Double Agent, Network Entertainment, and Experience Hendrix, have announced they are in production on “JIMI,” a feature-length documentary about the meteoric rise of the legendary rock star and global icon Jimi Hendrix, authorized for the first time by the Jimi Hendrix Estate.
In this origin story of epic proportions, 23-year-old unsung sideman Jimmy James arrives in the Swinging London of 1966 and quickly establishes himself as “Jimi Hendrix,” blowing away the luminaries of the era with his virtuosic technique. Within a year, Hendrix is catapulted back to the US for his breakout psychedelic performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, exploding into the most iconic guitar player in the history of popular music.
Through newly commissioned interviews, never-before-seen photos and meticulously curated and restored archival footage, as well as the immortal Hendrix tracks that dominated the charts, “JIMI” will tell the story of a transformational period in music history when Jimi Hendrix set the world – and his guitar – on fire.
Producers are Network Entertainment’s Derik Murray, Dana O’Keefe for Double Agent, and Janie Hendrix. Executive producers are Yariv Milchan, Natalie Lehmann, Teddy Schwarzman, Michael Heimler, Brian Gersh for Network Entertainment, Colin Smeeton and Matthew Gross for Authentic Studios, and Ryan Beedie for Beedie Investments.
“Jimi’s time in London was some of the most pivotal in his life journey and his musical career. The social scene, night life that often bled into day, connections made, decisions on where he wanted to take his music and where he wanted his music to take him; all of that became something of a roadmap for the course his life would take” states Janie Hendrix. “Just as Bao Nguyen has achieved in his films highlighting the lives of other iconic figures who influenced pop culture, this presentation of Jimi’s London experience will be inspiring and informative – a story told the way it should be.”
Bao Nguyen added, “Telling the story of Jimi Hendrix during his pivotal years in London is both a profound honor and a unique responsibility. London has always been a city that inspires me. Having lived there, I felt a deep connection to its creative energy, much like Jimi did when his creativity reached extraordinary heights. I approach this project with deep respect for his legacy and the cultural significance he holds as an American original. Through this film, I hope to capture the vibrant atmosphere of the 1960s music scene, and his meteoric rise to superstardom, culminating in the legendary show at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival – a triumphant homecoming where his incendiary performance didn’t just set his guitar alight – it ignited a cultural shift that changed the course of music history.”
