Beatles Revolutions: I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Set against the backdrop of Beatlemania, I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) centers on the comical quest of six New Jersey teens to see the Beatles at their 1964 performance on the set of the The Ed Sullivan Show. Robert Zemeckis directorial debut imagines the power of a musical phenomenon to shape a cultural moment. One of the first collaborations between writers Zemeckis and Bob Gale and producer Steven Spielberg, I Wanna Hold Your Hand is the story of fans whose persistence is matched only by a musical revolution that wont be stopped. Actress Nancy Allen (Carrie, Robocop) and co-writer Bob Gale (Back to the Future) will join moderator Joe Palladino (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a post-screening discussion. When the Beatles burst onto the musical scene in the early 1960s, they reflected the eras great idealism and its frenzy of political protest and debate, producing music that would become synonymous with the decade itself. The CWCs winter series Beatles Revolutions examines the ways in which the band was central to broader revolutions in music, culture, and politics. The series spans documentary, animation, and fictionalized versions of the Beatles lives, and will feature distinguished guests who have written about, toured with, and produced music for the Beatles. This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center, the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music (CISM), and KCSB-FM.