The Grateful Dead has always been famous for its rich legacy of Deadheads, a community heavily featured in the new feature-length documentary Summer Tour. Produced by Chloe Sevigny, Mickey Liddell and Pete Shilaimon for LD Entertainment, Lizzie Nastro, and Evelina Kirgan, director Mischa Richter’s portrait of the band and its fanbase has been picked up for theatrical distribution by Utopia.
Summer Tour debuted at the Telluride Film Festival, and in his capsule review, RogerEbert’s Robert Daniels praised the film, writing that “A Deadhead himself, Richter’s film is a thoughtful and loving tribute to an often misunderstood group of fans.”
Rather than a conventional wide release, Utopia is planning to show the movie on a multi-city U.S. tour, which will also include musical performances by “Dead-inspired artists.” Richter said in a statement that “We are so happy that Summer Tour has found a home with Utopia. We can’t think of a better fit for our film due to Utopia’s experience with and love for music documentaries.”