A new comedy-drama movie based around the legendary Woodstock Festival is to open in the UK on November 13.

Called Taking Woodstock, it’s been directed by Ang Lee, and is based on the book Taking Woodstock: A True Story Of A Riot, A Concert And A Life, by Elliot Tiber. The film stars Demetri Martin as Elliot Tiber, Emile Hirsch and Liev Schreiber.

Here’s the synopsis:

‘It’s 1969, and Elliot Tiber, a down-on-his-luck interior designer in Greenwich Village, New York, has to move back upstate to help his parents run their dilapidated Catskills motel, the El Monaco.

‘The bank is about to foreclose; his father wants to burn the place down, but hasn’t paid the insurance; and Elliot is still figuring how to come out to his parents. When Elliot hears that a neighbouring town has pulled the permit on a hippie music festival, he calls the producers, thinking he could drum up some much needed business for the motel.

‘Three weeks later, half a million people are on their way to his neighbour’s farm in White Lake, NY, and Elliot finds himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American culture, forever.’

The soundtrack features The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Arlo Guthrie, The Band, Steve Winwood, Joan Baez, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Canned Heat, Country Joe & The Fish, Tim Hardin, Ultimate Spinach, Sweetwater Group and Fraternity Of Men.

For further info, go to www.filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/taking_woodstock