UNBOUND: A★ MiniSeries

Medium: Web Miniseries
Premiere Date: February 25, 2016, 8PM ET  
My Role: Producer

About: An interpretation of and inspired by the music of David Bowie, featuring Tavi Gevinson and Patricia Clarkson.

In Autumn 2015, the producers of UNBOUND, Lawrence Peryer and Carolynn Cecilia were given unique pre-release access to the music from ★ (pronounced ‘Blackstar’), the 28th studio album by cultural legend and icon David Bowie. 

The result of their work with Bowie’s material is UNBOUND: A ★ InstaMiniSeries. The first of 16 episodes premiered Thursday, February 25 at instagram.com/instaminiseries with new episodes debuting at 8PM Eastern each subsequent Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. 

UNBOUND: A★ InstaMiniSeries takes its audience on a journey of evocative images inspired by the moods suggested in the album’s music, lyrics and artwork. The series is propelled by a focus on this visual interpretation of the ★ album as opposed to a literal, linear narrative. Each episode of the series, designed with a global audience in mind, captures the imaginations of all who experience it and continues to spur endless speculation and discussion of meaning, metaphor and intention. 

With his enduring legacy as a savvy observer and pioneering user of emerging technology and media, Bowie saw in InstaMiniSeries an exciting new platform to explore interpretation of and storytelling within his music. Stopping short of an artistic collaboration, Bowie instead opened the doors last fall to the UNBOUND creative team and provided them advance, unmediated access to the music and images from ★ thus allowing them to create their own visual interpretations of the songs, with no limits or preconditions on his part. 

David Bowie has always been about reinvention over repetition. Remarkably honest and passionate in his work, his innovations have informed UNBOUND as it transforms a social media platform into a creative outlet. 

Carolynn Cecilia, UNBOUND Writer and Producer, adds: “David Bowie was a trailblazer, not just in the world of music, but in the art of storytelling. Whether through lyrics, melodies, film, theater or mythical persona he never fails to transcend WHAT WAS and set the tone -and the bar- for what CAN BE. As story-tellers and music lovers, who better for us to be inspired by than David Bowie?” 

Lawrence Peryer, Producer of UNBOUND, concludes: “In light of recent events, this project has taken on new significance for all of us – cast and crew. We are very happy to be bringing a new creative work to David’s fan worldwide at a time when a focus on his music and art is much-needed.”

Awards & Nominations:

• Winner, Best Film, 2018 Austin Arthouse Film Festival

• Nominee, Best Director, 2018 Austin Arthouse Film Festival

• Nominee, Dreamiest Film, 2018 Austin Arthouse Film Festival

• Nominee, Best Occult Film, 2018 Austin Arthouse Film Festival

• Nominee, Best Surrealist Film, 2018 Austin Arthouse Film Festival

This statement was read at the Austin Arthouse Film Festival on behalf of the producers:

Thanks first and foremost go to David Bowie, for being the artist he was and for allowing us to contribute to the extended universe of his canon with our film  

Thank you, Liz, Giselle and everyone at Austin Arthouse Film Festival for recognizing UNBOUND. Congratulations to all of the other nominees whose films were included in the Festival.  

Austin is a special place for the film. Before tonight, the only other public screening of the complete work was also here in town – at SxSW – as part of a panel we did during the promotion of the film.  

Thank you to Bill Zysblat and Coco Schwab, David’s trusted friends and advisors whose early support set in motion the events that led to UNBOUND. Thank you to Betsy Whitney and Mike Matthewson at Columbia Records and Sony Music. 

Thank you to the wonderful on-screen performers Tavi Gevinson, Patricia Clarkson, Jonah Herman, Daniel Rysak, Ching Valdes-Anan and Jay Knowles as well as the musicians, dancers and other on-screen talent. Thank you also to David’s fans, especially the community on his official website, davidbowie.com.

Producer Lawrence Peryer would like to personally thank UNBOUND writer and producer Carolynn Cecilia for sharing her talents and vision and Michael DeCheser and Mike Ragone whose post-production assistance helped us wrap our project.