The upcoming Netflix original documentary series ReMastered won’t be releasing episodes. It’ll be releasing, quite aptly, tracks. Focused on high-profile events affecting some of the most legendary names in music, presenting groundbreaking discoveries as well as insights beyond what’s been previously reported, ReMastered will be tackling everything from the mysterious shooting of Bob Marley to the origins in South Africa of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” Outlining the ways politics and music have long gone hand in hand, one episode of the doc series will be looking at Victor Jara.
Often compared to Bob Dylan by US media, Jara was a fearless political singer who led the historic Nueva Canción folk movement in Chile during the CIA-backed Pinochet dictatorship. Indeed, Jara’s songs often had a political bent, openly supporting Allende throughout his presidency and touting the songwriter’s leftist ideology. After the CIA-backed coup d’etat that helped establish Pinochet’s dictatorship in the country, Jara was among the thousands of others who were jailed, tortured, and eventually killed. The ReMastered episode, titled “Massacre at the Stadium” and directed by B.J. Perlmutt opens with a man hiding in Florida who’s suspected to have pulled the trigger and killed Jara himself. Except, he’s convinced he can prove his innocence — a gamble that gives way to a probing examination of Jara’s talent, Pinochet’s regime, and the very real victims of political censorship.
ReMastered series launches October 12, 2018 on Netflix with the “Massacre at the Stadium” track debuting in January 2019.