Come Worry with Us!
A feature documentary written and directed by Helene Klodawsky
Produced by Katarina Soukup, Catbird Productions, 2013
Broadcaster: Super Channel
Distributor: Les Films du 3 Mars, Cinema Guild
Violinist Jessica Moss and singer/guitarist Efrim Menuck are struggling to balance parenting their son Ezra with making music in their internationally acclaimed Montreal-based band. Thee Silver Mt. Zion is one of a growing number of bands to have accepted an infant into its touring life. Making a living has never been more difficult for musicians: a downloading generation has shattered the economics of the music industry, and constant touring has become synonymous with economic survival. Touring with children is both costly and complicated, yet Jessica and Efrim, and fellow band mates Sophie Trudeau, Thierry Amar and Dave Payant, are determined to combine family life and being on the road with the band’s deep political commitment. As SMZ perseveres in making art and an honest living, we follow Jessica as she discovers the parallel path that mothers can find themselves on while attempting to pursue artistic endeavours alongside their peers. Against a backdrop of intense competition and rapid technological change, where corporatization of the cultural industries is challenging the very notion of freedom, and where the distinction between life and work is constantly blurred, the film follows a growing generation of globalized artists struggling to remain “self-made” in spite unprecedented economic precariousness.
Great portrait of being “on the road” in the digital era. Must see doc!!
Harold Crooks, director, The Price We Pay
Brings to life the ordinary anxieties and moments of transcendent joy in everybody’s existence.
Alex Shoumatoff, contributing editor, Vanity Fair
Helene Klodawsky’s ‘Come Worry With Us’ is a rockumentary unlike all the others… While her subject may be the musicians who form the excellent Canadian collectives Thee Silver Mount Zion and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the questions raised by the film are relevant for anyone struggling with precarity, money, creativity, integrity, and love: in short, almost all of us.
Five stars.
Dr. Nina Power, philosopher, journalist and author of One Dimensional Woman
… in its portrayal of the parents and the band’s commitment to support such “unconventional childrearing” and their creativity in doing so offers us much hope for imagining and creating a world where women may be both successful mothers and musicians.
Dr. Andrea O’Reilly, Director, Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement and Publisher of Demeter Press, first feminist press on motherhood
Come Worry With Us! is a fantastic and important documentary, chock full of special moments. The discussions Jessica has with other female musicians, including Natalia Yanchak of the Dears, Matana Roberts, Julie Doiron, and her sister Joan Moss, are incredibly raw and enlightening…… A Winehouse Mag must see.
Chaka V. Reid, creator of the Winehouse Mag
Selected Festivals:
Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal
Istanbul International Independent Film Festival
FICG Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival
DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Vancouver
Beat International Film Festival, Moscow
Gimme Some Truth – RTRFM’s Music Documentary Festival
Melbourne Internacional Film Festival