Take one look at award-winning songwriter / artist Allee Willis and you see 
someone unafraid to be themselves. Dressed in a 
cacophony of prints and colors, her signature asymmetrical haircut and famed parties at her real-life Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Allee didn’t waste any 
opportunity to tell you what she was about. But privately, Allee struggled with not fitting established gender and sexual norms. She buried herself in her work, until true love manifested her ultimate masterpiece – self-acceptance. Allee began filming her life in 1950s Detroit and never stopped. THE WORLD
ACCORDING TO ALLEE WILLIS is the realization of her wish that her “final art piece be someone putting together the trail I have left behind.” The film features interviews with Mark Cuban, Cyndi Lauper, Brenda Russell, Lily Tomlin, Paul Reubens, Lesley Ann Warren, Michael Patrick King, Patti LaBelle, 
Pet Shop Boys, Siedah Garrett , Pamela Adlon, Stephen Bray, Paul Feig, Patti LaBelle, Mark Mothersbaugh and many others. Her music includes the massively popular songs that include September and 
Boogie Wonderland, recorded by Earth, Wind and Fire, The Pointer Sister’s Neutron Dance, the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, the theme song for the sitcom Friends and dozens of songs written for Pet Shop Boys, Patti LaBelle, Cyndi Lauper, Gladys Knight, Herbie Hancock and many, many other recording artists. Director Alexis Spraic stops by to talk about the dazzling life of Allee Willis, her creativity, her boundless energy, her generosity, her embrace of collaboration, her Museum of Kitsch and her impact on the world of music, television, film, art and the people who came to know her.
For more go to: magpictures.com/alleewillisdoc
The official Allee Willis website: alleewillis.com
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ALLEE WILLIS in NY, LA and Detroit Theaters on November 15th
About the filmmaker – Alexis Manya Spraic is an award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. As a fourth generation Angeleno, she’s drawn to stories hidden-in-plain-sight: stories of women and people of color languishing in the footnotes of history and culture. Previous documentary credits include “Shadow Billionaire” (Hulu), “Ray Charles’ America” for A&E (produced by Academy Award winner Morgan Neville), State of Play: War on Sports (HBO / produced by Peter Berg) and is finishing a docuseries about the family that started the Magic Castle in Hollywood. She also produced and edited: “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child” (PBS), “Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story” (PBS, Grammy-nominated)), “Cat Dancers” (HBO), “Search and Destroy: Iggy & The Stooges’ Raw Power” (Sony) and “Maxed Out” (Showtime). Alexis also works as a screenwriter. She sold her first original pilot to A&E Networks and has written for Warner Bros, Macro Film Studios, Storyline Entertainment, Flower Films and others. She is currently prepping for her upcoming narrative directorial-debut DOROTHEA starring Holly Hunter starring and packaged by CAA. Alexis is a member of the DGA and WGA and is repped by CAA.
About the filmmaker – Prudence Fenton is a producer, filmmaker, executive, animator, multi-media artist, and Internet visionary, she has changed the ways things look, and our experience of them for over thirty-five years. Credits include MTV IDs, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, animated Peter Gabriel Videos, Liquid Television, ABC’s One Saturday Morning, Drew Carey’s Greenscreen Show, and many others. She spent over 11 years as a think tank consultant at Disney R&D. Six years at Magic Leap with the digital human team and working on spatializing data. Prudence has won three Emmys, a Grammy, and a Clio, as well as MTV VMAs. Since 2020 after the death of her partner Allee Willis Prudence founded the Willis Wonderland Foundation whose mission is to amplify the songwriters of the upcoming generation.
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Reviews:
“Director Alexis Manya Spraic crafts a documentary that strives to be just as fascinating as its subject.” – Jourdain Searles, Hollywood Reporter
“The World According to Allee Willis is one of the best films I saw at SXSW” – Vulture
“Digs through a dizzying mountain of material in Willis’s archive from childhood on – of multi-hit, award-winning songs, art, fashion, parties, to internet plans, with Famous Friends interviews. Doc sensitively slows down to reveal her personal struggles.” – Nora Lee Mandel, Maven’s Nest