The Best Summer
A found footage documentary from a concert tour in 1995 featuring live performances, candid interviews, and a behind-the-scenes view of what it's like to be on tour with Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Beck, Pavement, Rancid, The Amps, and Bikini Kill.
Director Tamra Davis scheduled to attend.
Tickets
Select showtime for pricing and tickets.
Saturday, May 9, 2026
- Limited Availability
- On Standby
- Matinee
Sunday, May 10, 2026
- Limited Availability
- On Standby
- Matinee
The Australian "Summersault" tour, which opened in December 1995 in Melbourne, was a peak moment for the decade's alt-rock movement. Luckily music video, feature film, and documentary director Tamra Davis happened to be there (at the time she was married to Mike D of the Beastie Boys, on the lineup) and happened to have her camera. The result is this no-frills chronicle, essentially a home movie with plenty of live performance footage. The slate boasted some of the era's hottest acts (Beck, Rancid, Pavement), including some with Pacific Northwest roots, like Bikini Kill and the Foo Fighters. Linking one concert moment to the next are brief questionnaires, presented to the musicians by onscreen interlocutor Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill: What's your personal motto? What book are you currently reading? (We thereby learn that Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon's favorite color is "punk.") The line of questioning that elicits the most interesting answers concerns the lure of the stage: Why? And more specifically, do you have a performing persona that differs from your real-life self?—a pointed and revealing probe of artists in a genre that prioritized (and marketed itself on) honesty and authenticity.
—Gavin Borchert
- Director: Tamra Davis
- Principal Cast: Kathleen Hanna
- Country: USA, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand
- Year: 2026
- Running Time: 84 min.
- Producer: Tamra Davis, Linda Lichter, Shelby Meade
- Cinematographers: Tamra Davis
- Editors: Jessica Hernandez
- Website: Official Film Website
- Filmography: 13 (2022), Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands (2024), Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010), A Conversation with Basquiat (2006), Keep Your Eyes Open (2002), Crossroads (2002), Skipped Parts (2000), Half Baked (1998), Best Men (1997), Billy Madison (1995), No Alternative Girls (1994), Bad Girls (1994), CB4 (1993), Guncrazy (1992)
- Language: English
- Has Subtitles: Yes