Amy Berg says her new feature “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” is designed to move past the mythology surrounding the late singer and let Buckley “speak” through his own recordings and personal archive. The documentary opened in U.S. theaters on August 8 in a limited rollout and is slated to air on HBO and stream later this year. Berg has discussed assembling the film from never-before-heard voicemails and family materials, framing the story around Buckley’s artistry rather than the circumstances of his death in 1997 at age 30.
The project was years in the making. Berg has said she first approached Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, in the late 2000s and ultimately gained access to the estate’s archives, a process that shaped the film’s intimate tone. After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January, U.S. rights were set with Magnolia Pictures in partnership with HBO Documentary Films, positioning the title for a late-summer theatrical bow ahead of its television debut.
On screen, the portrait is built from rare footage and a circle of voices close to the musician, including Guibert, former partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser, bandmates Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred, and artists such as Ben Harper and Aimee Mann. Reviews and interviews highlight the film’s emphasis on the women who shaped Buckley’s life and musical sensibility, as well as early career landmarks like his Sin-é performances and his turn at a tribute for his father, the late singer Tim Buckley.
The release arrives amid renewed mainstream attention to Buckley’s work and influence. Early box office reports cited a solid specialty opening, and Berg has continued discussing the film’s aims as it reaches theaters. Guibert, who appears in the documentary, has described her son’s ambitions as long term and ordinary—he “wanted to live to an old age”—a reminder that the film’s subject resisted being reduced to legend even as his voice outlived him.
