A documentary shot during the 1995 Australian music festival SUMMERSAULT is on the way from director Tamra Davis titled "The Best Summer".
About Summersault....
Back in 1995/96 promoter Stephen “Pav” Pavlovic put on a travelling festival whose line-up included Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Beck, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Rancid, Jawbreaker, Bikini Kill and The Amps. The festival travelled the country with bands like Foo Fighters, Rancid and Jawbreaker playing in Australia for their first time. The festival is also where Rancid's Tim Armstrong meets Brody Dale of the Distillers fame and Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill meets Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys and they all end up married. The festival ended up losing a lot of money and never happened again.
SUMMERSAULT FESTIVAL DATES
Melbourne: 29 Dec 1995, Royal Melbourne Showgrounds
Sydney: 31 Dec 1995, Macquarie University
Gold Coast: 2 Jan 1996, Douglas Jennings Park
Adelaide: 5 Jan 1996, Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Perth: 7 Jan 1996, Fremantle Oval
About the documentary The Best Summer...
While evacuating from the Palisades fires in January 2025, director Tamra Davis discovered a box of videotapes she shot in 1995 at Summersault, a little-known Australian indie music festival.
With The Best Summer, Davis creates an oral and visual history of the tour, showcasing her treasure trove of never-before-seen footage.
With her exclusive access, Davis captures band performances from her stage-adjacent perch, along with candid backstage banter and interviews conducted by Kathleen Hanna with the likes of Kim Gordon and Dave Grohl.
A nostalgic time capsule, this 30-year-old archival film takes on a weighty significance by what it preserves and shares: rare moments of youth, friendship, and good music with arguably the coolest bands of the time.
Immersive POV camera footage reveals electric performances, candid interviews, and intimate backstage life with the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Rancid, Beck, The Amps, and Bikini Kill — an all-access view inside an era-defining moment in music.
About Tamara Davis...
Tamara began her career directing music videos for acts like Tone Loc, Depeche Mode, Indigo Girls, NWA, Hanson and Sonic Youth and made her first feature film in 1992 with Guncrazy starring Drew Barrymore.
She then went on to direct feature films starring Chris Rock-CB4, Adam Sandler in Billy Madison, Dave Chappelle in Half Baked, Britney Spears in Crossroads and most recently, 13: The Musical for Netflix.
She is also known for her documentary work on Jean Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child and The Punk Singer about Kathleen Hanna.
After having two kids with her husband Mike D of the Beastie Boys she started a career in television has directed on shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Dead To Me, The Politician and P Valley. She directed the pilot for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
