Little Richard spent a life enduring abuse and feeling under appreciated. As an openly queer artist, he took the world by storm inventing rock n’ roll as we’ve come to know it. Premiering at Sundance 2023 is ‘Little Richard: I Am Everything’. Academy Award–nominated and Emmy-winning producer and director Lisa Cortés committed to a film that honors his legacy by including archival footage, and thoughtful commentary from prominent historians such as ethnomusicologist Fredara Mareva Hadley.
Even if you’re familiar with the history of Little Richard, the film gives context to just how larger than life he was to bands just starting out like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.
Watch the documentary to understand how integral his music was to breaking racial barriers, shaping rock & roll as we know it…and to find out what ‘Tutti Frutti’ was really about!
About ‘Little Richard: I Am Everything’
Like a quasar burning past the gaslight, director Lisa Cortés’ eye-opening documentary explodes the whitewashed canon of American pop music. Little Richard: I Am Everything shines a clarifying light on the Black, queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, and establishes the genre’s big bang: Richard Wayne Penniman.
Testimonials from legendary musicians and cultural figures, Black and queer scholars, Penniman’s family and friends, and interviews with the artist himself all exuberantly reclaim a history that was willfully appropriated by white artists and institutions. Cortés updates the canon with a treasure trove of rarely seen archival footage of Penniman. Among the gems are scenes with his Black and queer predecessors and contemporaries, like Sister Rosetta Tharpe: the mother of rock ’n’ roll who gave 14-year-old Penniman his first break.
Cortés depicts Penniman’s complex journey as a conflicted revolutionary who careened between religion, sex, and rock ’n’ roll, navigating the extreme tensions of race and sexuality of his time. She reminds us that outsiders and outcasts can possess superpowers that, given the chance, can create new worlds for us all to dance in.
Update: Trailer! | Little Richard: I Am Everything
About Lisa Cortés
Lisa Cortés is an Academy Award–nominated and Emmy-winning producer and director renowned for creating challenging, visionary stories. The film Precious, which she executive produced, received the Sundance Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize for best drama. All In: The Fight For Democracy, which she directed with Liz Garbus, chronicles the battle waged by Stacey Abrams against voter suppression.
Meet Lisa Cortés
Related Links: https://www.blackfilm.com/read/stephen-curry-underrated-documentary-world-premiere-at-2023-sundance-film-festival/
