‘Janis Ian: Breaking Silence’ Documentary To Start Streaming April 29
When Janis Ian at 14 wrote and recorded a song—“Society’s Child”—about an inter-racial love affair, it set off shock waves in 1965. Raised in Farmingdale (Monmouth County), she graduated from East Orange High School in Essex County reading Dylan Thomas and listening to her Odetta and Billie Holiday records. It took until 1967 when Leonard Bernstein featured her on his Young People’s Concerts TV show, and the song was re-released, that it went to #14 on the Billboard pop chart. She remained a one-hit wonder until 1975 when her brilliant “At 17” blew the cover off what teenaged girls across the country were actually thinking and feeling. It rose to #3. In 1992, she started her own damn record company. In 1993, she came out as a lesbian.
It's already been in movie theaters but starting April 29, Janis Ian: Breaking Silence will be available on streaming services. In the film, directed by a British filmmaker Varda Bar-Kar, Arlo Guthrie, Lily Tomlin, Joan Baez and others sing her praises. Packed with film clips of the various eras in which she rose to become an icon, it’s a testament to her bravery in the face of unbelievable hatred and ignorance. Now 74, Janis Ian can reflect on a lifetime of crashing through barriers and creating a body of work that has stood the test of time. In this movie, she does exactly that.
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