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    The Butthole Surfers Movie
    ABOUT THE PROJECT

    LOGLINE
    This movie will tell the amazing story of pioneering art-punk band, Butthole Surfers. Director Tom Stern will reveal the hole truth and nothing butt about the band and its members.

    SYNOPSIS
    The Butthole Surfers are legends. They exploded onto the underground music scene in the 1980s, amazing a growing audience as they built one of the most mind-boggling surrealist rock and roll spectacles ever devised. Their very name was a fuck you to the straight, conformist, homophobic Reagan ethos of the time. Instead, they were radically inclusive weirdo pioneers who pushed the limits of artistic expression and lifestyle.

    They lived on the edge—nomadic art-punk pioneers on an endless tour, blowing minds and spreading their art to a cult following. When they started, their name was so shocking newspapers wouldnít print it. Ten years later, Beavis and Butthead and David Letterman were saying it on primetime national TV. Insiders always knew how important they were: Perry Farrell asked them to perform at the first Lollapalooza, Led Zeppelinís John Paul Jones produced their first major label record, and their fans are a whoís who of some of the worldís most influential artists.

    This documentary will tell the story on three levels:

  • The big picture. How the American post-punk movement arose in the early í80s in defiance of Reaganism.
  • The bandís story. How two accounting students from Trinity college found solidarity in their weirdness, recruited like-minded ìmisfitî band members—queers, weirdos, and nonconformists like performing artist Kathleen Lynch—and embarked on one of the most radical rock journeys of all time. Somehow this band, with a defiantly noncommercial name, ended up as a major influence on acts like Nirvana and even scored a number one hit song.
  • The human story. An intimate look at lead singer Gibby Haynes, guitar wizard Paul Leary, and drummers Teresa Nervosa and King Coffey—four American originals with personal stories that will amaze and surprise audiences.

    PROJECT TYPE Documentary Feature

    DIRECTOR Tom J Stern
    PRODUCER Noa Durban
    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Paul Rachman

    WEBSITE buttholesurfersmovie.com

    Donate to The Butthole Surfers Movie

    The Film Collaborative (TFC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to providing programs and services for independent filmmakers. TFC’s federal tax ID number is 32-0295081. All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

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