DIED YOUNG, STAYED PRETTY

Year: 2008
UK: ICA Films
Cast: Art Chandry, Rob Jones, Print Mafia, Uncle Charlie, Arnes Bros, Brian Chippendale, Tyler Stout, American Poster Institute
Director: Eileen Yaghoobian
Country: USA
UK: 94 mins
UK Certificate: NC
UK Release Date: 9 October 2009 (Limited Release - London, ICA)


Synopsis

From the psychedelic generation of the 60s and 70s, through to the hardcore renaissance of ther past decade, DIED YOUNG, STAYED PRETTY is a documentary which explores the strikingly obscene, brazenly blasphemous and often quite beautiful world of underground graphic artists.

Eileen Yaghoobian travels through North American to speak to the men and women who through gig posters have created their own visual language on the outskirts of society for bands who would become the Melvins, Broken Social Scene, Marilyn Manson, Sonic Youth, Queens of the Stone Age and Bob Dylan.

In a film that is raw and as curious as the posters and their artists, DIED YOUNG, STAYED PRETTY asks whether making a poster can have a difference and whether counter culture still has any power. The artists explain their worka nd vent their theories on culture and life, whilst celebrating the music and musicians that they love in a defiant and darkly funny film.