When Gloria Gaynor watched the eponymous feature doc about the last eight years of her life, she thanked the director Betsy Schechter and started to sing a cappella.
It was a moment that Schechter said she’d “never forget”. Gaynor expected to do the same thing when Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive premieres at the Tribeca Festival on Friday.
The film has been a labor of love for Schechter, who runs Storyville Entertainment. The doc tells Gaynor’s story – a career stalled by health issues and abuse and mismanagement from her now ex-husband – but it focuses on the last few years when she released a new gospel album, Testimony, which won her a second Grammy, 40 years after her first.
It chronicles this comeback journey and highlights the support from her manager Stephanie Gold and what it took to get back to where she is, having earned a psychology degree in her later years.
Read more on deadline.com