One Nation Under A Groove

Independent Lens is airing a documentary on Parliament Funkadelic this Tuesday night. Tune in to your PBS station for more on the Mothership.

Known to its legions of fans simply as P-Funk, Parliament Funkadelic has had a profound impact on the development of contemporary music, aesthetics and culture. PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC: One Nation Under a Groove chronicles the unique alchemy of the musical influences that fed into the band’s singular approach to music, documenting P-Funk’s continuing influence on today’s artists and musicians and featuring an in-depth look at the musical and entrepreneurial mastermind of its leader George Clinton.

To create a film that reflected the distinctive nature of P-Funk, filmmaker Yvonne Smith used animation–both cell- and computer-generated–to create the special sequences and virtual environments that reflect the P-Funk aesthetic. Inspired by a P-Funk lyric, she created the “Afronaut,” a cartoon character from outer space who serves as the film’s host and narrator.