“Beautiful Was the Fight” is a stunningly beautiful documentary about women fighting for their place in the ever-evolving Boston music scene. The Film was screened at the Independent Film Festival with Director Dave Habeeb on site to do a Q & A after the show. The filming for the movie took place around the Boston area over a 6-year period with 160 hours of footage, stemming from 35 questions, that was eventually cut down to the final 90 minutes and around 5 themes. Some of the themes that came through in the film were community, what it means to come together to make art, the realities of being a female performer in this region, and where Boston is headed as a music scene.
The documentary is full to bursting with talented woman from nearly every genre of music including pop, punk, hip hop, jazz, country, indie rock, and more. There are interviews with over 25 people. Some of the notable performances were Ruby Rose Fox, Liz Bills and the Change, Jazzmyn Red, Destiny Claymore, Yoko Miwa, Sapling, The Dirty Dotty’s, and Lily Senne of Lily Black. I came away with a pages long list of local performers and bands I want to follow and a few new venues to investigate for shows.
The film was birthed with a concert called the Queen Treatment Only Festival in 2016 which brought together female performers to play music and they ended up being highly supportive of one another. The Women’s March in 2017 was given as further inspiration to investigate the topic of women’s treatment in the Boston music world. Girls Rock Campaign Boston was presented as a group that is working to make the changes necessary in the future of the industry.
There were only a couple of minor issues with the film. There were two or three moments where the sound didn’t quite line up with the video. Those moments were brief and very rare, especially considering that the entire length of the film there was snippets of music playing in the background. The end music credits were by far the longest I had ever seen. This was quite a sound mixing feat! Also, the end could have been pulled together a bit more quickly, it ran about 15 minutes too long.
The camera work in “Beautiful Was the Fight” was unquestionably gorgeous! Habeeb took crowded clubs and bars and managed to come away with intimate, delicate moments that make up beautiful, powerful vignettes all strung together with interviews into a cohesive narrative. I hope the film makes it into more festivals and gets a wide audience. It deserves it with its important message and gorgeous craftsmanship.
Beautiful Was the Fight (Official Trailer) from Dave Habeeb on Vimeo.
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