The Best Summer: How Tamra Davis Discovered a Gem in ’90s Videos

There are many different approaches to making a tour film that captures the life of musicians ⁣on the road. Perhaps you focus on the highs ⁢of performance or the boredom of traveling, the anonymous backstage rooms and‍ endless planes, buses and hotel ‍rooms. but what if you made all of⁢ that seem really fun?

Directed ‍by Tamra ⁤Davis, “The Best Summer,” which debuts at Sundance tonight⁣ in the Midnight section, is rooted in a box of videotapes that the filmmaker⁢ found early last year⁤ while evacuating from the fires near her longtime family home in malibu.Though they are now separated, Davis ⁣still shares the ⁤compound with Michael Diamond, better known as Mike D of the group‍ Beastie ⁣Boys. On⁢ those tapes was footage Davis shot in late 1995 and early ⁤1996 as the band toured through Australia and Asia, sharing bills with the likes⁤ of Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Beck, Rancid, the Amps and Bikini Kill.

“I just always had a camera in ⁢my hands,” Davis, 64, said in an interview conducted earlier this week. “I‍ identify as a filmmaker. ‍This is normal for me to have a camera in ‍my hand. People don’t think twice about it. Its so unobtrusive.”

A few days before Davis would drive to Park ⁤City, Utah, with her friend, neighbor and co-producer Shelby Meade, the two were sitting‍ on the backyard patio of Davis’ Malibu home (it survived⁢ the⁣ fires just fine)‍ as a couple of ‍dogs ran around the yard. When she spots ‍a hawk flying overhead, Davis calls for one of her two sons to be sure to round⁢ up the few chickens roaming around.

“the Best Summer” brings a blast of ’90s nostalgia to the festival. Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna and Sonic Youth’s Kim⁢ Gordon are ⁣both expected ⁤to attend the screening as well.

A throughline for the movie is Davis and Hanna interviewing members of the bands, asking them a standard series of questions including their favorite color,⁢ what they’re reading and what their personal ⁤motto is before Hanna gets into trickier concepts ⁢about performance and persona, seemingly figuring those things out for⁢ herself in real time.

“With Mike, I filmed so much – every time I went out on the road with them,” says Davis. “So I had tons of Beastie Boys stuff. ⁤I didn’t know I had all of that other stuff. I ⁣filmed Foo Fighters and Beck and Pavement,I didn’t know I filmed any of that.⁤ I ⁣looked at it and I see, oh my gosh,⁤ I’m so diligent: Oh, I better⁤ get pavement. Check.”

At the ⁢time of ⁤the tour, Davis⁣ had ‍recently finished direc

Working with editor Jessica Hernandez, Davis ‍wanted to keep the loose feel of ⁣the original footage, ⁣including how she often would shoot entire ‍songs in a single take, her camera moving from ⁣one ⁤musician to the next as one might naturally look at them‍ from the audience. The raw sound comes from the built-in microphone on her camera.Some additional post-production work had to be done on the interview footage, but the audio of the concert footage is, for the most ⁢part, she says, unaltered.

“It’s like watching a memory,” said Davis.”And for me especially, to watch it again was like ⁤a ‘Black Mirror’ episode of going back and ⁤somebody being like: This is⁤ what ⁣it looked like from your⁢ point of ⁢view at this time. ⁢That was your experience.”

It’s something Davis has heard from other band members after showing them the film. “Adam ⁤said it felt like I reached into his brain and pulled out that memory,” she says. “He didn’t realise there was somebody filming it. So⁤ to him he was like: How did you know that⁢ memory existed in my head?”

“It became like that friendship that you have at summer camp,” says ⁤Davis. ⁣”[Hanna] ⁣ goes, ⁤I was so glad that you and I had that same energy where we were just these girls going ‍into people’s dressing rooms, ‘OK, we’re here ‍to interview⁢ you.’⁣ We were just bored. We⁣ were trying ⁢to get‍ something to do.”

It was Diamond who suggested to ⁢Davis that the end credits should say ⁤”Starring Kathleen Hanna” for the outsized role she has in the film. Another highlight of “the Best Summer” is when Hanna interviews horovitz. The two would marry in 2006, and their moments together in the film have⁤ the energy of a rom-com meet-cute.

“She’s ⁤so bossy and she’s really forward,” said Davis. “And I’m pretty bossy too, but she’s just like, ‘Look, this is how it’s gonna go.’ And ‍just her questions are so good. When ⁣I started to really put it together, I loved all of that. I think before I showed it to her, I texted her a couple times and I was like, ‘Kathleen, I’m making this movie and you’re all over it.’‍ And she was like, ‘Am I going to be embarrassed?’‍ And I’m like, ‘No,⁣ you’re going to love this.'”