Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Kathleen Hanna is The Punk Singer

Despite the breakup of her most well known band Bikini Kill in the late ‘90s, and keeping moderately underground in her music and activism ever since, Kathleen Hanna continues to exist as a powerful and captivating facet of the music industry today.

One of the pioneers of the Riot Grrrl movement originating in the early1990s, Hanna is a punk legend, zinester, and feminist who has spent much of her career fighting to achieve visibility for female artists and musicians in a traditionally sexist industry.

She’s also now the focal point of Sini Anderson’s first feature documentary, The Punk Singer, released this past March in Austin, Texas at the annual music festival South By Southwest (SXSW).

The film examines Hanna’s life, paying particular attention to her role as a feminist icon, a status that she’s achieved as a result of her groundbreaking music and activism. In an interview for the film’s SXSW debut, director Sini Anderson discusses how a documentary about an autonomous, outspoken female is relevant now more than ever, explaining,

“I felt really strongly that now was the time that Kathleen needed to tell her story...From before we started production, I thought, 'Oh no, it’s got to happen right now, it’s got to happen right now.' And that was before the Slut Walk and before Pussy Riot and before Occupy Wall Street. You could feel that there was a wave coming, that we’d been in a political dip...The timing of it was incredibly important.”

The Punk Singer features commentary from Joan Jett, Johanna Fateman, and others from the Riot Grrrl movement, as well as Kathleen Hanna herself. Viewers can expect the film to take them on an exploration of contemporary music, as well as into the life of courageous icon and Riot Grrrl, Hanna.

No comments:

Post a Comment