When Björk Met Attenborough

When Björk Met Attenborough (2013)

Award-winning musician Björk and legendary broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough have admired each other's work for years but this is the first time they have discussed their mutual love of music and the natural world on screen. In this remarkable documentary, Björk explores our unique relationship with music and discovers how technology might transform the way we engage with it in the future.

Date of release
2013-07-26
TMDB
7.8 / 10 (13)
Runtime
48m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Louise Hooper

Casting

Interesting facts

When Björk Met Attenborough is a 2013 documentary television film directed by Louise Hooper, executive produced by Lucas Ochoa and produced by Caroline Page. It was aired for the first time on 27 July 2013 on Channel 4, in conjunction with Pulse Films and One Little Indian Records. Partly filmed at the Natural History Museum in London, the documentary features an encounter between Icelandic singer-songwriter and musician Björk and English broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough. They discuss the nature of music and the intersection between music, nature and technology. It also follows the singer as she prepares for her Biophilia tour, along with rehearsal and studio recording.

Background and release

When the Biophilia project was first unveiled, it was announced that a documentary including footage of studio recording, interviews and rehearsal for the live performances, which would culminate in the first live performance at the Manchester International Festival, was in the works. While the original idea for the documentary never materialised, the project evolved as a mutual collaboration between David Attenborough and Björk herself.

"Born from Bjork's revolutionary music project we are thrilled to be able to document this incredible journey with her; she is undeniably one of the most iconic figures in popular culture and truly pushes boundaries like no other artist does."

The English naturalist had previously provided the spoken introduction for the live shows and the apps. The two had long admired each other's works. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Björk had confessed that, when she was a kid, she considered Attenborough her "rock star". Attenborough stated that the singer "is really quite enchanting" and called her "honey" during the filming, reportedly because he could not pronounce her name properly.

"There is an unexpected chemistry and fun between these two unique characters. They are both icons of their own separate worlds of music and nature, and both excited and curious to explore how these two worlds come together. Seeing Bjork and Sir David laughing and engaging with each other on screen is simply magical, it was fascinating to have the chance to bring Sir David and Bjork together for the first time on television.

The documentary was scheduled to air during November 2012 and to see a later limited cinema release in an extended cut. As of November 2012, the documentary was still in the editing. In June 2013, it was reported that the documentary would have its worldwide premiere at the Cortona Mix Festival in Italy. The festival then cancelled the projection.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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