Docupodium: Devil's Pie - D'Angelo

1995 saw the release of the album Brown Sugar by then 21-year-old Michael Eugene Archer, better known by his stage name D'Angelo. The album, sold more than two million times, is considered a milestone of neo-soul. Five years later, he was equally successful with his second album, Voodoo. But fame took its toll: the years that followed were dominated by drugs and a succession of run-ins with the law. D'Angelo withdrew from public and musical life more and more, until he suddenly released a new album late 2014: Black Messiah, considered by many as an absolute masterpiece.

But who is D'Angelo, what formed him, who were his examples? Dutch documentary maker Carine Bijlsma tries to answer these questions during D'Angelo's Black Messiah album tour. Using archive footage and interviews with D'Angelo himself as well as with Questlove, Pino Palladino, and more, she gradually discovers who D'Angelo is: a man with an exceptional musical gift who is also a world star; a tricky combination.

After the film director Carine Bijlsma will be interviewed by Gijs Groenteman (in English).