The Beatles and Rolling Stones learned just about everything they knew from this man. Elvis is said to have whispered backstage to him: “You will always be the true king of rock ’n’ roll.” Cult director John Waters wears a pencil moustache in his honour, for bringing queerness to the cinema in Baltimore for the first time. This film tells the story of the black and queer origins of rock ’n’ roll and smashes the whitewashed canon of US-American pop music to reveal its true innovator and inventor: none other than Little Richard.

“I made this film because the story of Little Richard is the story of rock ’n’ roll – and rock ’n’ roll is the American idiom. Little Richard embodies all the complexity of our country: its paradoxes and cruelties, its beauty and its genius.” (Lisa Cortés)

Lisa Cortés, born in 1960 in Milford/USA, attended Yale University, where she received a degree in American Studies. Following graduation, she worked in the music industry. She made her directorial debut in 2000 with her short film A PARK GROWS. Since then, her films have been honoured around the world and nominated for prizes more than 80 times.

Filmography (selection): 2000 A PARK GROWS (short film), 2019 THE REMIX: HIP HOP X FASHION (co-direction with Farah Khalid), 2020 ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY (co-direction with Liz Garbus), 2023 LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING

Awards (selection): Nesnadny + Schwartz Portrait Documentary Competition Award (Cleveland International Film Festival, USA 2023), Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature (Calgary Underground Film Festival, Canada 2023)