{"id":113457,"date":"2019-04-30T13:55:14","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T18:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=113457"},"modified":"2019-04-30T13:55:14","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T18:55:14","slug":"tribeca-interview-director-carine-bijlsma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/tribeca-interview-director-carine-bijlsma\/","title":{"rendered":"Director Carine Bijlsma Got Personal With D’Angelo For “Devil’s Pie”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dutch filmmaker Carine Bijlsma’s patience and respect paid off for this 2019 Tribeca Film Festival documentary about the reclusive R&B artist D’Angelo.<\/h2>\n

Like D’Angelo’s long-awaited comeback album Black Messiah<\/em>, the documentary stewed on his timing. Devil’s Pie \u2014 D’Angelo<\/em><\/a> premiered at Tribeca Film Festival this weekend. Two screenings remain<\/a> on the schedule.<\/p>\n

Dutch filmmaker Carine Bijlsma<\/a> had the idea for a project in 2010 after becoming reacquainted with D’Angelo’s transcendent falsetto and juicy, elemental neo-soul stylings. It had been ten years since he’d released a record. Voodoo<\/em>, D’Angelo’s second album out in 2000, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and sustained a long life in the singer’s mysterious absence.<\/p>\n

“He is a brilliant musician with a beautiful energy, and I was curious to explore the world that I hear in his music,” Bijlsma says. “I was curious to know who he was both as a man and an artist. I struggled with why he did not perform for so many years. How could such a beautiful instrument want to hide himself?”<\/p>\n

\"Director<\/a><\/p>\n

The director saw an opportunity in 2012 when D’Angelo resurfaced to play some dates in Europe. Bijlsma reached out by email to one of his bandmates introducing herself and expressing interest in making a documentary about D’Angelo. The bandmate, who the director declines to name, responded about a month later. It took about five more months for D’Angelo to give the director a call. “Let\u2019s do the film,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We agreed to hold off on filming until the Black Messiah<\/em> album was released [in 2014] and to create the film, at least in part, around the Black Messiah<\/em> world tour. During the two years until the album\u2019s release, D\u2019Angelo and I stayed in touch mostly by phone. His commitment to the project never wavered. D\u2019Angelo and I seemed to connect from the start,” Bijlsma says.<\/p>\n

Devil’s Pie<\/em> introduces audiences to a still-fragile D’Angelo. He’s been shaken by the deaths of three close kin and a car accident that might have killed him. Managers and comrades like Questlove explain how his particular genius and sensitivity kept him away from the stage during difficult years. With Black Messiah, <\/em>D’Angelo reclaimed his distinctive, holistic place in the popular R&B soundscape, and it came time to play out again. Bijlsma filmed rehearsals for 2015’s Second Coming tour and traveled with the band through Europe, the U.S., Japan, Australia, and New Zealand on 54 dates. She was able to capture a touching response from fans who’ve matured since D’Angelo’s early days, when women in the crowd would tug at his clothing so often that his hairstylist advised him to cut slits in his t-shirts, so he wouldn’t get choked.<\/p>\n