For a long time, Kathleen Hanna was ensconced in a world where she cared more about the noise she made onstage than off. Despite being in a band that couldn't really play their instruments, her political message was what mattered.
The Bikini Kill front-woman and outspoken feminist punk idol’s life is explored in this biographical documentary, hinged on the mystery of why she suddenly stopped performing in 2005. Directed by Sini Anderson in a fanzine style, the film pays homage to a singer that rocked the riot grrrl movement, sparking a sub-culture of female empowerment and launching third-wave feminism.
We get to know the performance poet with a valley girl accent who wanted to “change the world for real” through interviews with teachers, biographers, friends and other musicians interspersed with her own words on camera and archive gig footage all filtered through a punk rock lens. The dichotomies of Hanna are fascinating – the vegetarian who worked at McDonalds; the feminist who worked at a strip club; the singer who attained high levels of celebrity, fame and notoriety but still had no money to pay rent.
The Punk Singer gives us fascinating and intimate insight into the issues of the movement as they happened, alongside context and hindsight as we traverse Hanna’s career from Bikini Kill to The Julie Ruin through different bands, solo albums, press blackouts, relationships with her friend Kurt Cobain and husband Beastie Boys’ Adam Horovitz - and the gradual musical and political journey she undertook.
DVD extras include featurettes of Hanna’s tour stories, music snippets, images and extra interview footage.
With typical frankness, Hanna declares: "I don't give a shit what people believe because I know what's real." This is her story, her truth without judgment, her legacy. And it’s a sensational, inspiring one.
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