A dazzling and delirious portrait of one of rock’s greatest living photographers, Mick Rock, whose work with the likes of David Bowie, Queen, Blondie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop created iconic images that would come to define them.

Mick Rock

Directed by:
Barney Clay

A deep look into the mind of one of rock’s greatest living photographers: Mick Rock. Rock’s work with some of the most accomplished personalities of the past forty years - David Bowie, Queen, Blondie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop – created many of the images that would come to define them.

Presented in his own words, Rock takes us through his journey from the glam rock shimmer of London, through to the snarl of NYC punk and into the new millennium, combining a portrait of the man who did the work, with a look at what the work did to a man.

Iconic album covers, unforgettable portraits and unparalleled access - this is the world of legendary photographer Mick Rock. He didn’t just document the music scene from the late Sixties onwards, he was, as he puts it ‘part of the family - and I was cheap!’

Opening with a recreation of Mick’s brush with death in New York in 1996, the film charts his rise from ordinary lad to Cambridge graduate, to becoming a self-styled ‘photographer assassin’, documenting a music scene exploding with extraordinary characters and groundbreaking experimentation. From the late Sixties to the present, Mick worked with the likes of Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Iggy Pop, The Sex Pistols, and Debbie Harry, capturing them at the height of their powers.

With a searing soundtrack featuring tracks by Lou Reed, Barrett, Bowie and The Sex Pistols, and featuring rare audio, film footage and stills from Rock’s collection, this is a dazzling, psychedelic account of a man destined to become one of the world’s greatest, and wildest, photographers.

Featuring intimate, poignant recollections of Mick’s meetings with some of the rock world’s biggest stars - including a fascinating account of the creation of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character, and how he went on to produce and direct Bowie’s first music videos - it’s an enthralling portrait of old school photographer, who comes on like a cross between Mick Jagger and Howard Marks, still going strong. SHOT! Tells you everything you need to know about the music industry but couldn’t get close enough to find out.

“[Rock] proves a witty and rueful commentator whose observations are infused with self-deprecating humor” - The Hollywood Reporter

“Provides an invaluable glimpse into the private thoughts of certain rock legends” - Slant

“The man who shot the Seventies” - Next Projection

“A documentary worthy of the stories that are behind all those iconic album covers.” - fanboynation.com

Special Q&A Screenings will take place on:

-12th July BFI Southbank

-13th July at Picturehouse Central