Taking Woodstock

The small town of Bethel experiences a blue miracle when a group of enterprising hippies organise the biggest music festival of all time in the cow pastures. A cheeky homage to Woodstock and its legacy.
The small-town Bethel doesn't know what it's got coming when a group of business savvy hippies starts organising what will become the biggest music festival of all time. A cheeky homage to Woodstock and its legacy.

Woodstock! The festival of all festivals and the highlight of the sixties. Based on the screenplay by James Schamus, in TAKING WOODSTOCK Ang Lee tells the story of a man who made the legendary music festival possible in 1969: Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin) happens to have permission for an outdoor concert. When the neighbouring community successfully resists, the event is unceremoniously moved to a cow pasture in his neighbourhood. In this way, he gets involved with flower power concert organisers and becomes a village outcast.

With a twinkle in his eye, Ang Lee's dreamy comedy tells the story of how a business idea became the biggest rock concert of all time. The aesthetics of the sixties (and especially the Woodstock documentary) slowly and playfully take over this film, with split screens and re-enacted documentary sequences. An entertaining comedy and cheerful homage to the hippie era.