WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--National Geographic Documentary Films announced today an exclusive one-night engagement of the highly anticipated feature documentary JANE at Los Angeles’ iconic Hollywood Bowl on Monday, Oct. 9. The film, from award-winning director Brett Morgen (“Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” “The Kid Stays in the Picture”) uses a trove of 16 mm footage unearthed from the National Geographic archives to tell the story of Jane Goodall, a young untrained woman whose chimpanzee research challenged the male-dominated scientific consensus of her time and revolutionized our understanding of the natural world.
Set to a rich orchestral score from world-renowned composer Philip Glass, the one-time-only event on Monday, Oct 9, will feature a live-to-film concert performed by a 54-piece orchestra and include special appearances by Morgen, Glass and the legendary Dr. Jane Goodall herself.
“I wanted JANE to be like a cinematic opera, and that idea led me to Philip Glass” said Morgen. “There’s this almost dreamlike element to his score. The way the chimpanzees and all the other animals move in sync with the music. It’s a magical component to Jane’s romantic view of nature.”
“I’m extremely pleased that JANE will be seen at the Hollywood Bowl with a live orchestral score,” said Glass. “What better way to experience this film and honor Jane Goodall’s contributions to society.”
Tickets for the Hollywood Bowl event go on sale on Friday, Aug. 25, at 12 p.m. PT via www.ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster outlets, 800-745-3000 and the Hollywood Bowl box office. On Oct. 9, doors will open at 6:30 p.m. with the show beginning at 8 p.m. One dollar from every ticket sold will be donated to the Jane Goodall Institute.
Drawing from over 100 hours of never-before-seen footage filmed by Hugo van Lawick, a National Geographic filmmaker who would fall in love and eventually marry Goodall, as well as research footage from the Jane Goodall Institute, Goodall family videos and personal commentary, JANE offers an unprecedented, intimate portrait of the trailblazer who defied the odds to become one of the world’s most admired conservationists. “The film is very much a love story, except the love is not between man and woman,” Morgen says. “The love is between a woman and her work and a man and his work. Most people have this romantic idea that the most important relationship in life is with your partner, your lover, your spouse, but for a lot of driven people, their primary relationship is with their work.”
Goodall will also once again be featured on the cover of the October 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine, which tells the story of how her persona was crafted and shaped throughout her decades of work in the field. All attendees at the concert will receive a special collector’s edition of the issue.
The Hollywood Bowl event kicks off the 25-city theatrical release, beginning Friday, Oct. 20, in New York and Los Angeles. The film will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 10, followed by the U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival, with additional festivals to be announced in September.
About Brett Morgen
Brett Morgen has created some of the most groundbreaking and acclaimed documentaries of the past 15 years, including “On The Ropes” (1999), “The Kid Stays in the Picture” (2002), “Crossfire Hurricane” (2012) and “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” (2015). A graduate of Hampshire College and NYU’s Graduate Film Program, Morgen’s work has been Academy Award and Emmy nominated, and has won several IDA and DGA awards. His most recent project, JANE, about the life of Jane Goodall, is premiering at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and will be released nationally by National Geographic in October 2017.
About National Geographic Documentary Films:
National Geographic Documentary Films is committed to bringing the world premium, feature documentaries that cover timely, provocative and globally relevant stories from the very best documentary filmmakers in the world. National Geographic Documentary Films is a division of National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 129 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 171 countries and 45 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
About Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute
Jane Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, in London, England. At the young age of 26, she followed her passion for animals and Africa to Gombe, Tanzania, where she began her landmark study of chimpanzees in the wild — immersing herself in their habitat as a neighbor rather than a distant observer. Her discovery in 1960 that chimpanzees make and use tools rocked the scientific world and redefined the relationship between humans and animals. In 1977, she established the Jane Goodall Institute to advance her work around the world and for generations to come. JGI continues the field research at Gombe and builds on Dr. Goodall’s innovative approach to conservation, which recognizes the central role that people play in the well-being of animals and the environment. In 1991, she founded Roots & Shoots, a global program that connects young people in nearly 100 countries to be conservation activists in their daily lives. Today, Dr. Goodall travels the world, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises and her reasons for hope. In her books and speeches, she emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living things and the collective power of individual action. Dr. Goodall is a U.N. Messenger of Peace. For more information about Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute, visit janegoodall.org.
