An examination of the iconic 90s indie band, Pavements appears to be just another music documentary—until it doesn’t. A prismatic, narrative, scripted, documentary, musical, metatextual hybrid directed by Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell), the film intimately shows the band preparing for their sold-out 2022 reunion tour while simultaneously tracking the preparations for a musical based on their songs, a museum devoted to their history, and a big-budget Hollywood biopic inspired by their saga as the most important band of a generation. Anchored by Pavement’s slacker-sage-sphinx Stephen Malkmus, the film features performances by Joe Keery, Jason Schwartzman, Tim Heidecker, Kathryn Gallagher, Michael Esper, and Zoe Lister-Jones, as well as editing by nonfiction innovator Robert Greene (Procession).

Pavements

Pavements
June 7 at 4:00: Q&A with Director Alex Ross Perry
2025. 128 m. Alex Ross Perry. Utopia. US. English. Rated NR.
Tickets: $20 (members), $25 (nonmembers)
"Pavements is a defiant manipulation of the very form of the music bio-doc."
"Blending fact and fiction in intriguing and unexpected ways, the film is consistently entertaining and can be enjoyed whether you’re a longtime fan of the band or a total newcomer."
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Q&A with director Alex Ross Perry
Saturday, Jun. 7 2025, 4:00
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Alex Ross Perry was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1984. He attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and worked at Kim’s Video in Manhattan. He is the director of the films The Color Wheel, Listen Up Philip, Queen of Earth, Golden Exits, Her Smell, Ghost: Rite Here Rite Now and the writer of Disney’s Christopher Robin. He has directed music videos for Pavement, Ghost, Kim Gordon, Sleigh Bells and many more. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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