SEPULTURA Is Still Working On Securing Worldwide Release For Official Documentary

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser spoke to Germany's Moshpit Passion about the status of the band's official documentary, "Sepultura Endurance". The film, which received its world premiere in May 2017 at the Regent theater in Los Angeles, shows the journey from SEPULTURA's humble rural beginnings to decades spent on the international stage, giving an in-depth look into how the band continues to thrive in a changing metal landscape. Crammed full of rare archival footage, and featuring interviews with legends like Lars Ulrich (METALLICA) and Scott Ian (ANTHRAX),and younger artists influenced by SEPULTURA, like SLIPKNOT's Corey Taylor, "Sepultura Endurance" is the definitive document of the band's myths, struggles and heart.

"The movie came out last year in Brazil, in many movie theaters," Andreas said. "We had the 'Sepultura Day' — it was June 14th, if I'm not mistaken, last year — and the movie was released in many different movie theaters around Brazil. Which was something unthinkable for a heavy metal documentary to have such an opportunity to take the movie. But still, it was very limited. It stayed in movie theaters for a couple of weeks, and then it was a part of many movie festivals around the world — in Europe, in Asia, in South America, in North America. And now in Brazil, on the last July 13th, it's available on these platforms, like iTunes and whatever we have in Brazil, and we're working to have this format in Europe and the States — maybe Netflix and stuff; we're still talking about [it]. And the next step after that, of course, is to put it in a physical format [so] that people [who] didn't have a chance to see, to watch in all those opportunities can buy the stuff."

Asked if there has been any talk of releasing "Sepultura Endurance" with a companion disc containing SEPULTURA concert footage, Andreas said: "Yeah. We have the show that was recorded in São Paulo in 2015, where we celebrated the 30-year anniversary of SEPULTURA. We played all the eras of the band, songs from all the albums and everything — it was a very complete show, historically speaking. That's a possibility, because it was professionally recorded, and many parts of the show [are] a part of the documentary as well. Yeah, we have this plan to put it out all together, but no specific date yet. We've still gotta see how we're gonna deal with the platforms, and then, when we're ready to put it out, we're gonna know the date better."

Former SEPULTURA members Max and Igor Cavalera denied permission to the makers of "Sepultura Endurance" to use the group's early music in the film. Director Otávio Juliano told Brazil's Folha De S. Paulo that he could not even use footage of early SEPULTURA songs being performed by the current version of the band, which includes singer Derrick Green and drummer Eloy Casagrande alongside two members of SEPULTURA's "classic" lineup, Kisser and Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. (bass).

Juliano said last year that nothing was off limits during the making of the documentary. "The band gave me complete access, every door was open, I was never asked to leave," he explained. He went on to describe the film as "a testament to the endurance required to make a documentary for almost seven years," pointing out that "800 hours of footage" was shot for the movie.

SEPULTURA is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, "Machine Messiah", which was released in January 2017 via Nuclear Blast.