Directed by Andy Brown and Brian Lindstrom, Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill will have its World Premiere at DOC NYC 2022.
Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill is an intimate documentary portrait of a one-of-a-kind singer-songwriter from 1970s LA – Judee Sill. It charts her life from a troubled adolescence of addiction, armed robbery and prison through her meteoric rise in the music world and early tragic death.
In two years, Judee went from living in a car, to an Asylum Record deal and the cover of Rolling Stone. As told by David Geffen, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash — along with Judee herself — the film explores Judee’s unique musical style and the inspiring recent rediscovery of her singular music by many young artists today.
Filmmaker Brian Lindstrom’s award-winning films explore the inner resources of marginalized people. His 2019 New York Times Op-Doc We Are Forbidden, produced with his wife, Cheryl Strayed, is a participatory film empowering teen girls in Nepal to share their experiences of menstrual stigma. Mothering Inside follows incarcerated moms and their children. It was instrumental in the advocacy movement which made Oregon the first state to pass a Bill of Rights for the Children of Incarcerated Parents. His film Alien Boy: The Life & Death of James Chasse is an intense examination of police brutality in the death of a non-violent man experiencing mental illness (iTunes, Amazon, Hulu+, Kanopy; distributed by Breaking Glass Pictures). Finding Normal (2007) follows longtime heroin and crack addicts trying to rebuild their lives with the help of recovery mentors. It was selected by The Oregonian as one of the top ten films of the year.
In 2016, Lindstrom was awarded the Media Arts Fellowship by the Regional Arts & Culture Council in Portland, Oregon. This award is partially funding his documentary-in-progress about the only marathon program in the country for incarcerated youth.
Andy Brown is an actor and screenwriter from New York City. This is his first documentary. His acting credits include The Daytrippers (1996) and a recurring role in the MTV series Austin Stories (1996) for which he also wrote. He co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred in the independent feature Pop Life(2002).
As a writer-director, Andy also co-created the series The Horrible, Terrible Misadventures of David Atkins, which won an award at the New York Television Festival. He has also worked in series development for Marshall Brickman and Castle Rock Entertainment.
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“I heard he pushed her down the stairs while drunk.”
In response to Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill, Rosace Publications denounces the unsubstantiated claim by Russ Giguere that David Bearden pushed Judee Sill down a flight of stairs. With no eyewitness to the event, such a claim rests on dubious hearsay and unfairly pins Bearden as a catalyst for Sill’s demise.
On June 3, 1977 (case number: SB117694), Sill filed and won a lawsuit against the Del Mar Motel for unsafe conditions that caused the fall. David’s brother James Bearden drove 60 miles to bring his stereo to the Santa Barbara County Courthouse so Sill could play her music for the judge. James recalls Sill’s girlfriend at the time accompanying her and that she fell because it had just rained and the porch was wet.
Bearden himself refuted Russ’s story in his lifetime. In the notes to 2005’s Judee Sill – Dreams Come True, Bearden claimed that Russ Giguere never forgave him for sleeping with his lady Caroline.
Surviving family and friends of David Bearden are disappointed in what they see as a one-note portrayal of Sill and Bearden’s relationship. They feel the film focuses solely on the misgivings of former colleagues and fails to render the scope of Sill and Bearden’s professional involvement.
Bearden, a published poet, was a principal contributor to Sill’s second album, Heart Food, dedicated to him with love. He penned “When the Bridegroom Comes,” contributed lyrics to various other songs, and performed harmonica and slide guitar on the LP. Bearden also toured with Sill in the UK at the Albert Hall and many venues where “he was wildly cheered,” noted Sill in their joint diary. (Bearden, D. O. (2018b). The Mental Traveler: Poems of David Omer Bearden (1st ed.). Rosace Publications.)
While Sill’s and Bearden’s relationship was admittedly volatile, excluding a proper introduction about who David was and the creative value he contributed is disserving to Bearden AND Sill. The film’s failure to present a rounded telling of these events (Pat Blessing was a close friend of Bearden’s til his death in 2008—why not ask her?) undermines its credibility. It slanders the reputation of the deceased, who sadly cannot speak back.