Official Beatlemania Documentary Announced, Filmmakers Invite Fan Submissions

Even though they broke-up more than 40 years ago, The Beatles have never strayed far from the headlines.

Just in the last week, we’ve seen the announcement of an upcoming 2013 Australian tour from drummer Ringo Starr, and the news that Paul McCartney has finally settled his differences with Yoko Ono, saying that he doesn’t blame her for the breakup of the band. 

Now, in exciting news for fans of the band (so, pretty much everyone), a new documentary focusing on the period of ‘Beatlemania’ will be produced, aiming to dig through the “world’s TV and radio archives and fans’ basements and attics’ to compile never-before-seen media” from the famed period.

A new film, entitled The Beatles Live! Project, is calling on fans to come together (pun intended) and contribute footage, images, music interviews, and stories in a “definitive, emotional, and visceral feature film about Beatlemania.”

The Apple Corps authorised documentary aims to include footage of everything from airport arrivals, interactions with fans and visits to radio stations, spanning the ‘Beatlemania’ era from October 1963 when the term was coined, to The Beatles’ final concert in Candlestick Park on 29th August, 1966.

The documentary will have a wide array of footage to choose from, with this period seeing the iconic band perform 253 concert dates over 114 cities in 18 countries.

The new doco is backed by production company OVOW Productions Inc, which has assembled a “global team of archivists, collectors, information specialists, artists, social media strategists, amateur media groups, Beatles fan clubs, writers, academics, and film restoration experts to support the activities in the field.”

The new fan-sourced film project is very similar to the recently announced Springsteen & I documentary, which aims to collate a range of contributed footage of The Boss from around the globe, to be compiled by the production team of British filmmaker Ridley Scott, the man behind Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator and most recently, Prometheus.

The Beatles Live! Project is backed by Apple Corps, The Beatles’ own music, entertainment, and mass media corporation, who recently settled their confusing dispute with Apple Inc. (iPhones, Macs etc) over the rights to the infamous apple logo.

The court settlement ruled that Apple Inc has trademark over the logo, after a long and drawn out legal battle that began way back in 1978.

The Beatles also reissued their entire back-catalogue on vinyl last month, but an unfortunate misprint of first single ‘Love Me Do’ that featured session drummer Andy White instead of Ringo Starr, forced EMI to attempt to recall and destroy these incorrect copies that turned them into instantly sought-after collectors items.

In even more Beatles news, Paul McCartney, seemingly motivated by his near-death experience when he was two feet away from being involved in a helicopter crash, buried the hatchet in his long-running feud with Yoko Ono, stating last week that she “didn’t break up the group” and that without her John Lennon may never have written songs such as ‘Imagine’.

“I don’t think you can blame her for anything…it was time for John to leave, he was definitely going to leave (one way or another),” said McCartney.

If you’ve got any hidden gems from the Beatlemania era, head over here to contribute and possibly have them  featured in the new documentary.