Hamilton punk legends Teenage Head will be explored in a new biopic this year, and the film now has a premiere date.
Picture My Face: The Story of Teenage Head will premiere November 3 at 9 p.m. ET on TVO and tvo.org. Following that, the film will be available to stream on the broadcaster's website and YouTube channel, ahead of rebroadcasts November 7 at 9 p.m. ET and November 8 at 10:30 pm ET.
Written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Douglas Arrowsmith, Picture My Face weaves Teenage Head's past together with a present day story of lead guitarist, Gord Lewis, who struggles to overcome depression following the passing of frontman Frankie "Venom" Kerr.
The film features interviews with the Tragically Hip guitarist Rob Baker, Marky Ramone, and punk writers Jon Savage and Nina Antonia. It also includes never-before-seen colour footage of the band's 1980 Heatwave Festival performance, selections from the band's extensive photo archive, and rare footage from a 1977 performance first captured in Ross McLaren's Toronto punk film Crash 'n' Burn.
"These guys solved all the awkwardness of high school by forming a band and inventing an unmistakable sound and style and attitude," Arrowsmith said of Teenage Head in a statement. "I didn't set out to make a 'biopic'; instead, I wanted to find a present-day story ignited by the potency of the band's past. The relationship artists have with melancholy and with its more incapacitating cousin, depression, is also an area I've written about."
Arrowsmith had previously helmed Ron Sexsmith film Love Shines in 2011.
Picture My Face: The Story of Teenage Head will premiere November 3 at 9 p.m. ET on TVO and tvo.org. Following that, the film will be available to stream on the broadcaster's website and YouTube channel, ahead of rebroadcasts November 7 at 9 p.m. ET and November 8 at 10:30 pm ET.
Written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Douglas Arrowsmith, Picture My Face weaves Teenage Head's past together with a present day story of lead guitarist, Gord Lewis, who struggles to overcome depression following the passing of frontman Frankie "Venom" Kerr.
The film features interviews with the Tragically Hip guitarist Rob Baker, Marky Ramone, and punk writers Jon Savage and Nina Antonia. It also includes never-before-seen colour footage of the band's 1980 Heatwave Festival performance, selections from the band's extensive photo archive, and rare footage from a 1977 performance first captured in Ross McLaren's Toronto punk film Crash 'n' Burn.
"These guys solved all the awkwardness of high school by forming a band and inventing an unmistakable sound and style and attitude," Arrowsmith said of Teenage Head in a statement. "I didn't set out to make a 'biopic'; instead, I wanted to find a present-day story ignited by the potency of the band's past. The relationship artists have with melancholy and with its more incapacitating cousin, depression, is also an area I've written about."
Arrowsmith had previously helmed Ron Sexsmith film Love Shines in 2011.
