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Fiiiinally, The Long-Delayed M.I.A Documentary Is Debuting at Sundance 2018

As recently as March this year, M.I.A said she didn't know what was happening with the film, so this is good news.
Photo via PR

Have you ever seen someone kick up a massive fuss about something and then almost immediately stop caring about it? It’s like when a toddler wobbles at the jungle gym and smacks their head against the side of a slide, quickly scrunches their face up to burst into tears and then thinks ’oh actually, I’m fine’, stopping themselves mid-wail. It's not just kids either, this shit happens with adults too.

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Take director Stephen Loveridge, for example. In 2013 he leaked the trailer for an M.I.A documentary he was working on before being like "nah, fuck this film, I want nothing to do with it.". And now, a whole four years later, it's been announced the film – potentially titled MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. – is due to debut globally at Sundance next year, with Loveridge's name still attached to the project.

According to the film festival’s site, it’s based on “a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades” and is due to be “an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions". If the film's original trailer is anything to go by, it's likely to feature Jimmy Iovine, Kanye West, Richard Russell and a whole load of footage of M.I.A and Diplo pointing into an iMac webcam. The thing is: the fact this is being released is a) great and b) confusing.

As recently as March of this year, M.I.A had told FACT: “I haven’t talked to Steve for years. I did speak to him a few months ago but I think the documentary about me might take another ten years.” And as is always the way in the world of M.I.A, it seems things have taken a swift change. Given her background as a film student, it'll be cool too see how much self-shot material is included in the final cut, or how much she may well have shot about her political allegiances in Sri Lanka. Maybe that'll be worth the sudden aboutface, and the wait. Roll on 2018.

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