Now I’m found: film of Aretha’s Amazing Grace
A FILM of one of Aretha Franklin’s most famous performances which has been unseen for nearly half a century could now be released in the wake of her death.
The documentary movie, Amazing Grace, features the Queen of Soul singing two gospel concerts at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in 1972.
It was shot by Sydney Pollack, the Oscar-winning director, and is said by the small number of people who have seen it, to be one of the greatest concert movies of all time. One person who has seen it called it “jaw-dropping”.
Franklin, who died on Thursday aged 76, had been locked in a long legal battle over the film, several times coming close to allowing its release, only to change her mind.
A person with knowledge of the saga told The Sunday Telegraph: “The movie will come out. It seems the family is interested in it coming out.”
The story of how the film ended up in legal limbo is one of the most tortuous in entertainment history.
Six months after the church concerts Atlantic Records put out audio as the double live album Amazing Grace. It remains the biggest-selling album of Franklin’s career, selling over two million copies, is the top selling live gospel album ever, and triumphed at the Grammy Awards.
Pollack’s film was supposed to be released alongside the album but was shelved due to technical problems matching the audio to the moving images. Pollack died in 2008, and the rights were taken over by Alan Elliott, a UCLA music lecturer, and the advent of digital technology helped fix the problems. In 2010 an eight-year legal battle began, as the singer sued for unlicensed use of her image.
Franklin twice came close to agreeing to the release for $1million (£784,000) but talks broke down. The film was due to be shown at the Telluride Film Festival in 2015 but she got a last minute injunction, also blocking it at that year’s Toronto Film Festival.
Franklin’s objections to the release of a film documenting her finest hour were never clear, but appeared to be at least partly to do with money. She was known to be wary of legal contracts, and being “ripped off,” and preferred to be paid in cash.
In a statement to The Telegraph, Mr Elliott said he was hopeful fans would be able to see it “soon”, and that the singer herself really liked the movie.
He said: “Ms Franklin said ‘I love the film’. Unfortunately for all of us, she passed before we could share that love.”
Franklin’s funeral is due to be held on August 31 in her home city Detroit. A day after her death sales of her music were up 1,568 per cent.
Among the many musicians who have previously expressed eagerness to see the Amazing Grace footage are Sir Mick Jagger, who was in the audience when it was recorded.
‘Ms Franklin said “I love the film”. Unfortunately for all of us, she passed before we could share that love’