Documentary World Premiere and Film Festival Screenings
Watch the red carpet interview with Martin Scorsese, Olivia Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and Terry Gilliam.
George Harrison: Living in the Material World had its world premiere on 2nd October 2011. The documentary has also been traversing the world in film festivals over the last month, and will continue doing so for the months ahead.
Having played at the Telluride Film Festival, San Sebastian Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, as well as at the London, Liverpool and Paris premiere events, the film is being heralded by the press…
Synopsis
The subject of endless fascination and adoration from the time he was 17, George Harrison exploded into public consciousness as a member of the most famous and beloved band ever, The Beatles. With the band, he traveled everywhere, met everybody, and achieved levels of fortune and fame only dreamed of by most. By the age of 22, he realized material success wasn’t enough: "We had lots of material things at quite an early age and we learned that wasn’t it, we still lacked something."Through his friendship with Ravi Shankar and his travels to India, George immersed himself in Indian music and philosophy. Meditation and spiritual practice became central to the rest of his life.
Using rare and never before seen footage from George Harrison's childhood, throughout his years as a Beatle, through the ups and downs of his solo career, and through the joys and pain of his private life, Academy-Award winning director Martin Scorsese traces the arc of George’s journey from his birth in 1943 to his passing in 2001.
"The closer I looked at his life and his career, the more I was drawn to him, and to the way he coped with and learned from the peaks and the valleys. I think he eventually came to understand the ephemeral nature of both success and failure." says Scorsese.
Despite its epic reach, the film is deeply personal. Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Olivia and Dhani Harrison, among many others, talk openly about George’s many gifts and contradictions and reveal the lives they shared together. As Olivia Harrison describes: "He had Karma to work out. And he wasn’t going to come back and be bad, he was going to be good and bad and loving and angry and everything all at once."
"He was clearly an innovator. George, to me, was taking certain elements of R & B and rock and rockabilly and creating something unique," says Eric Clapton. During a time of profound musical experimentation, George's work as the lead guitarist for The Beatles, stands out. As the writer of "Within You, Without You," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps,""Something,""Here Comes the Sun," among many others, he blended spirituality and Indian rhythms into popular music.
George was bold, an iconoclast. His platinum-selling solo record All Things Must Pass was released as a triple album and featured the hit single “My Sweet Lord.” He organized the landmark benefit Concert for Bangladesh, the first major rock concert to address a world crisis. He launched Handmade Films, a key factor in the revival of the British film industry in the 1980s. He spent 30 years restoring one of the great estates and gardens in England, Friar Park. In every aspect of his professional, personal and spiritual life, until his final hours, George blazed his own path.
As his friend John Lennon once said: “George himself is no mystery. But the mystery inside George is immense. It’s watching him uncover it all little by little that’s so damn interesting.”
Director's Statement
Like so many millions of people, I first came to know George through the music, which was the soundtrack of our world. The Beatles' music, those beautifully lyrical guitar breaks and solos, those unforgettable songs of George’s like "I Me Mine" or "If I Needed Someone," and the images, in magazines, on album covers, the TV appearances, the newsreel footage, the Richard Lester movies; and then there was the world after the Beatles, when George and his music seemed to open up and flower. I will never forget the first time I heard "All Things Must Pass," the overwhelming feeling of taking in that all glorious music for the first time. It was like walking into a cathedral. George was making spiritually awake music—we all heard and felt it—and I think that was the reason that he came to occupy a very special place in our lives. So when I was offered the chance to make this picture, I jumped at it. Spending time with Olivia, interviewing so many of George’s closest friends, reviewing all that footage, some of it never seen before, and listening to all of that magnificent music – it was a joy, and an experience I'll always treasure.
Biography - George Harrison
During a career spanning four decades, George Harrison earned a reputation as one of the most talented and influential individuals born to rock and roll. An innovative lead guitarist and songwriter, Harrison was responsible for some of The Beatle's most popular songs, including "Taxman," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps,""Here Comes the Sun" and "Something." But such contributions were only the beginning of Harrison's impact both on popular music and the larger world. His use of the sitar on songs like "Norwegian Wood,""Love You To" and "Within You, Without You" revolutionized popular music in the Sixties. His personal spiritual journey and lifelong friendship with Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar helped bring Indian philosophy, music and religion to the West.
After the dissolution of The Beatles in 1970, Harrison embarked on his solo career in bold fashion. His groundbreaking debut triple-album All Things Must Pass and its first single, "My Sweet Lord" went straight to number one, the former eventually selling over seven million copies. In 1971, at the behest of Shankar, Harrison organized the Concert for Bangladesh, a benefit to provide humanitarian relief to a nation that had been ravaged by natural disaster and civil war. The concert, the first all-star benefit rock show, showcased Harrison as a frontman with contributions from his friends Shankar, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Bob Dylan and Ringo Starr. In 1974 Harrison formed his own label, Dark Horse Records, and, along with Shankar and Preston, staged a 30-date North American tour. Harrison continued to release successful solo albums and produce other artists throughout the 1970s.
In 1978, Harrison co-founded HandMade Films in order to finance Monty Python’s Life of Brian. He would remain lifelong friends with the Pythons. HandMade went on to produce several landmark films including Withnail and I, Mona Lisa and Time Bandits, re-energizing the independent British film industry in the 1980s. In 2002, Harrison was recognized with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Independent Film awards.
Harrison returned to pop stardom with 1987's Cloud Nine, a platinum album co-produced with former ELO frontman Jeff Lynne featuring the hit "Got My Mind Set On You." Their collaboration would inspire Harrison to form the Traveling Wilburys with Lynne and their friends Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison. The Wilburys wrote and recorded two successful albums and had hits with "Handle With Care" and "End of the Line." Harrison returned briefly to the road in 1991, touring Japan with Eric Clapton and releasing Live In Japan in 1992.
In addition to his work in music and film, Harrison enjoyed spending time with his wife Olivia and their son Dhani. After a life of excursions in the arts and spiritual adventures, George Harrison passed away in 2001.