Paul Simon’s Grammy-winning album Graceland– an irresistible and groundbreaking fusion of American and South African pop music — was an immediate hit when it was released in 1986. It also proved to be a lightning rod for controversy, after South African leaders protested that Simon had broken the cultural boycott of the nation’s oppressively racist apartheid regime.In this documentary, premiering at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Paul Simon returns to South Africa which formally ended apartheid in 1994. The film follows Simon as he reunites with his South African collaborators, and revisits the controversy the album caused, while luminaries like Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, Lorne Michaels, David Bryne and Sir Paul McCartney share their thoughts on what the album meant to them.
2012 I USA/South Africa I 101 minutes I English
Tickets: $10 General; $8 JCC members and students
