Our Favorite Film of DOC NYC documentary film festival — Martha and Rufus Wainwright’s tribute to their mother, Kate McGarrigle
Martha Wainwright knows about mothers. She’s the kind of mother who cherishes her own mother, Kate McGarrigle, the musician and songwriter.
Martha Wainwright knows about mothers. She’s the kind of mother who cherishes her own mother, Kate McGarrigle, the musician and songwriter. She’s the kind who knows what it means to integrate all her talents into her own motherhood. And she’s the kind who knows how lucky she is to have survived a harrowing birth at the same time that her mother was dying. As our friend and a powerful musician in her own rite, Martha’s talent provides the title track for our documentary, No Woman, No Cry and one of the tracks on our downloadable Starbucks CD. I already loved and admired Martha, even before meeting her at a White Ribbon Alliance dinner in NY years ago. Another dear friend, Lian Lunson, had directed a film about Leonard Cohen that featured Martha, Rufus and their mother Kate. That’s how I learned about the incredible Wainwright women. I saw one of the two tribute shows that became central to “Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You” last year and am thrilled to be able to give a shout-out to this beautiful documentary created by one of my dearest friends, about the ridiculously talented, dedicated and beloved mother of Martha and Rufus Wainwright.
Directed by filmmaker, Lian Lunson, the documentary entitled, Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert for Kate McGarrigle, films a tribute concert held at New York’s Town Hall after Kate McGarrigle’s death from cancer in 2010. Martha and her brother, musician Rufus Wainright, are joined by Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Antony, Jimmy Fallon (yes, that Jimmy Fallon) and others for a concert and tribute that Lunson says, “put everyone in pieces. There was so much love flowing through that concert. Everyone felt connected in some way to their own mothers as if it completed a cycle. We know every mother dies, but we don’t get to give all of them a concert of incredible beauty. This concert was partly a wake for Kate, but it was filled with singing, crying, and so much love.”
As gorgeous as it is poignant, this documentary is an intimate look at a family coming to terms with the loss of a loved one and the story of talent passed from generation to generation. It’s being screened this Saturday, November 10 at 7:00 PM in New York as part of DOC NYC (a documentary film festival featuring more than 100 films between 11/8 and 11/15). It will be followed up with a Q&A discussion with Martha and Rufus Wainright.
Click here for more information about when and where Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You is being screened.
Check back for our favorite story from Martha Wainwright about the deep connection that ran between Martha and her mother, Kate that created a miracle out of Martha’s own dangerous labor and delivery of her first child during Kate’s death.
