Fanny: The Right to Rock
Directed by Bobbi Jo Hart
TICKETS
$12 / $8 Speed members
Sometime in the 1960s, in sunny Sacramento, two Filipina-American sisters got together with other teenage girls to play music. Little did they know their garage band would evolve into the legendary rock group Fanny, the first all-women band to release an LP with a major record label (Warner/Reprise, 1970).
Despite releasing five critically acclaimed albums over five years, touring with famed bands from Slade to Chicago and amassing a dedicated fan base of music legends including David Bowie, Fanny’s groundbreaking impact in music was written out of history until bandmates reunite 50 years later with a new rock record deal.
With incredible archival footage of the band’s rocking past intercut with its next chapter releasing a new album today, the film includes interviews with a large cadre of music icons, including Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Bonnie Raitt, The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, Todd Rundgren, The Runaways’ Cherie Currie, Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian, The B52’s Kate Pierson, Charles Neville and David Bowie guitarist and bassist Earl Slick and Gail Ann Dorsey. Fighting early barriers of race, gender, and sexuality in the music industry–and now ageism—the incredible women of Fanny are ready to claim their hallowed place in the halls of rock ‘n’ roll fame. 2021, Canada, DCP, 96 minutes. Recommended for 15+.