THIS WEEKEND: "CSNY DEJA VU" Film | Neil Young Archives

 "CSNY DEJA VU" Film Poster - 2008

 

This weekend on Neil Young Archives, the film "CSNY DEJA VU" will playing in the Hearse Theater.

Directed by Bernard Shakey & Produced by L.A. Johnson, with a running time of 1hr, 36min, 14sec, the documentary of CSNY's 2006 tour was written and produced by Mike Cerre.

Times Contrarian | Neil Young Archives

 

From  Times Contrarian | NYA:

Playing this weekend at the Hearse Theater is another moment in the USA's divisive history as CSNY tours America in the times of the Iraq war. Never seen at NYA before, this moment in time reminds us that “we have all been here before.”

   

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young -  2006 Freedom of Speech Tour

 

Neil Young's "CSNY: Deja Vu" documentary film of the 2006 Freedom of Speech tour will be the last film of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 25.

From N Y Times:

"During the tour, the CSNY band traveled with Mike Cerre, an 'embedded' correspondent who has been to Iraq and Afghanistan 5 times in the current 'War on Terror.'

Cerre and his crew captured the reactions of America during the moments before the 2006 elections, just as the nation was beginning to 'turn' against the war and the administration that started it. The internal conflict of Americans struggling to come to grips with the reality of the war and the right to speak out against it or in support of it is documented with raw footage of a country at odds with itself and in mid-change."

 

 

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young -  2006 Freedom of Speech Tour

 

 

From Sundance Film Festival program guide:

"If you grew up, as I did, with your dorm room full of albums by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and antiwar activities as part of your daily agenda, you may approach the Freedom of Speech Tour with preconceptions about its motivations and content based on the band you remember. Although the chronicle of that tour, CSNY Déjà Vu, is indeed a look back at the politics and anti–Vietnam War sentiment, its real value lies in its rejection of simple nostalgia and its ability to focus on the present day.

As both a portrait of a band and an examination of artistic process, CSNY Déjà Vu is filmmaking that is self-centered, yet fresh and critical. Today’s generation must be as tired of hearing about the ’60s as we were of an earlier era, and this depiction of the tour is anything but preaching to the converted. Part performance, part commentary, and very much a call for activism, CSNY Déjà Vu is relevant because we ignore the lessons of history at our peril.

Featuring music from Neil Young’s controversial Living with War CD, this evocative and edgy film documents reactions from fans to a band that has remained committed to issues of politics and art for more than four decades. Since history seems to repeat itself, perhaps our artists best illustrate what we need to remember."

 

'CSNY DEJA VU' Official Trailer

From Reuters - Q&A: Neil Young hopes documentary will spur debate:

Q: What do you hope to gain from the release of the film?

Young: "Discussion. Debate. Open forums.

And it does do that to people. You'll see what happens when this film comes out on the Internet -- you'll see people talking. It'll be interesting. It'll open up a thing, and that's what it does. That's what the music did. That's what happened in the audiences. I saw families fighting within the families, the kids wanting to stay, and the parents going, 'No, we've got to get out of here. This is no good.' The parents dragging the kid out, and the kid looking back. And we're not talking a 10-year-old here. We're talking college kids being driven out by just straitlaced fathers, the classic father image, of strength.

Not much compassion, but a lot of strength."

From KBS Radio "Neil Young Says President Bush Is An Idiot Who Is Driving The Country Into Insanity":

Neil Young had some harsh words for President George Bush and his tenure as a wartime president.

Young spoke about the criticism that the recent Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young documentary CSNY - Deja Vu has received, telling Uncut, "We're not telling the world what to do... It's so funny what people say about us... We're not trying to control the world. All we're saying is, 'Hey this f***ing president is killing us. This f***er is driving the country into insanity. This f***er is responsible for America being the most hated country in the world right now. That's what we're saying.

All I'm saying is: 'This is what I think about this idiot. What do you think?'" Young directed the politically-charged film which documents CSNY's 2006 Freedom Of Speech tour which featured material from Young's then-recent album Living With War. Young went on to explain that although he needs to air his opinion on the state of American affairs, he's not under any delusions that change will be quick in coming: "It's a different world than it was in the 1960s. I have more experience. I am not under any misconceptions that my next record is going to change the world. I'm a realist. So I just say what I feel, and that's where the Living With War record came from...

I'm still standing. I'm strong. I know my strengths, what I can and what I can't do.

I just go forward."

More on CSNY: Deja Vu Film.

Also, see:
- Premiere of 'CSNY Deja Vu' at 2008 Sundance Film Festival
- Deja Vu Preview Footage on YouTube
- Interview at Sundance: Bernard Shakey Explains CSNY Deja Vu
- Concert film 'Deja Vu' polarizes Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young fans
- 2006 Crosby Stills Nash & Young Freedom of Speech Tour

Crosby Stills Nash & Young - 7/6/2006 - Camden, NJ
photo by Buzz Person (via CSNY.net)

Also, see Crosby Stills Nash & Young Freedom of Speech tour comments. More at Commentary on Politics of CSNY Freedom of Speech Tour.  (Ah those were the days.  If you think you're stressed today, you should've been here back in 2006. or is just deja vu all over yet again!?)

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