What Do The Critics Say?

"You don't have be a fan of the 1970s British punk rock sensation the Clash to enjoy Julien Temple's "Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten," a visually exciting, high-octane, rock history of the band and its charismatic frontman and songwriter, Joe Strummer. Old friends, musicians, former band members and family, along with Bono, John Cusack, Johnny Depp and Jarmusch, share their recollections, not all of them flattering. Simply said: It's terrific. A rock documentary that's a good as it gets." Sura Wood HOLLYWOOD REPORTER "The late punk rock legend Joe Strummer is rendered fully human in Julian Temple's engrossing and all-encompassing portrait." Robert Koehler VARIETY "Celebrates Strummer's fecundity and self-invention and honors his reticence and private despair, reminding us along the way what a contradictory and amazing affair a single human life is." Andrew O'Hehir SALON.COM "Of Strummer himself I found him to be soulful, generous, ambitious and quite the humanist." Lisa Hensley SBS MOVIE SHOW "Temple picked a winner in his subject matter. Strummer is always compelling and charismatic, which covers up a whole host of sins. Strummer's life takes on a mythic quality as friends, family, colleagues, and celebrity acquaintances mostly sit around campfires as they reminisce about the diplomat's son who would grow up to become a proletariat hero." Pam Grady REEL.COM "Documentarian Julien Temple orchestrates a pile of archival footage and interviews—including some with Strummer shot prior to his death in December 2002—into a blazing tribute full of animation, montages and rarities. Some of the archival footage is remarkable, including a shot in the opening sequence showing Strummer in the studio recording "The Clash" in 1977. Director Temple succeeds in creating a portrait neither glowing nor damning, but representative of a remarkable man." Jeremy Mathews FILM THREAT

"A self described punk rock warlord, Joe Strummer was a rebel, an individual who liked to think and convey relevance through his music. This strident documentary tribute from his friend, filmmaker Julien Temple looks at Strummer from his early musical years as the frontman of the 70s and 80s band The Clash. From an inflated ego to the excess of drugs and overindulgence, Strummer experienced it all. His voice may have been mediocre, but there's no denying the influence and legacy he left behind." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "Director Julien Temple's documentary, "The Future Is Unwritten", examines Strummer's life and motivations with a flair for unearthing endlessly quotable bandmates, friends, and artists who have been inspired by him including Bono, Red Hot Chili Peppers Anthony Keidis and Flea, and Johnny Depp of all people (in full Pirates regalia)." Jessica Letkemann PREMIERE MAGAZINE "Temple succeeds beautifully in evoking Strummer as a cross between a punk journeyman and one of the battered, upright gunmen who populate Sam Peckinpah’s films." Charles Taylor L.A. WEEKLY "Ever since the mid 1970s, Julien Temple has engaged with music on screen, starting with the docos of the Sex Pistols, dozens of rock videos for major bands including the Rolling Stones and the mid-80s musical, "Absolute Beginners". A friend of Joe Strummer, Temple attacks this homage with a ferocity equal to Joe's." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "As the front man for the band "The Clash" from 1977 Strummer revolutionized rock'n'roll and had a marked influence changing the attitudes of young people. "The Clash" seemed to stand for something beyond commercial success. Strummer is seen in this doco as not just a singer songwriter but a true communicator of our times. Julian Temple is obviously Joe Strummer's biggest fan and it is a lovingly complied tribute to the man." John Bale THE BLURB

The Inside Story In the late 1970s and early 1980s the Clash revolutionized rock’n’roll and changed young people’s attitudes forever. The Clash endure as icons, not just for their music but also as a band who stood for something above and beyond commercial success. In a world increasingly lacking in inspirational cultural figures, their story is an epic adventure. The Clash front man, songwriter, human rock’n’roll dynamo and guiding spirit behind this unrivalled legacy is the late, great Joe Strummer, who with prophetic intensity is still changing people’s attitudes all over the world. With unique, authorized access to Joe’s personal archives and astonishing unseen footage, British film maker Julien Temple digs deep beneath the myths which surround the Clash and punk in general to place Joe in the broader cultural context of the world during the last half century. "The Future Is Unwritten" is a film to celebrate his life. Structured around the idea behind Joe Strummer’s 'London Calling' shows, going out to 40 million listeners on the BBC World Service between 1998 and 2002, and the legendary Strummerville campfires which he once hailed as "more important than any music I’ve written", it is Joe himself, and the people closest to him, who are with us throughout the film. Reflected in the flickering flames of the fire and the depth and intensity of the soundtrack he chose, we are taken to all the places, and all the people, we need to know to fully understand him. Unlike anybody else, Joe Strummer managed to break down boundaries and communicate directly and honestly with his audience, establishing a uniquely personal relationship with millions of people. Joe transcended geographic and social divisions; in the film Julien Temple, the first to film the newly formed Clash in 1976, then a close personal friend for the last ten years of Joe’s life, reflects the many ways that his life held the keys to understanding what lies at the heart of being alive in our times. Many of Joe Strummer’s lyrics strike an eerily prophetic note, predicting events such as the Iraq war and the consequences of global warming, decades before we are now having to come to terms with them. Joe’s music was about inclusivity; rock, folk, reggae, cumbia, bhangra, Cuban son, music from all over the world, with the man himself embracing, celebrating, questioning it all. It was this ability to understand, distill and reflect a multitude of opinions which gave his lyrics their universal, yet personal, power. Joe had his own strongly held opinions too, but these were forged within a furnace of contradictions which are critical to any understanding of the man. But from his impeccable manners his instinctive distrust of any social hierarchy, he always wore his contradictions on his sleeve. In "The Future Is Unwritten" we see the whole man for the first time; not simply Joe the musician or lead singer of the Clash. Joe the actor, the film maker, the thinker, the poet. Animated and illustrated with Joe’s own incredible legacy: cartoons, drawings, paintings, Post-It notes and artefacts stored in the voluminous plastic bags which he always kept with him, we see Joe Strummer writ large by his own hand - by his art, his experiences and his choices. A man remarkably untouched by fame, a man who changed lives simply by his belief in people. A man who always insisted upon moving on at almost any cost, even if it meant repeated destruction of his own past. "The Future Is Unwritten" tells the story of a life in the way it was lived. A ripped, raw, cut-up, hand-spliced patchwork of iconic images and found footage, news clips, movies, TV ads and unseen home movies, all carrying the powerful imprint of authenticity; the pure essence of a time and a place. To use the man’s own words, this is "spontaneous combustion" on screen, where ideas, clues and tributes spiral through the narrative like wildfire, combining to illuminate the many different dimensions of Joe. "The Future is Unwritten" is both an intimate memorial to a friend and an epic celebration of a global icon. From the director of the acclaimed "The Filth and the Fury" and "Glastonbury", it is a dramatic and very human exploration of the man behind the legend, telling the story of his whole life; before, during and after the fierce spotlight of the Clash, to his international legion of fans. For Joe Strummer, the idea of a "campfire" – any loose assembly of people bonded by the rising flames and the advancing dawn - became an art form in itself. The campfire was the melting pot, the wisdom stone, the Holy Grail; the essential outdoor forum for constantly evolving ideas and conversations. First perfected backstage at Glastonbury Festival – where the nightly assembly was first dubbed 'Strummerville' – Joe took his campfires, and his circle of friendships and voices, all around the world, and finally back home to Somerset, where a Stone Circle now commemorates the campfire. For director Julien Temple: "The campfire was always going to be one of the central themes of the film. In the last ten years of his life, really the time I got to know him best, we had our deepest conversations around the campfire. It was a much bigger thing, once he’d moved to Somerset, where Joe’s house was. Up on the Quantock Hills, a rebel outpost…a place even the Romans had never managed to conquer." Just as in his lifetime, we had people from all walks of life sitting by the fire, listening to the music that was so much a part of him. It was a place to lose themselves in the flames; in the firelight everyone is equal, the famous people no more relevant than the not so famous people. By interviewing that way for the film we were freeing ourselves from the ‘talking heads’ of a conventional documentary. We were getting a real sense of the friendship and the connections. I had to make it work because it was so important to Joe. He once said to me that he thought the campfire was a better idea than any of the music he had ever made - some nights it really did get that good. The whole thing was about people from completely different backgrounds around that fire, and I hope we have brought the essence of that to the film. More often than not, Joe was the last one at the fire. To whoever was left standing he’d say: "It’s you and me at Club Dawn". Reflected in the flames in "The Future Is Unwritten" is a cast of Joe’s closest friends and relations – among them his oldest school friend Dick Evans and his cousins Ian and Alasdair Gillies – and artists, friends and musicians from his formative years. They’re joined by Joe’s first wife, Gaby, his second wife, Lucinda, Clash members past and present, fellow actors, musicians and artists, and many other unsung heroes who played an important part in his life. Synopsis

Filmmaker Julien Temple chronicles the transformation of a self-described "mouthy little git," born John Mellor, into an anti-establishment icon known to the world as Joe Strummer. In his latest documentary, Temple uncovers the myth behind the front man of the seminal punk band the "Clash". Through previously unearthed interviews with Strummer himself and recollections of those who knew him best, Temple reveals a complex man who used his music as a bullhorn for his conscience, as well as a means to educate others about the injustices of the world. The film includes live concert footage spanning Strummer's career and tapes of his BBC radio program London Calling, all of which provide a fitting soundtrack to his distinctive and storied existence. The performance footage would be fascinating on its own, but Temple probes beyond Strummer's mystique to reveal a person with his own flaws who could sometimes be idealistic to a fault. Temple creates a thoughtful and poignant portrait of a man many think they knew. Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten provides a rare insightful glimpse into the man who became a legend.

The Verdict "Julien Temple's tribute to Joe Strummer is a real eye opener. It really doesn't matter whether you know much about the life of Strummer and bands such as the Clash or The 101-ers because by film's end, you'll feel as though you know the man, his music, his ideals and those who made up his life, intimately. It's brilliantly put together and as long as you let it what you're witnessing on the screen run its pace and allow it all to soak in, you'll be throughly rewarded by what can best be described as a thoroughly worthwhile experience. There's a real passion in the Strummer story and while it could have been tidied up a little by the inclussion of bassist Paul Simonon's story, "Strummer The Future Is Unwritten" is for the most part, very well presented and certainly worth experiencing. 4 STARS." Joe Strummer Timelines

1952 John Graham Mellor (Joe Strummer) born 21 August in Ankara, Turkey. Is the youngest of two brothers 1953 – 1957 The family travels to Iran, Egypt, Malawi and Mexico. Joe’s father, Ron Mellor, is a career diplomat and they join him for postings to Cairo and Mexico City, where they survive the 1956 earthquake 1958 Back in the UK, the Mellors move to Surrey. Joe meets lifelong friend Dick 'The Shit' Evans for the first time 1961 Joe and his brother, David, enrol at the City of London Freemen’s School, a co-educational boarding school 1968 Joe visits the Jazz and Blues Festival in Plumpton, East Sussex, and the Pink Floyd free concert in Hyde Park a year later 1969 Known to his friends as 'Woody', Joe holds his first – and only - party at his parents’ house 1970 Ron Mellor awarded MBE in New Year’s Honours List; at school Joe Strummer becomes a prefect 1971 Accepted for foundation course at Central School of Art and Design; stated ambition is "to become a cartoonist". Visits ‘Glastonbury Fayre’, the second Glastonbury Festival, in 1971 and is converted to vegetarianism – for life. Also acquires a criminal record for stealing a pint of milk from a doorstep in South London 1972 Begins busking on London Underground with Tymon Dogg and starts to learn guitar. Spends summer on a farm in Dorset, then in Wales. Hitching back to London, Joe ends up in Newport, South Wales, home of an influential art college 1973 Starts playing with the Vultures, his first band, in Newport. Over 30 years later, their earliest recording finally resurfaces in "The Future Is Unwritten" 1974 Back in London, Joe joins the 'squat' scene, first in Chippenham Road, then in the basement of 101 Walterton Road. The 101-ers, formed that summer, raise funds for other squatters 1975 The 101-ers play pubs and benefit gigs in London, and are first mentioned in the music press. 'Woody' changes his name to Joe Strummer 1976 'Keys To Your Heart' is the 101ers first single, released before they play the Nashville Rooms in April. The support act is the Sex Pistols. For Joe it is a life-changing moment; a month later Bernie Rhodes asks him to join the Clash. The first song they rehearse together is 'One-Two- Crush-On-You', written by Mick Jones, eventually released in 1992; the first gig, the Black Swan, Sheffield. The infamous 'Anarchy' tour begins in Norwich on December 3rd 1977 The Clash play the Roxy, London on New Year’s Day, sign to CBS Records and release their first single, 'White Riot', and their first album, 'The Clash', by the beginning of April. 'White Riot' tour begins on May Day. At the end of a year of constant touring, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones visit Kingston, Jamaica for the first time in November, planning to write songs for the second Clash album 1978 The Clash play in front of their biggest crowd to date, 80,000 people, at the Rock Against Racismgig in London’s Victoria Park. Joe visits the USA for the first time; as he and Mick Jones record with producer Sandy Pearlman in San Francisco; Joe then drives all the way back to New York City…in a Chevrolet pick-up. Second album – "Give ‘Em Enough Rope" 1979 The Clash cross the Atlantic for the first time, playing Vancouver in January before opening the ‘Pearl Harbour’ tour in San Francisco. A second US tour, ‘Take The Fifth’, follows in the Autumn before third album, 'London Calling', is released in December 1980 Clash triple-album ‘Sandinista’ released December, acclaimed with a 5-star review in "Rolling Stone" 1981 Joe Strummer completes the London Marathon – later he will also run the Marathon in Paris.

The Clash play an unprecedented seventeen consecutive shows at Bond’s club in New York’s Times Square in May and June; the "Clash on Broadway" box set commemorates this landmark 1982 Drummer Topper Headon replaced by Terry Chimes. ‘Combat Rock’ released. Mick Jones plays his final UK gig with the Clash in Bristol 1983 Mick Jones’ departure from the Clash is announced to the press in September. A month later Joe’s daughter with his partner Gaby is born in London, and named Jazzy 1984 The Clash tour the US, UK and Europe with a new line-up. Joe visits the grave of Spanish Civil War poet Federico Garcia Lorca 1985 The Clash play their final live show in Athens. "Cut The Crap" released in the autumn; news of the demise of the Clash just weeks later 1986 Gaby and Joe’s second daughter, Lola, born. Joe films "Straight To Hell" in Almeria, Spain with director Alex Cox; followed by a part in "Candy Mountain". Writes soundtrack for "Walker", shot in Nicaragua 1987 Joe joins the Pogues as guitarist after Philip Chevron becomes ill; tours US and UK 1988 Writes four songs in Los Angeles for ‘Permanent Record’ (starring a young Keanu Reeves); plays live gigs as Joe Strummer and the Latino Rockabilly War before moving to US to write solo album 1989 Plays 'Johnny' in the Jim Jarmusch movie "‘Mystery Train"; Steve Buscemi also stars as his brother-in-law. Solo album "Earthquake Weather" released 1990 Produces the Pogues’ album "Hell’s Ditch"; tours as singer when Shane McGowan leaves 1991 The Clash ‘The Singles’ collection released 1992-1994 Joe continues to split his time between London, a home in Hampshire and annual sojourns in Almeria, Spain. 1995 Marries Lucinda, mother of Joe’s step-daughter Eliza, in London. Revisists Glastonbury Festival, Womad and other festivals, where the concept of ‘campfire’ and Strummerville develops; begins recording new songs 1996 Records music for "Grosse Pointe Blank" soundtrack in Los Angeles; also appears on "Top of the Pops" in UK, contributing to "England’s Irie" with Black Grape and Keith Allen. Flies to Chile to act in the movie "Docteur Chance" 1997 Finally released from Clash record contract and finds new base in Somerset; meanwhile Strummerville campfire launches the inaugural Fuji Rock festival in Japan 1998 Following appearances as DJ at festivals, Joe begins rehearsing the Mescaleros; "Joe Strummer’s London Calling" show begins on BBC World Service and will broadcast worldwide for the next four years 1999 Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros play their first tour; their appearance on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival is later seen in Julien Temple’s "Glastonbury" 2000 "Rock, Art and the X-Ray Style" released 2001 The Mescaleros’ ‘Minstrel Boy’ features on the soundtrack of "Black Hawk Down" 2002 On the final Mescaleros tour, Mick Jones joins Joe on stage at a benefit for London’s firemen at Acton Town Hall. Ten days later Joe Strummer dies peacefully at his home in the Quantocks in Somerset 2003 Joe Strummer memorial stone erected on Glastonbury Festival site by Michael Eavis; Strummerville site created at the festival 2004 The Clash enter the Rock And Roll "Hall of Fame" 2005 Research begins on a film about Joe Strummer’s life by Julien Temple 2006 Strummerville rehearsal rooms open at the Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London; further openings planned, beginning with Joe’s adopted home town 2007 "The Future Is Unwritten" is released

Who's Who?

Joe Strummer Bernie Rhodes Mick Jones Steve Jones Anthony Kiedis Don Letts Alasdair Gillis Ian Gillis Topper Headon Jim Jarmusch Bono Steve Buscemi Terry Chimes John Cooper Clarke John Cusack Peter Cushing Johnny Depp Matt Dillon Dick Evans

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Himself (archive footage) Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Himself Winston Smith (archive footage) Himself Himself Himself

Run Time 124 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - IFC Films - All Rights Reserved ©2007 All Rights Reserved - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.