The Hollywood Reporter have today announced that Cameron Crowe’s new film called The Union, which is a documentary about recording artists Elton John and Leon Russell collaborating with legendary music producer T Bone Burnett on John’s most recent album, will open the Tribeca Film Festival.
The festival kicks off on April 20th and runs through till the start of May. Elton John will make an appearance too apparently doing an outdoor live performance for festival attendees. Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal has said of the decision:
It’s a special opportunity to open our 10th festival in this distinct and unique way. Not only are we inviting the community to join us for the world premiere of Cameron Crowe’s film The Union, but to have Elton, whose music transcends generations, perform after is an extraordinary gift to our festival and more specifically the downtown community.
Cameron also told THR that:
As a longtime fan of both artists, it was a pleasure to spend a year filming their collaboration. We can’t wait to show it to one of the greatest audiences in the world, the Tribeca Film Festival.
Crowe is a man who clearly knows a great deal about music, anyone who has seen Almost Famous ought to know that, and he also has extremely good taste. I’m just not sure how it will come across on screen and whether or not it will be a entire backslapping exercise. Who knows, I was a fan of Crowe’s work until the abomination that was Elizabethtown but I’m generally looking forward to this, it could put Crowe back on the top of his game. The rest of the Tribeca Festival features will be released over the next couple of weeks.