What Miri also found inspiring is how this woman constantly recreated herself , getting better and better as she did , and exuded such confidence . “ You ’ d hear her saying , ‘ Mumsy and Popsy , I ’ m going to the March on Washington . They expect 30,000 .’ Those kinds of things excited me the most , to have Joan as she was , this 21-year-old ,” says Miri .
Karen , Miri , and Maeve did most of the film work themselves . Maeve also wanted to learn more about directing . Maeve lives in Dublin , which worked out well because Joan was touring in Europe . “ It really required the three of us to be knee-deep in everything ,” says Miri . And there was a clear division of labor . Maeve is an editor by trade , ruthless in terms of cutting . Karen had this vast personal relationship with Joan , which they relied on for everything and created the necessary trust ; and Miri , a researcher at heart , just loved the extensive archives . Although they had their difference of opinions , they all had very similar aesthetic and intellectual ambitions for the film .
“ Documenting the life of Joan came with its own challenges , such as the scale of the life and what to leave out , what to include ,” says Karen . “ Why didn ’ t we do Latin America or Vietnam ? Her political history , her ups and downs with her career , her comeback with her manager , there were so many things that we had to shorthand or leave out . Also , her artwork and the personal archives just changed everything . How do you use that in the film so that it informs and propels the film forward ? How does each element have a dramatic arc ?”
Over the course of the filming , Joan ’ s mother and also her sister , Pauline Marden , died . Joan ’ s other sister , Mimi Farina , and her father had passed away much earlier . Their deaths opened the door to go back and look at the letters that her mother had written , and audiotapes between her , Mimi , and Pauline . “ It ' s painful , and it fills her at the same time ,” says Karen . While they did not want to do talking head interviews , they managed to find old footage of David Harris — so he is
also in the film , which was hugely important to Joan , as well as the early archives with Bob Dylan .
Each screening was a shift for Joan . Seeing her sister , hearing her parents and her father ’ s “ I love you , Joanie ” tape , her relationship with her son , her regrets and joys and sorrows — all of it was emotional for her . Karen was surprised by the public ’ s reaction when the movie first came out . People responded to Joan ’ s honesty , particularly about her psychiatric issues . “ There ' s a brokenness in almost everyone , and it didn ' t have to be identical to Joan ’ s , which is pretty extreme in some ways ,” says Karen . “ But people related to her and were moved by her honesty .”
When the film was shown in Nashville , Taylor Swift ' s movie was playing in one theater ; in the other was the Joan Baez film . The trailer of I Am a Noise came up in the Swift theater , and Miri said she could hear the Swifties singing and clapping to an anthem of Joan ’ s , “ Ain ’ t Gonna Let Nobody Turn me Around .” That brought a smile to the directors ’ faces . n
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14 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE Spring 2024