Eagle Vision To Release JONI MITCHELL -- Woman Of Heart And Mind Video/DVD 06.03.03

On June 3, Eagle Vision paints a portrait of a musical innovator with the exclusive DVD release, AMERICAN MASTERS JONI MITCHELL: WOMAN OF HEART AND MIND

(NYC) On June 3, Eagle Vision paints a portrait of a musical innovator with the exclusive DVD release, AMERICAN MASTERS JONI MITCHELL: WOMAN OF HEART AND MIND. The program, which Joni Mitchell participates in, is the first full-scale film exploring her life and work.

This poignant documentary features rare 60s and 70s performance footage, historic audio recordings of never-released songs, home movies, and a comprehensive photo archive. Interviews with musicians: David Crosby; Graham Nash; James Taylor; Wayne Shorter; Herbie Hancock; Former Agent, David Geffen; The New York Times Music Critic, Stephen Holden, and Mitchells Daughter, reveal an intimate portrait of a artistic legend.

The DVD will include the 90-minute documentary, which is being broadcast on PBS , along with bonus interview material, a gallery walk with Joni looking into and discussing her paintings, as well as a limited selection of full song performances from the 1997 Eagle Vision release of Joni's concert "Painting With Words and Pictures."

Witty, wry and insightful, Mitchell candidly discusses her rise to stardom, the creative process, her paintings, her romances, her reunion with the daughter she gave up for adoption and, of course, her music. Woman of Heart and Mind interweaves some 35 Joni Mitchell songs -- including Both Sides Now, Chelsea Morning, Same Situation, California, Blue, Circle Game, and Hejira -- with a forthright portrait of her life, a life that is finely etched upon all 23 of her albums.

The film required exhaustive research through decades-old archives and personal collections, including home movies shot by Graham Nash -- film Nash himself hadnt seen in 30 years, of Laurel Canyon in the late 1960s, of Nash, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, and Mitchell hanging out at home. Friend Michael Vosses home movies from the 1968 Big Sur Folk Festival show Mitchell with Judy Collins and Mama Cass. Woman of Heart and Mind also includes several unreleased tunes, such as the 1967 Just Like Me, and several rare filmed performances never broadcast in the U.S. -- Mitchell singing For Free on the Isle of Wight and Blue during a 1974 concert at the New Victoria Theatre in London.

For the first full-scale film about her life and work, Mitchell participated in numerous hours-long interviews at her home in Bel Air, Calif. She also opened up about her famous 1997 reunion with her daughter, Kilauren, given up for adoption shortly after her birth in 1965. In the film, both mother and daughter discuss their first meeting in 32 years.

Throughout the film, musicians and long-time friends open up about the famously reclusive Mitchell, whose love affair and subsequent break-up with Graham Nash spilled into 1971s Blue. In the film, Nash recalls falling in love with Mitchell.

Throughout her musical career, Joni Mitchell evolved from confessional poet to rock and roll mama to jazz singer to musician of the world stage, collecting top honors along the way -- including six Grammys between 1969 and 2000, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Billboard Century Award in 1995.
        
Susan Lacy is creator and executive producer of AMERICAN MASTERS. Jac Venza is director of Cultural and Arts Programs at Thirteen. Terry Shand and Geoff Kempin are the executive producers for Eagle Vision with Steve Sterling, executive in charge of production, and Stephanie Bennett, producer. Additional interviews were also conducted by Ms. Bennett.

AMERICAN MASTERS has become a cultural legacy in its own right, producing an exceptional film library that illustrates the creative journeys of our most enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists. Now in its 17th season, the series set the standard for documentary film profiles and has received widespread critical acclaim, winning 11 Emmys, six Peabodys, an Oscar, a Grammy, and 27 Cine Golden Eagles. With authenticity and integrity, the series enhances an appreciation of our cultural heritage and maintains the kind of in-depth, thorough and insightful explorations that viewers have come to expect from public television.

Eagle Rock Entertainment develops, acquires and produces music programming for a wide range of notable and high profile artists, which the company distributes on a worldwide basis. Eagle Rock Entertainment, Eagle Vision and Eagle Eye Media are wholly owned divisions of Eagle Rock Group, LTD.

Artist: Joni Mitchell
Title: Woman Of Heart And Mind
Format: DVD / VHS
Catalogue: EV 30039-9-DVD5 / EV 30039-3-VHS
Company: Eagle Rock Entertainment
Release Date: 06.03.2003