Miles Ahead

Director: Don Cheadle
Screenwriters: Steven Baigelman, Don Cheadle

Institute History

  • 2016 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Premiering as the Closing Night film of the New York Film Festival, Miles Ahead marks the feature directorial debut of Don Cheadle.

Inspired by events in Miles Davis’s life, this is a wildly entertaining, impressionistic, no-holds-barred portrait of one of twentieth-century music’s creative geniuses. Holed up in his Manhattan apartment, wracked with pain from a variety of ailments, sweating for the next check from his record company, and dodging sycophants and industry executives, Davis is haunted by memories of old glories, humiliations, and of his years with Frances Taylor, his great love.

Academy Award–nominated actor Don Cheadle—co-writer, director, and lead actor—remarkably captures the musical legend on film through an impressively orchestrated use of images and sounds. Varying cinematic rhythms and beats are used to create a singular and intoxicating viewing experience as Cheadle displays a deep understanding of the man and his music.

— Trevor Groth

Screening Details

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