms, yet sabotaged their chances at superstardom.

February 8th, 6:30pm
Screening #2: "Dead Heads," led by Rebecca Adams (UNCG, Gerontology). Let's Go Get in the Band & Dead Heads. The third episode, Let's Go Get in the Band, explores the relationship between the band and their fans. Episode four continues this topic by looking at the how the band’s fans evolved in the 1980s.

April 26th, 6:30pm
Screening #3: "It Becomes Everything" led by Long Strange Trip Director Amir Bar-Lev. Who's in Charge Here, & It Becomes Everything. The final screening’s two episodes are devoted to the singer-guitarist Jerry Garcia.


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The 30- year odyssey of the Grateful Dead was the most unlikely success story in rock ’ n ’ roll history. Famously averse to publicity and seemingly incapable of recording radio - friendly hits, they flouted music - industry convention by giving their live music away to a global network of tape traders and becoming the highest - grossing concert act in America through word of mouth alone. Artfully assembling candid interviews with the band, road crew, family members and notable Deadheads, Bar - Lev reveals the untold history of the Dead and the freewheeling psychedelic subculture that sprouted up around it. The film also provides poignant insight into the psyche of late lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, whose disdain for authority clashed with his de facto leadership of the sprawling collective that kept the show on the road. With a soundtrack that captures some of the band ’ s most dynamic live performances as well as unguarded offstage moments and never - before - seen interviews, footage and photos, Long Strange Trip explores the Dead ’ s singular experiment in radically eclectic music making. Much more than the “ behind the music ” backstory of an exceptionally talented and beloved group of musicians, the film is at once an inspiring tale of unfettered artistic expression, a heartfelt American tragedy, and an incisive history of the rise and fall of 20th - century counterculture.

 
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Long Strange Trip Director Amir Bar-Lev

Amir Bar-Lev (born in 1972) is an American film director, producer and writer from Berkeley, California. Bar-Lev is noted for his work in directing documentary films. He has directed such films as Fighter, a documentary film released August 24, 2001. The film received a Special Jury Citation in the 2000 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The 2007 documentary film My Kid Could Paint That was directed by Bar-Lev, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was bought by Sony Pictures Classics in 2007. He also served as co-producer of the 2009 Oscar nominated documentary Trouble the Water. Bar-Lev also directed The Tillman Story, which premiered as a Domestic Documentary Finalist at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Bar-Lev directed Happy Valley, a film about the Penn State Jerry Sandusky Scandal. His most recent film, Long Strange Trip, explored the Grateful Dead. Bar-Lev has taught documentary filmmaking at New York University.