(vh1) In the summer of 1969, on a farm about 90 miles north of New York City, more than 500,000 people gathered for a three day music festival that in an instant, defined a generation and changed popular culture forever
Woodstock. [until the hippies sobered up and turned into yuppies] Now, 40 years after that historic moment, VH1 Rock Docs and History have joined forces for a unique television collaboration: the definitive two-hour documentary, "Woodstock: 40 Years Later" (working title), which will premiere this August on VH1, History and VH1 Classic.
Directed by two-time Academy Award winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple and Executive Produced by Michael Lang, the original festival organizer, the film examines Woodstock from the perspectives of not only the musicians who graced the stage, but the fans who gathered in mass, the concert promoters who risked everything and countless others whose unique experiences help paint a tapestry of Woodstock that hasn't been seen in recent years.
"Woodstock: 40 Years Later" explores the frenzied days leading up to and throughout the festival, from how the planners scrambled to find a concert site and the traffic jams that shut down the New York State thruway to the infamously bad "brown acid," the thunderous rain and mud and, of course, the music. Weaving together first-hand accounts with rare archival images and an iconic soundtrack, the documentary allows those who were there a chance to relive the experience and gives an entirely new generation an opportunity to feel the magic of that time.
The film will also take an important look at Woodstock's legacy through the eyes of today's musicians and activists examining why Woodstock and all it symbolizes is still relevant in today's culture.
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