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Meeting Charlie Parr is a musical journey through the Midwest that meets one of his most emblematic folk singer. In the Great Lakes forests, through the Minnesota plains, on stage or at home, we get to know Charlie Parr, an endearing and unique artist. Meeting after meeting, Charlie relations tell us about his authentic music and what it says about America.

After a fifteen years old career and ten records released, Meeting Charlie Parr is the first documentary dedicated to that unique songwriter.

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The story

It all started during a travel to Australia, when we discovered Charlie Parr live in Sidney. Back home, his music was still resonating in us and we got to meet him in person for the first time at a gig in Paris, between two London shows and an interview for the BBC. By the end of the evening, he was inviting us to Duluth, whenever we would feel like.

Charlie Parr’s music is in itself an invitation to travel. It is a soulful and authentic music, that brings along great spaces, stories of wandering, that kind of imaginary America everyone is familiar with.

So we took this invitation as an opportunity to go and meet the United States. Through the interviews and the moments spent with Charlie Parr, this movie illustrates a certain look on the Northern USA.

In the early fall, we left from New York, where we first met some Charlie fans, and then went through the Great Lakes region, the majestic state of Michigan to end up in Duluth, MN, where he now lives.

This movie is the fruit of moments spent with Charlie, at home, in his daily life, on the road and during concerts in Duluth, Northfield and Minneapolis. These three gigs are summed up into a live album that we offer as a reward.

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Why Charlie Parr ?

Because sometimes it is good to seize opportunities life puts on your way. And because we had the firm conviction that, behind this music, we would find someone unique.

The man

Charlie Parr is that kind of musician who seems not to be aware of the power of his art. Everything is simple and obvious with him. Some say he’s a man of few words, and that is true in the sense that he picks every word carefully. He takes time to think about every question, and behind the appearance of simplicity, he says a lot. Charlie does'nt seems to be part of any particular decade. He’s going from a period to another and picks a bit of every one to create his own universe, never paying attention to general opinion.

Charlie is made out of the Midwest’s landscapes, of his friends, a craftman, a train ingeneer, a musician, a farmer, a journalist and even so... He takes his time to be each of them.

Both his songs and acts seem done to live the present moment, to be satisfied of what you have, to always be ready for travel, and not to spend your life wishing it away.

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The music

In our mind, his melodies were drawing wide spaces, travel stories, of an America to discover. Through the music it was possible to get to know the Midwest, and his inhabitants who vibrate for art far from the big cities and current trends. Charlie’s work raises our imagination, but it is also a way to come back to the social side of music. This is the pleasure of gathering around common stories, of visiting a region and its inhabitants.

What Charlie says about his country, what his songs tell, what the people we met told us draw a creative America, far from the clichés.

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The movie distribution

During the shooting, and afterwards as well, a lot of people got in touch with us to thank us for doing a movie about this unique singer, far from the mainstream. This is already a nice reward!

Meeting Charlie Parr is the first documentary about him.

Lenght : ~ 60 minutes

Europe

A shorter version of the movie ( 15 minutes) will follow Charlie Parr on his European tour in May and June. It will be shown before every show in Ireland, in England and in the Netherlands. The DVD will be proposed to the audience.

USA

From June on, the shorter version should follow Charlie Parr on his American tour as well.

France

Meeting Charlie Parr is also an opportunity to promote Charlie Parr to the French public.

This is why we set up an exceptional Charlie Parr concert in Paris, in the famous venue Le Sentier des Halles, on Monday 27th May. The full documentary will be shown and Charlie will play live afterwards.

You can already book your ticket on that page !

In all the countries we mentioned, discussions for a regular physical distribution of the DVD and participation at movie festivals are in progress.

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A few words about us

We are all music-oriented people, and all work in creative fields.

Francois-xavier, the director, is an experienced professional photographer, graphic designer and video maker. He has worked with several emerging and confirmed artists in France and is now working on a new project called Aux Temps d’Alex.

Charles is a sound engineer and sound designer. He works for a studio in Paris and plays in a multimedia band called Iduun.

Julien is both a songwriter and a band manager. He manages and plays in Grêle, an emerging french folk music band, he’s the interviewer.

Nicolas is a live and recording sound engineer. He works with lot of different bands in France and he’s the second sound engineer.

And so out of all these different backgrounds, we gathered a motivated and complementary team. This working group was formed for this shooting, and we’re looking forward to having another one.

Photo Gallery of the Documentary

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Meeting Charlie Parr

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