Sam Dunn (born 20 March 1974) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, musician, and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

, best known for his series of documentaries on

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...

. He co-owns

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

-based production company

Banger Films Banger Films is a Canadian film and television production company, which specializes in documentary films and television series on music and culture. The company was launched in 2004 by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn to create and distribute their ...

with Scot McFadyen. Dunn holds a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

where his thesis work focused on Guatemalan refugees. Dunn's first documentary film, '' Metal: A Headbanger's Journey'', won a Gemini Award for Best Writing in a Documentary. His additional credits include the Grammy-nominated '' Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage'' and '' Super Duper Alice Cooper'', winner of Best Feature-Length Documentary at the Canadian Screen Awards. Dunn co-directed and hosted the biggest-ever TV series on the history of heavy metal, '' Metal Evolution'', which reached #1 on VH1 Classic (USA) and M3 (Canada), and most-recently co-directed the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

original series Hip-Hop Evolution which has been awarded a Peabody, an International Emmy, and a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

Films

upright=0.6, Dunn in 2017

''Metal: A Headbanger's Journey''

Dunn's first film, co-directed with Scot McFadyen and Jessica Wise, was released in 2005. The film follows Dunn on a journey to document the origins, culture and appeal of heavy metal. It also explores themes of heavy metal, such as violence, death, religion and

Satanism Satanism refers to a group of religious, ideological, or philosophical beliefs based on Satan—particularly his worship or veneration. Because of the ties to the historical Abrahamic religious figure, Satanism—as well as other religious ...

, gender and sexuality. The documentary featured interviews with

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee Weinrib (; born Gary Lee Weinrib, July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Rock music, rock band Rush (band), Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968 at the request o ...

of Rush and Bruce Dickinson of

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

, whose bands Dunn would profile in later documentaries.

''Global Metal''

Released in 2008, Sam directed a new film, titled ''Global Metal''. In the film, directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn set out to discover how the West’s most awesome musical genre – heavy metal – has impacted the world’s cultures beyond Europe and North America. The film follows metal fan and anthropologist Dunn on a whirlwind journey through Asia, South America and the Middle East as he explores the underbelly of the world’s emerging extreme music scenes — from Indonesian

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

to Israeli Oriental metal and Chinese

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

to Iranian

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

, etc. The film reveals a worldwide community of metalheads who are not just absorbing metal from the West – they are transforming it, and creating a new form of cultural expression in societies dominated by conflict, corruption and mass-consumerism.

''Iron Maiden: Flight 666''

Dunn co-wrote and co-directed the 2009 documentary ''Iron Maiden: Flight 666'' with Scot McFadyen. The film chronicles the band's 2008 tour in which a converted

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the trijet Boeing 727, 727, received its first orders in August 1978. The ...

was flown from country to country by

vocalist Bruce Dickinson.

''Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage''

In 2009 Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen started working on a documentary about Rush. The film premiered at the 2010

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

in New York on April 29, winning the festival's Audience Award.

''Metal Evolution''

Dunn has produced the documentary series '' Metal Evolution'' for VH1 Classic on various metal genres. Its premiere was on November 11, 2011, considered by many to be National Metal Day.

''Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland''

Is a concert DVD, Blu-ray and double CD by Canadian hard rock band Rush released on November 8, 2011. It was filmed on April 15, 2011 at the Quicken Loans Arena in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

during the band's Time Machine Tour.

''En Vivo!''

''En Vivo!'' is a live/video album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Filmed during The Final Frontier World Tour at Estadio Nacional,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

on April 10, 2011, it was released on March 26, 2012 and March 27 in the United States and Canada.

''Satan Lives''

Released October 27, 2015, this movie examines the origins of Satan and his influence in popular culture.

''ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas''

Dunn directed ''ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas'', a profile of the Texas

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...

band

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

, featuring interviews with vocalist/guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist/vocalist Dusty Hill, and drummer Frank Beard. The film had a Los Angeles premiere at the Cinerama Dome on August 13, 2019, prior to the band's 50th anniversary tour. The documentary was released to home media on February 28, 2020, and Netflix shortly after.

Musical activities

Dunn formerly played bass for the ska/

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

band Fungkus; they disbanded in 2000. Dunn also formerly played bass for Toronto-based

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band Burn to Black; they disbanded in November 2008. One of Sam Dunn's first bands was Dementia, in which he played bass. He also formed the progressive

band Scrape Chamber years later with Kelly Nordstrom. Dunn now occasionally plays bass for the Toronto band Machado and His Men.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Banger Films official site
*

Rush: The Documentary page on The Internet Movie Database

Burn to Black
profile at

Encyclopaedia Metallum Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives (commonly known as Metal Archives per the URL or abbreviated as MA) is an online encyclopedia based upon musical artists who predominantly perform heavy metal music along with its various sub-genres ...

Interview
with Sam Dunn About Global Metal/A Headbanger's Journey {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Sam 1974 births Living people York University alumni Canadian anthropologists Canadian documentary film directors Canadian heavy metal bass guitarists Musicians from Toronto Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film Canadian Screen Award winning writers