Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr.

Synopsis

Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr. is a homage of one of the most influential bands on the American East Coast, which inspired the rock scene - including Nirvana and Sonic Youth - in the 1990s. Their style and unmistakable sound, later referred as "Grunge", laid the foundation for the entire "Slacker" culture of Generation X.
It is also the story of the eloquent and eccentric guitarist and bandleader J. Mascis, the bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph and a band that insanely does not talk to each other. Communication takes place exclusively through music. Philipp Reichenheim nevertheless manages to make the closed and shy icons speak.
An emotional, tragically funny and sometimes noisy rollercoaster ride by a dysfunctional family - Dinosaur Jr.
Through several decades, the film offers rare insights into the crazy everyday life of the band and illuminates the inner workings of a cult band from its beginnings in the 1980s and 90s to the present day.

Director Biography

Philipp Reichenheim (aka Philipp Virus) is one of the pioneers of the 90`ies generation of independent, digital filmmakers.He is the only german whose music videos are in the music-video archive of the Museum of Modern Arts in New York amongst the work of Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham.Since 1993 he directed & produced over 40 music videos and a couple of short movies which received cult status and worldwide attention on numerous music stations and filmfestivals. In 2000 the London based Digital Hardcore Recordings released his work as a video compilation. Since a decade he worked with influential bands such as Dinosaur Jr.,Atari Teenage Riot,Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, etc. .Filming for Gerd Conrad`s "Starbuck-Holger Meins" in 2002 about former RAF terrorist who died in hungerstrike-Virus captured claustrophobic pictures. The documentary of Miron Zownir :"Bruno S.-Estangement is death" was filmed and co-produced by Philipp Virus (Virus Films). January 2005 he founded with his partners the production office Gold which also accommodates Virus Films.