Virginia Film Festival

Joan Baez, a musician, civil rights campaigner, and activist, has graced the stage for over six decades. She began her career began at eighteen and has earned the title of undisputed queen of folk music. Filmmakers Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky, and Maeve O’Boyle follow Baez on her farewell tour and construct a retrospective view of her profound impact on culture, encompassing her vast music catalog and unwavering commitment to the Civil Rights Movement.

The film also uncovers a portrait of her personal struggles and stresses hidden beneath her serene facade, including Baez’s reckoning with family-related challenges and drug use. Joan Baez I Am a Noise beautifully examines one of music’s most influential artists with intertwining diary entries, home movies, previously-unseen archival materials, and in-depth interviews with Baez and her peers.