Groundbreaking doc on Allen Ginsberg now streaming and on DVD
Not many have followed Allen Ginsberg as thoroughly as filmmaker Jerry Aronson has. Now, his masterful film is finally available for streaming, and available in a deluxe DVD set with extras.
The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, the out and unapologetic gay poet and visionary of the Beat Generation is available as of October 24. Visionary, radical, spiritual seeker, renowned poet, founding member of a major literary movement, champion of human rights, Buddhist, political activist and teacher – Allen Ginsberg’s remarkable life shaped the very soul of American counterculture.
A founding figure of the Beat Generation, one of the 20th century’s most important literary movements, the openly gay poet Allen Ginsberg lived in this tenement building with his “life-long love” and poet Peter Orlovsky from August 1958 to March 1961.
For 25 years, Academy Award®-nominated director Jerry Aronson accumulated more than 60 hours of film on Allen Ginsberg, resulting in this comprehensive portrait of one of America’s greatest poets, author of “Howl” and other groundbreaking poems.
The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival and went on to enjoy success at theaters around the country. Now, the film has been digitally remastered in 16:9 HD (pillarboxed at 4:3, the film’s original aspect ratio) and will be available to stream for the first time. In all, the film reveals the last 70 years of American culture beginning with the Beat era in the post-war Forties and Fifties, continuing through the revolutionary Sixties and concluding with the uncertainty and possibility of current times.
The Deluxe Two-Disc DVD includes the remastered feature film and over six hours of bonus materials including never-before-seen materials made public because of the warm friendship that developed between subject and director, as well as exclusive and revealing interviews with his friends, family and contemporaries such as Bono, Johnny Depp, Philip Glass, Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Andy Warhol and many others.
Streaming platforms include Amazon, Apple TV, iTunes, OVID & Kanopy. Deluxe Two Disc DVD set contains the feature film and over six hours of bonus materials including Allen reading additional poems, the making of the film, Allen walking through the Solomon Gallery describing his photos, Tribute Memorial at St. John the Divine, Allen and Bob Dylan at Jack Kerouac’s grave, Gus Van Sant directing the music video for Ballad of the Skeletons, 30 exclusive interviews and more.
