Recognized with seven Emmy Award nominations (including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special) and following a festival run at both the Sundance Film Festival and Hot Docs, Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck makes its Canadian television premiere in October on HBO Canada.
Written, produced, and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Morgen, (Crossfire Hurricane), the film chronicles the life of the Nirvana lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter, painting a searing and unforgettable portrait of the iconic artist and offering unprecedented access to Cobain’s personal and family archives.
In the film, Morgen weaves together moving first-person testimony from Cobain’s mother and sister, his widow Courtney Love, former girlfriend Tracy Marander, ex-bandmate Krist Novoselic, and others, with Cobain’s own words, providing an unflinching tribute to the incomparable talent that marked a generation, and is still revered by millions around the world 20 years after his death.
Eight years in the making, Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck uncovers a wealth of new material that exposes the emotional rollercoaster of Cobain’s personal life and celebrates his uncompromising creative spirit, including the inspiration for the film’s title, a circa-1988 sound collage he titled Montage of Heck. Recorded by Cobain on a four-track cassette recorder, it’s a free-form mash-up of song bites, manipulated radio recordings, elements of demos, and disparate sounds.
Alongside dozens of Nirvana songs and performances, as well as previously unheard Cobain originals, filmmakers have also produced original animation to illustrate intimate and raw moments in Cobain’s life using his artwork, photography, journals, and family photographs as inspiration.
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck airs on Sunday, October 10th at 10pm on HBO Canada.
