Anthology Film Archives: 32 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003. 212-505-5181
September 20-22, 2025
Songwriter, musician, and artist Daniel Johnston passed away in 2019, but both his music and artwork continue to attract rapturous attention. Johnston is certainly best known as a stunningly prolific songwriter, whose unique, deeply personal, vulnerable, and unapologetically lo-fi songs – most of them initially recorded and distributed on cassette tape – attracted legions of fans despite, or because of, their unpolished textures and their disarming reflections of the mental illness with which he struggled throughout his life. Celebrated both by critics and fellow musicians (most famously Kurt Cobain, but also Jad Fair, Tom Waits, Jeff Tweedy, and many others), Johnston’s music was only one manifestation of his creativity. He was an equally prolific artist, compulsively producing countless drawings that reflected – perhaps even more than his music – his singular preoccupations, highly distinctive set of characters and symbols, and his unique view of the world.
In collaboration with Johnston’s sister, Marjory Johnston, as well as gallerist Deborah M. Colton, owner of Deborah Colton Gallery and OUTPOST NYC DCG.
Anthology Film Archives presents a weekend of screenings of some of the films and videos that have documented Johnston’s life and work, including the acclaimed documentary THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON (2005), the concert film THE ANGEL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON: LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL (2008), and a brand-new work, FLAT TIRE DOWN MEMORY LANE (2025), in which filmmaker Avalon Stevens provides a fascinating glimpse of Johnston’s artwork and the collections that he assembled and among which he lived in his home in Waller, Texas, in his final years.
Marjory Johnston, Avalon Stevens and Deborah Colton will be here in person to present the screenings.
Avalon Stevens
FLAT TIRE DOWN MEMORY LANE
2025, 60 min, digital
This newly completed work – made after Johnston’s death – constructs a highly revealing portrait of the artist via interviews with his sister, Marjory (who in his later years collaborated with Daniel on his artwork and continues to advocate for and promote his work), a special focus on his drawings, as well as documentation of his last home, a house in Waller, Texas, which he filled with a truly mind-boggling volume of books, records, VHS tapes, and other collections, all of which serve as a kind of self-portrait of a unique mind and sensibility. Plus, additional clips and excerpts!
Sat, Sept 20 at 5:30 and Sun, Sept 21 at 7:30.
Jeff Feuerzeig
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON
2005, 110 min, 35mm
This acclaimed film – made with the cooperation of Daniel Johnston – is the definitive documentary portrait of the singer-songwriter. Delving deeply and sensitively into Johnston’s extraordinary music, his equally singular and accomplished artwork, and his struggles with mental illness, it’s a profoundly revealing exploration not only of a particular artist and his work, but of the relationship that so often exists between artistic creation and psychological disturbance.
Sat, Sept 20 at 7:30 and Mon, Sept 22 at 7:30.
Antony Crofts
THE ANGEL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON: LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL
2008, 65 min, digital
This concert film captures one of Daniel Johnston’s greatest live performances, a July 2007 appearance at London’s Union Chapel. Joined by an impressive array of friends and admirers, including longtime collaborator Brett Hartenbach, Scottish folksinger James Yorkston, and English composer Adem, Daniel delivers definitive renditions of favorites from across his body of work.
Sun, Sept 21 at 5:30.