The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced the world premiere of The Lumineers’ ‘III’, a visual exploration of the band’s third and latest album.
In three chapters corresponding with the album’s 10 tracks, the film explores addiction over three generations of a working-class family in the American Northeast. Initially inspired by The Lumineers’ lead vocalist Wesley Schultz’s own family members, the film is directed by Kevin Phillips (Super Dark Times) from a story by Schultz and The Lumineers’ drummer and pianist Jeremiah Fraites.
A Neighborhood Watch production, ‘III’ stars newcomer Anna Cordell, Nick Stahl (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, In the Bedroom) and Charlie Tahan (Ozark, Super Dark Times) as the matriarch, son and grandson of the Sparks family. All songs were written by Schultz and Fraites. Schultz, Fraites and manager Bernie Cahill serve as executive producers and Traci Carlson and Richard Peete produce.
Shot entirely in Portland, Oregon, the film’s production team also includes Wyatt Garfield (director of photography), Ed Yonaitis (editor), David Storm (production designer) and Elizabeth Warn (costume designer).
The announcement comes in advance of the two-time GRAMMY-nominated band’s release of their new album ‘III’ on September 13.
“This short film is about a member of my family who’s battle with addiction has led her to rehab, jail, and ultimately homeless now, for over a year,” Schultz explains. “We were attempting to make a short film with the album serving as our narrator. I never dreamed it would be premiered at one of the top international film festivals in the world.”
Following the 44-minute film premiere, Schultz, Fraites and Phillips will participate in a Q+A session and The Lumineers will perform.
‘III’ is the third album by two-time GRAMMY-nominated band The Lumineers, whose line up is original members and songwriters Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites plus violinist/vocalist Lauren Jacobson, pianist Stelth Ulvang, bassist/backing vocalist Byron Isaacs and multi-instrumentalist Brandon Miller. ‘III’ follows two platinum albums, their self-titled 2012 debut, which stormed into the Top 10 of the UK Official Album Chart (and was certified triple-platinum in 2018), and their second album, ‘Cleopatra’, released in 2016, which hit No.1 in both the UK Official Album Charts and No.1 on the Billboard Top 200 in its first week of release.
The Lumineers have sold out tours across the world, selling over 300,000 tickets on 2017’s ‘Cleopatra World Tour’ which ended with 27 sold-out arena shows. Their discography has racked up a total of 4.2 billion streams and 4.6 million album sales worldwide. The band have also supported icons and their musical heroes on the road, including Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at British Summer Time Festival in London’s Hyde Park in 2017. This year, the band will tour across the US and Europe, with nights at three UK arenas including a date at London’s O2 Arena.
III will premiere on Sunday, September 8 at 3PM in Cinema 1 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (Reitman Square: 350 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3X5).
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