Synopsis
Narrated by Kiefer Sutherland and directed by 4-time Emmy-winner Jim Brown.
Free To Rock is the social history of how western rock music spread like a virus across the Iron Curtain, becoming the symbol of freedom under the Soviet regime. And helped end the Cold War.
The West's rock icons inspired thousands of underground rock bands and their tens of millions of passionate supporters in Eastern Europe and the USSR. Bands like Flowers, Kino, and Plastic People of the Universe sparked a revolutionary youth movement that openly defied the Communist government, survived the KGB crackdowns, and fueled a desire for freedom.
Interviews and Performances Include:
Presidents Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev and Latvian President Vike- Freiberga, KGB General Oleg Kalugin, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bruce Spring¬steen, Scorpions, Cyndi Lauper (The Wall – Live in Berlin), Metallica, Stas Namin, Pits “Pete” Ander¬son, Boris Grebenshikov, Andrey Makarev¬ich, Valery Saifudinov, Yuri Schevchuk, and Mark Ross, who produced one of the largest free rock concerts in history – outside Moscow in 1991 – two days before the USSR’s collapse.
Free To Rock is a ten-year, $1.1 million production with production funding and support from The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Grammy Museum Foundation, and The Stas Namin Centre in Moscow