First Run Features has picked up the documentary “Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune” about the famed American folk singer.The political folk singer was a contemporary of Bob Dylan, but never quite found the same mainstream attention that others of the era did, probably due to his decision to not stray from topical material. Dylan and Ochs shared a friendly rivalry marked by some highs and lows. Ochs didn't decry Dylan when he went electric at Newport in 1965, but Dylan also once tossed him out of his limousine telling him, "You're not a folksinger. You're a journalist," according to the book "There But for Fortune: The Life of Phil Ochs." Ochs battled a number of medical issues, including bipolar disorder and alcoholism, and he took his own life in 1976.
Oh yeah, remember way back in the early days of 2009 when Sean Penn casually mentioned he would be interested in starring in a biopic about the singer? Well, that didn't come to pass, but he is featured as one of the talking heads in the doc.
The film, directed by Kenneth Bowser ("Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll Saved Hollywood"), will premiere at the upcoming Woodstock Film Festival and hit theaters in 2011.
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