BMG, Fremantle Documentaries, and Warner Music Entertainment recently unveiled their first collaborative feature film "Devo." The upcoming full-length documentary will also be the first-ever fully authorized film on the New Wave/Rock group. “DEVO was a huge influence on me," Director Chris Smith said. "Their approach to music, film, video, and art was something I had never seen before and was one of the truly formative artistic influences that showed me there were entirely new ways to look at things.”
Produced by VICE Studios and Library Films in association with Mutato Entertainment, "Devo" is directed by Chris Smith and produced by Anita Greenspan and Chris Holmes for Mutato Entertainment. Executive producers assigned to the project are William Kennedy, Stuart Souter, and Kathy Rivkin Daum for BMG, Mandy Chang on behalf of Fremantle Documentaries, Warner Music Group's Charlie Cohen for WME and Mark Pinkus for Rhino Entertainment. Bertelsmann companies BMG and Fremantle Documentaries, and WME serve as executive producers and financiers of the film, with all rights available globally.
Currently in production, "Devo" chronicles the story of the band Devo, from their formation in the aftermath of the Kent State massacre, through their years as politically driven outsiders, into their surprising turn to the top of the charts with their breakout hit, “Whip It.” Forming in 1973, Devo banded together initially as performance artists, disillusioned and radicalized by the shooting at Kent State where they were students. Their artistry was a commentary on corruption in the United States, the perceived “dumbing down” of an entire generation by mass media, and the commodification of a poisoned society. Through a mixture of archival footage, interviews from other characters in their orbit, and a range of storytelling technique, the title explores Devo’s evolution from hippie artistes to art-rockers with a message, to their unexpected mainstream success as a hit rock band and the pioneers of the MTV age.
Other recent films by BMG include the highest grossing documentary film of 2022, "Moonage Daydream" for HBO Max, "DIO: Dreamers Never Die" for Showtime, and two upcoming feature length documentaries including one on award-winning singer-songwriter "Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now" for Netflix and Sundance selection "Squaring the Circle" for "The Story of Hipgnosis," distributed by Utopia and helmed by acclaimed filmmaker Anton Corbijn. Fremantle Documentaries' catalog includes premium feature documentaries "Mrs. America" by Fremantle, Anonymous Content, Spinning Nancy, "Kim’s Video" by Fremantle, Carnivalesque Films, and fashion series "Kingdom of Dreams" from Misfits Entertainment, the team behind McQueen. Warner Music Entertainment’s latest projects include "Love, Lizzo" HBO Max, "American Masters: Roberta Flack for PBS, and "Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers" for YouTube Originals.