Trafalgar Releasing has revealed the first official trailer for Andrew Dominik’s This Much I Know to be True, a film that chronicles the extraordinary creative relationship between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis as they craft songs from their last two studio albums, “Ghosteen” (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) and “Carnage” (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis).
Shot in color by Andrew Dominik (who we spoke to this week about the UK re-release of Chopper) and with cinematography by Robbie Ryan (The Favourite, Marriage Story), the film serves as a companion piece to Dominik’s 2016 film One More Time with Feeling which premiered at the Venice Film festival followed by screenings in 850 cinemas across 30 countries. This document of their first-ever performances of the aforementioned albums, filmed in spring 2021 ahead of their UK tour, shadows them both, accompanied by singers and a string quartet, as they lend their inspiration to each song. The film also features a special appearance by close friend and long-term collaborator, Marianne Faithfull.
The interstitial segues between the songs shed light on the cosmology and motifs of their music. We hear Nick’s writing process in The Red Hand Files, the letters he chooses to reply to, and the actual replies themselves, offering insight into his current concerns in both life and music, and how he goes about sorting through his own thoughts and feelings.
The film also takes viewers in a visit to the workshop where he is creating a series of sculptures depicting the life of the Devil – a portrait of the lives of all of us as we move from innocence to experience, attune to the world and its attendant loss, and eventually confront our own mortality.
This Much I Know to be True reaches into the deep friendship and personal relationship between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, something glimpsed in the 2014 Cave pseudo-documentary, 20,000 Days on Earth, and will prove to be another significant moment in their journeys, capturing the mood and spirit of the pair as they move through a new, optimistic phase.
Following the film’s critically acclaimed world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Trafalgar Releasing will release the film as a global cinema event this coming Wednesday 11 May, 2022. Tickets for the global cinema event are now on sale at https://www.thismuchiknowtobetrue.com/.
