A Night of Ferocious Joy

A NIGHT OF FEROCIOUS JOY is not an ordinary concert film. Filmmaker David Zeiger could compare his film with important time-documents like WOODSTOCK (Michael Wadleigh, 1970) or THE LAST WALTZ (Martin Scorsese, 1978), because it will go down in history as the first anti-war concert of the new millennium. The concert took place on May 12th, 2002 (Mother’s Day) in Hollywood, under the banner Artspeaks! Not In Our Name. Artists from various disciplines (such as poets and visual artists) and from different musical schools (for example, hip-hop, Latin, funk and world music) make a stand together against the American government. The straight-ahead recording of passionate and energetic performances by these social trailblazers is inter-mixed with backstage interviews. Hip-hoppers Blackalicious are worried about the brainwashing of the American public by their government. Artist Saul Williams reflects on the question of how art can raise humankind to higher self-awareness. Rapper Mystic explains how he uses his main instrument, his voice, to articulate what he stands for.