Newport & the Great Folk Dream

At the Newport Folk Festival of the early 1960s, music was inseparable from politics, community and the possibility of profound social change. Returning to the years 1963–66, this exhilarating documentary brings together Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, Odetta and Bob Dylan with gospel groups, banjo players, Egyptian oud musicians and singing Canadian fishermen. Edited from more than 100 hours of archival footage, it captures a moment when activism and artistic discovery went hand in hand. Dylan’s landmark electric set is here, of course, but Newport & the Great Folk Dream is equally compelling as a record of the artists, audiences and ideals that made the festival a cultural landmark.