Beatlemania Returns in ‘TWST – Things We Said Today,’ Not Another Pop Doc

John! Paul! George! Ringo! In the summer of 1965, it was all about the Beatles, preparing for their gig at New York’s Shea Stadium. But “TWST – Things We Said Today,” premiering at the Venice Film Festival, is not just another “pop-music documentary.”

“It just doesn’t interest me as a genre. Instead, I wanted to capture what was in the air back then. That generation wasn’t politized yet and the social rights movement was only starting,” says director Andrei Ujică.

The frenzy of Beatlemania sweeping the nation fascinated Ujică.

“Music has the power to create ecstatic feelings. The Beatles weren’t the first – before them, there was ‘Lisztmania’ directed toward Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, and when Sinatra sang, women would faint by the rows,” Ujică says.

“Because of new technology, the Beatles could reach a much bigger audience, but this gap between art, music, and religious ecstasy has always been very fluid. It’s in our human nature, I guess.”

In the film, which combines archive footage, animation, and fictional storylines, Ujică decided to experiment with “new forms.”

“It’s about a young writer who tries to come up with a short story over the course of that summer. He has a ticket to their concert and even goes to the press conference with the band, because he’s the son of a famous radio DJ,” notes the director.

Later, a girl makes Super 8 videos while heading to the anticipated event as well. That’s where they meet, or maybe she never really existed?

“She’s just a part of what he’s been writing about? Maybe. I have to admit that it’s also my story. I wrote it when I was 19 years old. I was listening to the ‘White Album’ day and night.”

Produced by Ronald Chammah for Les Films du Camélia, Ujică for Modern Electric Pictures, and Anamaria Antoci for Tangaj Production, it’s voiced by Tommy McCabe, Thérèse Azzara, Shea Grant, and Sarah McCluskey. Minerva Pictures handles sales.

After his trilogy dedicated to the end of Communism – including “The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu” – Ujică wanted to turn to something “more emotional.”

“Besides something like the Cold War, the second half of the 20th century was all about the emergence of mass culture and pop music. The 1960s might be the single most interesting decade from that point of view. The Beatles formed the emotional profile of that generation.”

Referencing their 1964 song in the title, he decided to limit familiar tunes in the film.

“The Beatles were musical geniuses, the biggest ones in pop music. Their output is unbelievable. How many hits did the Rolling Stones have, or the Beach Boys? There’s no comparison. But it’s not easy, or cheap, to get the rights to their songs. I thought: ‘Maybe it can be a new way of paying homage to them?’ Rather than interviewing, say, Eric Clapton again and have him repeat how great they all were,” he says.

“When it comes to the Beatles, their phenomenon is all about this constant fight between absence and presence. When they played live, you couldn’t actually hear anything – just these ecstatic screams. You listened to their music when they were gone.”

They are ghosts – just like Ujică’s animated characters.

“At first, I wanted to use young actors, but then I came back to my original idea. They are drawn, which means they aren’t fully there. I wanted to create something immersive instead of going for cheap nostalgia.”