Heaven Adores You
Heaven Adores You is a 2014 documentary about the life and music of indie rock singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. It premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival on May 5, 2014.
Synopsis
The film focuses on Smith's life in the three cities he lived in during his music career, highlighted by his five solo albums from 1994–2000 and his 1998 Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Miss Misery" in Good Will Hunting. It features personal photos, concert footage, and recorded conversations and interviews with Smith, his friends and collaborators. Participants include Smith's sister Ashley Welch, Jon Brion, Larry Crane, Tony Lash, Joanna Bolme, Rob Schnapf, and Kill Rock Stars founder Slim Moon.In addition to having at least one song from each of his albums, the track listing contains over a dozen previously unreleased Elliott Smith songs, spanning the length of his career. Heaven Adores You is the first documentary to gain permission to use Smith's music.
Production
Director first became familiar with Smith's music in the mid-'90s while living in Portland. He started contemplating making a documentary about him in 2007 after receiving positive response from a short tribute video he shot at the Figure 8 wall, following Smith’s death in 2003.In the fall of 2009, fellow filmmaker teamed up with Rossi, and in January 2010, they traveled to Portland. In 2011, a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign was launched to raise awareness of the film and to help supplement the initial funds needed to officially start the project. Following the successful launch, they received an email from , who attended the same high school as Smith, offering to help. Moyer came on as a producer and music supervisor, and arranged most of the interviews. A majority of the shooting took place in 2012. By the fall of 2013, longtime colleague and multi-award winning veteran producer officially joined the team, helping steward the project through post-production and to a prominently placed world premiere at the 57th San Francisco International Film Festival. After a year-long global festival run, the film was acquired by Eagle Rock Entertainment for worldwide distribution in the summer of 2015.