Slideshow
Special screening on the 25th anniversary of 69 Love Songs
STRANGE POWERS: STEPHIN MERRITT AND THE MAGNETIC FIELDS
Q&A with Stephin Merritt &
Claudia Gonson
Tuesday, April 9
8:00
Introduced by co-director Kerthy Fix
Moderated by Film Forum's Director of Events Joseph A. Berger
NOTE: This screening is SOLD OUT.
A standby line will form at the box office 30 minutes prior to showtime.
The year 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Stephin Merritt's magnum opus 69 Love Songs. To mark the occasion, The Magnetic Fields are performing a number of dates across North America and Europe. The entire album will be performed over 2 nights, with half the record played each night. These shows will feature the original musicians from the album, including Claudia Gonson, John Woo, Sam Davol, Shirley Simms and composer Stephin Merritt, joined now by recent TMF members Chris Ewen and Anthony Kaczynski.
The Magnetic Fields are the brainchild of composer /multi-instrumentalist Stephin Merritt, who also releases albums as the 6ths, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes. With The Magnetic Fields, he has written, produced, and recorded twelve albums to date. The Magnetic Fields' 1999 album, 69 Love Songs, was a 3-disc masterwork which garnered Merritt widespread acclaim, including "best of" year-end lists in Spin, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and more. Stephin has also composed original music and lyrics for three music theater pieces directed by Chen Shi-Zheng, and in 2008, he mounted an Off-Broadway stage musical of Neil Gaiman's Coraline, for which he won an Obie Award. Merritt composed the score for the Academy Award–nominated film PIECES OF APRIL and for the independent film EBAN AND CHARLEY. He has composed songs and incidental music for the HarperCollins' audio books of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.
Kerthy Fix co-produced and co-directed STRANGE POWERS: STEPHIN MERRITT AND THE MAGNETIC FIELDS, and produced and directed WHO TOOK THE BOMP: LE TIGRE ON TOUR. As a documentary producer, she worked on the six-part series, FLYING: CONFESSIONS OF A FREE WOMAN with director Jennifer Fox which screened at Sundance and opened at Film Forum in 2007. She also co-produced HOTEL GRAMERCY PARK (Tribeca Film Festival, 2008) with acclaimed filmmaker Douglas Keeve (UNZIPPED) and producer Wendy Ettinger. In 2009, she produced the independent distribution for Pam Boll’s documentary, WHO DOES SHE THINKS SHE IS? (PBS), and in 2014, she produced Pam’s second film, A SMALL GOOD THING.
