Sara Bareilles Premieres 'Good Grief' Doc at Tribeca
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- Sara Bareilles premiered her documentary 'Sara Bareilles: Good Grief' at the Beacon Theatre as part of the Tribeca Film Festival, with the companion album 'Good Grief' scheduled for release on Aug. 28.
- Josh Alexander directed the film using a direct-cinema approach, recording 19 tracks of continuous audio daily at Dreamland, a church-turned-studio in upstate New York, and distinguishing it from typical label-commissioned 'making of' documentaries.
- The film opens in its first 10 minutes with a discussion between Bareilles and musician Butterfly Boucher about IVF, placing Bareilles' unresolved fertility journey at the front of the narrative.
- Bareilles cited the death of friend Gavin, multiple friends dying, mental health struggles, a fertility odyssey, and 'the grief of the country' as the domino-effect of catalysts for the album.
- Alexander cited 'The Last Waltz,' 'Original Cast Album: Company,' 'Amazing Grace,' and 'Don't Look Back' as ancestor films, while cinematographer Jenna Rosher (of 'Jesus Camp' and the Billie Eilish documentary) left a job in Asia to shoot the project.
- The crew and musicians ate lunch together daily to dissolve the traditional divide, with Alexander describing the week as an emotional 'summer camp' where the entire team processed their own grief after long takes.
Why it matters: Bareilles is publicly sharing unresolved grief — including an IVF journey that didn't work and the death of friend Gavin — while Alexander frames the film as a 'permission structure' for others to grieve. By opening with the fertility conversation in its first 10 minutes, the documentary bucks the conventional pacing of artist docs, prioritizing emotional exposure over commercial caution.
