The Leaked Teaser To M.I.A.’s Documentary Is On The Internet Right Now, But Maybe Not For Long
Watch it now or forever hold your peace.
Just yesterday, Pitchfork reported on a brewing controversy regarding M.I.A. and a personal documentary she’s been involved with for over a year now. Its director, Steve Loveridge, apparently exhausted at M.I.A.’s record label’s (Interscope/Roc Nation) dawdling over releasing the project, leaked a teaser online to force the label’s hand. Obviously, Roc Nation weren’t too happy with this turn of events and the following rather hilarious email exchange happened, which Loveridge posted on his blog:
Needless to say, the teaser was also immediately pulled from YouTube, citing a copyright infringement. But now it’s on Vimeo! The internet never sleeps.
The film includes some interesting archival footage regarding M.I.A’s dad’s Tamil Tiger past, some behind-the-scenes studio biz, and talking head interviews with famous friends like filmmaker Spike Jonze, producers Diplo and Switch, Interscope boss Jimmy Iovine, Kanye West (who calls her a “fucking genius”), and even Julian Assange (who mumbles a bit). It seems like a pretty ambitious project, aiming to tie M.I.A’s musical legacy with her unorthodox upbringing and the greater resistance issues in Sri Lanka, all alongside some goofy face-dancing with Diplo.
No word on when the doco will get a proper release (or even how long the above teaser will stay online; Roc Nation are probably working on that right now), but if this tweet from M.I.A. herself is any indication, it looks like the whole thing could end up going through Kickstarter to get finished and distributed. We’d pay something, surely.