Oscilloscope is thrilled to announce the theatrical details and release the trailer for ‘OMAR AND CEDRIC: IF THIS EVER GETS WEIRD,’ the documentary about acclaimed progressive-rock group The Mars Volta.
Premiering at SXSW in March and gaining early critical acclaim, the movie chronicles the four-decade musical partnership of Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, two outsiders from El Paso whose journey is truly unlike no other. From their explosive debut as post-hardcore band At The Drive-In, to their current iteration as the revered prog-rock band The Mars Volta, the duo’s accomplishments as artists are equally as interesting as the journey they took to get here.
Footage culled from hundreds of hours of video filmed by Omar gives viewers an intimate look into the inner workings of the band, from struggles with addiction and loss, to finding major success, ‘OMAR AND CEDRIC: IF THIS EVER GETS WEIRD’ is a story of love, tragedy, betrayal, forgiveness and, ultimately, redemption.
Omar told Rolling Stone, “We understand people will have direct questions for us, but we just point them to Nick’s film which holds all of the answers. These answers are given more precisely and elegantly in the film than we could ever put into words. We invite the world to watch and reach their own conclusions. We are grateful to Nick and his film, for treating us people and not as objects.”
“I can honestly say I’ve never made such a personal film, never been so invested, or cared so deeply about the protagonists,” adds director Nicolas Jack Davies. “It’s my film, yes, that’s the privilege of being a director, but importantly it’s their story. Whilst I always wanted to be objective and authentic about their life’s journey, as I pieced together fragments of all kinds of footage, some expressionistic and artful, some brutally raw and real – I always aimed to tread carefully
on the lives of the people within it, to use whatever visual and audio elements I could to convey the most telling aspects of their lives.”
The film will screen in theaters nationally on November 20th. All current dates can be found here with more to be added in the coming week. Watch this space.
In addition to the release of the documentary, 2024 has served as an impressive live year for the band. This year, they treated fans to performances across the country, including appearances at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival and a one-night-only event appearing with System of a Down and Deftones at San Francisco’s Golden Gate State Park in August. After a set at Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City next month, the band will embark on an expansive United States tour supporting Deftones in February. A full list of dates and tickets can be found HERE.
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About Oscilloscope
Oscilloscope Laboratories is a film production and distribution entity launched in 2008 by Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys. Yauch modeled the company after the indie record labels he grew up around, choosing films and releasing them with the same artistic integrity with which they were made. The company, an extension of Yauch’s recording studio of the same name, has an in-house home entertainment distribution and production arm, and its physical media packaging is reminiscent of the heyday of LP record jackets. Oscilloscope has garnered seven Academy Award® nominations and countless critical acclaim since its inception.
Previous and current releases include Lynne Ramsay’s Golden Globe®-nominated WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly; Kelly Reichardt’s MEEK’S CUTOFF starring Michelle Williams; Ciro Guerra’s Oscar®-nominated EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT; Ceyda Torun’s KEDI; Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio’s MAY IT LAST: A PORTRAIT OF THE AVETT BROTHERS; Josephine Decker’s MADELINE’S MADELINE; Matthew Rankin’s THE TWENTIETH CENTURY; a new restoration of Tom Noonan’s WHAT HAPPENED WAS…; a new 4K restoration of John Cameron Mitchell’s SHORTBUS; Saim Sadiq’s JOYLAND; and hundreds more. Upcoming releases include: Nicolas Jack Davies’s OMAR AND CEDRIC: IF THIS EVER GETS WEIRD, Bennett Miller’s THE CRUISE, Matthew Rankin’s UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, Chloe Abrahams’s THE TASTE OF MANGO, and Ondi Timoner’s DIG! XX.
