Fanny: The Right to Rock

Directed by Bobbi Jo Hart

Canada, 2021 (documentary, 92 minutes, colour, English)

Film Description:
"'Revivify Fanny. And my work is done.'— David Bowie. Sometime in the 1960s, in sunny Sacramento, two Filipina-American sisters got together with other teenage girls to play music. Little did they know their garage band would evolve into the legendary rock group Fanny, the first all-women band to release an LP with a major record label (Warner/Reprise, 1970). Despite releasing 5 critically-acclaimed albums over 5 years, touring with famed bands from SLADE to CHICAGO and amassing a dedicated fan base of music legends including David Bowie, Fanny's groundbreaking impact in music was written out of history... until bandmates reunite 50 years later with a new rock record deal. With incredible archival footage of the band's rocking past intercut with its next chapter releasing a new LP today, the film includes interviews with a large cadre of music icons, including Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Bonnie Raitt, The Go-Go's Kathy Valentine, Todd Rundgren, The Runaways' Cherie Currie, Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, The B52's Kate Pierson, Charles Neville and David Bowie guitarist and bassist Earl Slick and Gail Ann Dorsey. Fighting early barriers of race, gender and sexuality in the music industry, and now ageism, the incredible women of Fanny are ready to claim their hallowed place in the halls of rock 'n' roll fame."
-- Adobe Productions International (source)

Film Description [in French] :
"Ce documentaire raconte l'histoire incroyable des trois adolescentes qui ont fondé le groupe de rock californien, Fanny, dans les années 60. L'impact révolutionnaire de ce groupe dans le domaine de la musique a malheureusement été oublié... jusqu'à présent. Nous retrouvons les membres du groupe, 50 ans plus tard, pendant l'enregistrement et la sortie de leur nouvel album rock."
-- Québec Cinéma (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Written by:	Bobbi Jo Hart
Produced by:	Bobbi Jo Hart, Robbie Hart, Katherine Buck, Anne Pick, Catherine Bainbridge, Ina Fichman, Randy Lennox, Glen Salzman
Principal Cast:	Jean Millington, June Millington, Brie Darling, Alice de Buhr, Nickey Barclay, Patti Quatro
Cinematography:	Claire Sanford, Sam Trudelle, Naomi Ture
Animation:	Kara Blake
Film Editing:	Catherine Legault
Music:	Daniel Toussaint
Production Company:	Adobe Productions International

(sources)

Notes about Fanny: The Right to Rock

Shown at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in 2021.

(sources)

Quote by the Director

"They [Fanny] were ahead of their time. They were women of colour, there were queer women in the band. Back in the day, the label said nothing about that. The record label wasn't promoting them that way. The articles from back then really focused on the gimmicky side of the band, so why didn't I know about them? History is written by the victors, so I wanted to rewrite their story. Women are often written out of history."
-- Bobbi Jo Hart (source)

Quotes about Fanny: The Right to Rock

"Fanny: The Right to Rock is one vital and wonderfully made addition—and correction – to the old narratives about the history of rock and roll."
-- John Doyle (source)

"The documentary [Fanny: The Right to Rock] lovingly recounts the history of Fanny, beginning with the sisters June and Jean Millington, who were born in the Philippines to a white American naval officer father and a Filipina socialite mother. In 1961, the Millington family moved overseas to Sacramento, Calif., where the sisters, as early adolescents, had a difficult time fitting in. Racism was a constant part of life. "
-- Mark Yarm (source)

Quote about Fanny: The Right to Rock [in French]

"La cinéaste [Bobbi Jo Hart] arrive dans le portrait il y a cinq ans, alors qu'un retour du groupe [Fanny] —devenu culte grâce à des rééditions—s'organise et qu'un nouvel album est en cours d'enregistrement. «Je pense que je les ai connues juste au bon moment.» Ce sont des musiciennes presque septuagénaires que l'on retrouve, plus proches que jamais, toujours aussi rock'n'roll, ravies de jouer ensemble à nouveau. Plaisir que l'on partage un peu plus à chaque étape de leur histoire, bien nourrie d'archives personnelles et de documents d'époque."
-- Sylvain Cormier (source)

Bibliography for Fanny: The Right to Rock

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Cormier, Sylvain. "Fanny: The Right To Rock» : l'attitude rock'n'roll conjuguée au féminin pluriel." Le Devoir, January 14, 2022. [in French]
Doyle, John. "Fanny is the story of the all-women band who should be immortals." Review of Fanny: The Right to Rock. Globe and Mail, January 16, 2022.
Harvey, Dennis. "'Fanny: The Right to Rock' review: Honoring forgotten female rockers of the early 1970s; Female trailblazers in the heyday of 'cock rock' are given their belated due in Bobbi Jo Hart's engaging documentary." Review of Fanny: The Right to Rock. Variety, May 4, 2021.
Kelly, Brendan. "'The queens of rock 'n' roll': Montreal filmmaker gives Fanny the buzz they deserve." Montreal Gazette, October 19, 2021.
Wilner, Norman. "Hot Docs review: Fanny: The Right To Rock; Bobbi Jo Hart's rockumentary about the first all-female band to land a record deal and tour the world is exuberant." Now (Toronto), April 28, 2021.
Yarm, Mark. "Fanny made history. A new doc illuminates it." New York Times, May 25, 2022.

Web Sites about Fanny: The Right to Rock

"Fanny: The Right to Rock." Adobe Productions International. https://www.fannythemovie.com/. [official site]
"IMDb: Fanny: The Right to Rock." Internet Movie Database, Inc. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14314826/reference.