Fanny: The Right to Rock

Directed by Bobbi Jo Hart
Film Movement
2021
96 Minutes
Canada
English
Documentary, Music, LGBTQIA2S+
Not Rated
play trailer
DVD
$29.95

Sometime in the 1960s, in sunny Sacramento, two Filipina-American sisters got together with other teenage girls to play music. Little did they know their garage band would evolve into the legendary rock group Fanny, the first all-women band to issue an LP with a major record label (Warner/Reprise, 1970). Despite releasing five critically-acclaimed albums over five years, touring with famed bands from Slade to Chicago and amassing a dedicated fan base of music legends including David Bowie, Fanny's groundbreaking impact in music was written out of history... until bandmates reunite 50 years later with a new rock record deal. With incredible archival footage of the band's rocking past intercut with its next chapter releasing a new LP today, the film includes interviews with a large cadre of music icons, including Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Bonnie Raitt, The Go-Go's Kathy Valentine, Todd Rundgren, The Runaways' Cherie Currie, Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, The B52's Kate Pierson, Charles Neville, and David Bowie guitarist and bassist Earl Slick and Gail Ann Dorsey. Fighting early barriers of race, gender and sexuality in the music industry, and now ageism, the incredible women of Fanny are ready to claim their hallowed place in the halls of rock 'n' roll fame.

Cast

  • Jean Millington
  • June Millington
  • Brie Darling
  • Alice de Buhr
  • Nickey Barclay
  • Patti Quatro
  • Joe Elliott
  • Bonnie Raitt
  • Kathy Valentine
  • Todd Rundgren
  • Cherie Currie
  • John Sebastian
  • Kate Pierson
  • Linda Wolf
DVD Features

BONUS FEATURES:

5 featurettes including over 35 minutes of additional footage

Discs: 1

  • Highest Rating
    "It’s a vivid look at artists who remained entirely themselves throughout their careers. And they rock."
    Norman Wilner, Now Toronto
  • Highest Rating
    "“Fanny: The Right to Rock” remains thoroughly engaging thanks to the demonstrable talent and brassy forthrightness of its central personalities. There’s no whiff of “nostalgia act” to their current music — these women are born rock lifers who clearly never stopped evolving creatively, even if the hoped-for commercial rewards never quite arrived."
    Dennis Harvey, Variety
  • Highest Rating
    "Intense hard rock. Searing guitar solos. Serious strutting on stage with no sexual posturing. These aren’t things you often associate with female musicians. So props to Bobbi Jo Hart, whose documentary Fanny: The Right to Rock puts the spotlight on the groundbreaking all-women rock group that too few people have ever heard of. Credit racism, sexism and homophobia to consigning this outfit of excellent musicians, the first women’s band to secure a record deal with a major label, to near oblivion."
    Susan G. Cole, POV Magazine
  • Highest Rating
    "Hart’s wonderful uncovering of this exhilarating piece of queer/Filipino/female/music history was way past due and makes for such compelling viewing."
    Roger Walker-Dack, Queerguru
  • Highest Rating
    "Hart’s film pays overdue tribute to Fanny. This affectionate documentary should garner the band a whole new set of fans...."
    Gary M. Kramer, Gay City News
  • Highest Rating
    "Hart's uncovering of this exhilarating piece of queer/Filipino/female/music history is way past due and makes for compelling viewing."
    Roger Walker-Dack, Edge Media Network
  • Highest Rating
    "An illuminating documentary on the sexism, racism, ageism and homophobia that confronted members of Fanny, which many consider the first all-female rock band."
    Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News
  • Highest Rating
    "Bobbi Jo Hart’s energetic documentary shines a light on one of the greatest, most forgotten all-female rock bands in music history."
    Sydney Urbanek, The Spool
  • Highest Rating
    "If you’re a fan of music, true stories, or just girls rocking out, I’d recommend giving Fanny: The Right To Rock a watch."
    Maia R , Lesflicks
  • Highest Rating
    "Fanny: The Right to Rock is a glorious love letter to a band that should’ve had a lot more fame and hits than they were handed. It’s a powerful spotlight that’s shone directly on a band that could’ve been swept under the rug by the passing of time."
    Lee Butler, Movie Meister Reviews
  • Highest Rating
    "A terrific and eye-opening documentary and an amendment to misconceptions."
    John Doyle, Globe and Mail
  • Highest Rating
    "Bobbi Jo Hart's revelatory documentary about Fanny, one of Rock’s most pioneering but underrated all-women bands, will create more fans for the band, which reunited a few years ago and released a new album in 2018. Hail to these early queens of rock."
    Sandie Angulo Chen, AWFJ Women on Film
  • Highest Rating
    "Fanny: The Right to Rock is essential viewing for every student of rock history, not to mention feminism."
    Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle

Awards & Recognition

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