Documentary Film
Not A Photograph: The Mission of Burma Story
A feature-length film built from years of access, hundreds of hours of footage and a treasure trove of archival materials, "Not A Photograph" follows a seminal band the industry once deemed ahead-of-its-time back into the underground limelight. What happens when the most influential band you never heard reunited after 20 years?
"Not A Photograph" documents the resurrection of the seminal post-punk band Mission of Burma, beginning in 2002 and continuing to the present. For a band deemed "too ahead-of-their-time" during their initial existence, "Not A Photograph" follows Mission of Burma's struggle to breathe new life into a tale that's already been recorded in rock's history books — one that's placed them under the bright lights of acclaim, influence and legend. After nearly twenty years and inexplicable circumstances, Mission of Burma's reunion — beginning as a handful of performances in 2002 and since catapulting into an international tour and their first studio album since 1982 — has left many begging the question: was the band truly ahead of their time, and has time finally caught up with them? "Not A Photograph" offers a snapshot of a time before compact discs and MTV, when rock & roll still had some tricks up its sleeve, and when a group of smart, young artist/musicians formed a band The New Yorker would later call "the most criminally undersung band of the 1980s."