| About The Film: |
 In "The Cream Will Rise" music star Sophie B. Hawkins embarks on a national tour which becomes a voyage of self-discovery when a visit to her mother in New York City forces her to confront the demons of her childhood. In the course of the film, which combines public moments of frenzied performance with intimate moments of revelation and transformation, the most provacative and enigmatic singer-songwriter of the 90's confronts the buried emotional pain which is the dark secret of her art.
Twelve days later, two weeks before the tour hit the road, the cameras were turning on Gaston's first film. Gaston's wish came true in a way neither she nor her collaborater could have envisioned when a vist to Hawkin's family in New York City uncovered memories of sexual abuse. "It began with Sophie reminiscing about her childhood and asking certain questions of her mother, and it just skyrocketed." Seven hours of startling, funny, touching and frightening confrontations were filmed during that first visit, a subsequent visit after the tour was completed, and a five-day visit in L.A. one week after editing of the documentary began.
Sophie B. Hawkins discusses these memories and all of her childhood issues with her mother after years of silence. She searches for the truth in order to expel feelings of hidden shame, all the while struggling with the ever present dichotomy of an artist—to be publicly private. Gaston says she admires the honesty on both sides which made these revelations possible. In the movie Sophie says, "This documentary has lifted the lid off a coffin, and now I'm looking at stuff that I didn't know was there." I said, 'Do you want to stop?' and she said, 'No, how can I ?' Sophie performs approximately 20 songs, old and new, in "The Cream Will Rise." but not for the usual promotional reasons.
"Sophie has had to face that darkness in order to evolve into a whole person--I think she knows who she is now, and I think she's incredibly brave to let me photograph it while it's happening. That's why this movie will be great for kids. She says, "Whether you're five or fifty you can do anything you want--you follow your dream, and nothing can stop you: no parents, no family traumas, nothing.' She's proof of that." Sophie B. Hawkins has not let her childhood hold her back, discovering instead that one doesn’t need all the answers to let go. |
The Film | About Gigi Gaston | Video-Sound | Pictures | Order | Festivals |
Watching Sophie B. Hawkins rehearse for her upcoming 30-city "Moxy Tour" in early April of 1996, screenwriter Gigi Gaston proposed a documentary
about the tour, and the singer promptly accepted. "I
wanted to see what makes a modern-day Beethoven-Janis
Joplin tick, "explains Gaston.
The questions opened the proverbial can of
worms and ultimately lead Sophie and the film makers to
explore the dark secrets of Sophie’s childhood and
the murky memories that have held her captive in isolated
pain...the pain soulfully heard so often in her songs.
"You'll see in this movie that her
songs reflect her life," says Gaston. "After
her conversations with her mother you have to listen
differently to lyrics of 'Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover',
'As I Lay Me Down.' 'Listen,' 'Swing From Limb to Limb',
'Only Love', 'Don't Stop Swaying', and a number of songs
from her as yet unreleased album Timbre: 'Beautiful
Girl', 'Nocturne', 'The Darkest Childe', 'No Connection',
'32 Lines', 'I Walk Alone', and 'Lose Your Way.'