Attention, Tom Petty fans: The new 90-minute documentary Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers was released earlier today on YouTube. I haven’t had time to watch it yet, but I have every reason to believe it will be worth checking out. Feel free to watch it above, and read more details below. Enjoy.
THE PRESS RELEASE: “YouTube Originals premiered the feature length documentary Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers in full 4K resolution only on Tom Petty’s YouTube channel.
The film offers a unique look into the creative mastery and turbulent personal life of the legendary rock star, capturing the period of 1993-1995 when Tom worked with legendary producer Rick Rubin for the first time and giving an unvarnished look at Petty that features never-before-seen footage drawn from a newly discovered archive of 16mm film, in addition to new interviews with album co-producer and Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench and many more.
The uplifting 89-minute documentary was directed by award-winning filmmaker Mary Wharton (Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President, Sam Cooke: Legend, Elvis Lives!, The Beatles Revolution) and debuted in March as an official SXSW 2021 selection, winning the festival’s Audience Award. The film went on to win Best Documentary Film at the Boulder Film Festival and received widespread critical acclaim throughout the film festival season. The picture digs deeper into 2020’s critically acclaimed certified gold reissue, Wildflowers & All The Rest, which revealed the long-anticipated second half of Tom’s autobiographical masterpiece.
Produced by Peter Afterman with executive producers Dan Braun, Mary Wharton and Adria Petty and presented by Inaudible Films, Warner Music Entertainment and Warner Records, the documentary illuminates an artist at the height of his powers, providing an intimate and moving look at an enigmatic icon.
