FOLLOWING A SOLD-OUT SCREENING IN CAMDEN, LONDON THEATRICAL DATES ARE BEING SET ACROSS THE U.K./EUROPE WITH NORTH AMERICAN DATES BEGINNING FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 AT THE METROGRAPH IN NEW YORK CITY
New York, NY / Los Angeles, CA / London, U.K., June 19, 2018 – In celebration of Public Image Ltd.’s (PiL) 40th Anniversary, Abramorama and Verisimilitude have released the first official trailer and poster of the new music documentary The Public Image Is Rotten. The career-spanning documentary, tells the story of music icon John Lydon and his pioneering group PiL with a level of depth and intimacy never before seen. Following a sold-out screening at Camden London’s Odeon Cinema, the film will be released in multiple theaters across the United Kingdom and select European cities throughout the summer, followed by a North American theatrical tour in the fall kicking off at New York City’s downtown Metrograph on September 14. Watch the trailer for the film The Public Image Is Rotten HERE.
Directed by Tabbert Fiiller, The Public Image Is Rotten features in-depth interviews with John Lydon,former and current bandmates as well as Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Ad-Rock (Beastie Boys) and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) among others, and the film is loaded with electrifying archival performance and interview footage.
Abramorama’s Chief Operating Officer Karol Martesko-Fenster and West Coast Head of Acquisitions & Business Development Evan Saxon added, “We’re thrilled to be working with Verisimilitude’s Tyler Brodie and Hunter Gray, alongside John Lydon and longtime PiL manager John Rambo Stevens on the global release. John Lydon forever changed the face of music and pop culture in many of the same ways Elvis did. The timing of this is perfect as PiL is touring the world and giving fans an amazing live show like never before. We’ll leverage the theatrical campaign to work closely with the fantastic team at Universal Music to drive awareness for their comprehensive box set also titled The Public Image Is Rotten.”
Music icon and PiL founder, John Lydon shared, “Truth In Shape and Size, No Lies!”
After the breakup of the Sex Pistols, John Lydon (John Rotten), formed Public Image Ltd. his groundbreaking band which has lived on nearly 15 times as long as his first one. A creative originator, Lydon has kept the band alive ever since, through personnel and stylistic changes, fighting to constantly reinvent new ways of approaching music, while adhering to radical ideals of artistic integrity. John Lydon has not only redefined music, but also the true meaning of originality. With his trademark acerbic wit and unpredictable candor, Lydon offers a behind-the-scenes look at one of music’s most influential and controversial careers.
Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential bands of all time, PiL’s music and vision earned them 5 UK Top 20 singles and 5 UK Top 20 albums. With a shifting line-up and unique sound, John Lydon guided the band from their debut album ‘First Issue’ in 1978 through to 1992’s ‘That What Is Not’. After a 17-year hiatus, Lydon reactivated PiL in 2009 by taking them back on the road worldwide. In 2015 the band released their 10th studio album ‘What The World Needs Now…’ which followed the huge critical success of 2012’s ‘This is PiL’, the band’s first album in 17 years. ‘What The World Needs Now’ peaked at number 29 in the official U.K. album charts and picked up fantastic acclaim from both press and public. (The album also peaked at number 3 in the official UK indie charts and number 4 in the official UK vinyl charts). ‘What The World Needs Now…’ was self-funded by PiL and released on their own label ‘PiL Official’ via Cargo UK Distribution.
John Lydon and his PiL bandmates Lu Edmonds, Scott Firth and Bruce Smith, are currently in the midst of a 36-date tour of UK/Europe and Japan. They are the longest stable line-up in the band's history.
U.K. SCREENING DATES
27 June - Exeter Exeter Picturehouse
27 June - Norwich Picturehouse Cinema City
4 July - Hackney, London Hackney Picturehouse
4 July - Southampton Harbour Lights Picturehouse
4 July - Stratford Stratford Picturehouse
6 July - Liverpool Picturehouse @ Fact
9 July - Liverpool Picturehouse @ Fact
19 July - Camden Odeon Camden
19 July - Manchester Odeon Manchester Great Northern
19 July - Blackpool Odeon Blackpool
19 July - Kingston Odeon Kingston
19 July - Southend Odeon Southend
19 July - Glasgow Odeon Glasgow Quay
19 July - Oxford Odeon Oxford
9 Aug - Birmingham Electric Cinema
NORTH AMERICAN THEATRICAL PREMIERE
14 Sept - New York City The Metrograph
‘The Public Image Is Rotten’ film trailer HERE
‘The Public Image Is Rotten’ poster: HERE
For more information and additional screening engagements being set in Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Australia and across Latin America please visit:www.thepublicimageisrotten.com
THE PUBLIC IMAGE IS ROTTEN (2017 USA, 103 min-English) A Verisimilitude production, Directed by Tabbert Fiiller, Produced by Tyler Brodie, Hunter Gray, Phaedon Papadopoulos, Tabbert Fiiller, Executive Producers John Rambo Stevens, Cameron Brodie, Nick Shumaker, Director of Photography Yamit Shimonovitz, Editor Eric Pritchard, Music Supervision Dan Wilcox, Co-Producers Andrew Adair, Scotty Murphy, Associate Producers Andra Gordon, Kate West, Additional Cinematography Tobias Datum, Original Score Dave Wilder, Supervising Sound Editor Gabriel Reyna. An Abramorama global theatrical, digital and broadcast release. View the trailer: HERE.
About Abramorama:
Abramorama is the preeminent global theatrical distribution and rights management partner for music films today and is recognized for the consistent high quality of its work on award winning feature films. An innovator in the focused, personalized form of film distribution and event cinema, Abramorama provides invaluable alternatives to filmmakers and content owners. An industry leader in marketing, promotion, and distribution, Abramorama continues to trail-blaze exciting new pathways for filmmakers to find their audience.
Over the course of more than 15 years, Abramorama has successfully distributed and marketed hundreds of films, including Ron Howard’s Grammy Award®-winning The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years; David Leland’s Concert for George; Danny Clinch and Pearl Jam’s Lets Play Two; Paul Dugdale and Myles Desenberg’s Above & Beyond Acoustic - Giving Up The Day Job; Amir Bar-Lev's Long Strange Trip – The Untold Story of the Grateful Dead; Corbett Redford and Green Day’s Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk, John Scheinfeld’s Chasing Trane – The John Coltrane Documentary; Sam Pollard’s Two Trains Runnin’; Brett Bern's BANG! The Bert Berns Story; Brett Morgen and National Geographic’s seminal Jane; Charles Ferguson’s Time To Choose; Asif Kapadia’s Senna; Neil Young’s Greendale; Cameron Crowe’s Pearl Jam Twenty; Sacha Gervasi’s Anvil! The Story of Anvil; Banksy’s Academy Award® nominated Exit Through the Gift Shop; the surprise indie hit Awake: The Life of Yogananda; Laurie Anderson’s astonishing New York Times critics’ pick, Heart of a Dog, Showtime’s National Board of Review Winner Listen to Me Marlon and Draft House Releasing’s 2016 Documentary Academy Award®-nominee and IDA Best Documentary Winner The Look of Silence. Abramorama is a founding partner of The Seventh Art Stand program, an act of cinematic solidarity against Islamophobia, that ran in more than 50 theaters across the United States in May of 2017. Abramorama recently launched its music-centric film fund focused on the global release of iconic music documentaries. For more information visit www.abramorama.com.
About Verisimilitude:
Verisimilitude is a film company with a steadfast commitment to tell challenging, unique stories in the most compelling of ways. We work with directors to create cinematic visions which span the full spectrum of style and imagination, while always striving to find the truth, and verisimilitude within the story beneath. For more information visit www.verisimilitude.com.
