Kanye West documentary premieres at Sundance

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Jan 25, 2022

A documentary on the life of Kanye West premiered online at Sundance Film Festival on Sunday night. 

Dubbed 'Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy', the release is a three-part series that chronicles the life of Kanye West over two decades, as a young rapper in the late 1990s to today. 

The series is expected to explore everything from his music and fashion career, his 2020 presidential bid, and the death of his mother. The three 90-minute parts are titled 'Vision', 'Purpose' and 'Awakening'.

Jeen-Yuhs was filmed over the course of 20 years and via some 320 hours of footage.The documentary was directed by West’s friends Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah, also known as Coodie & Chike. The duo are frequent collaborators with West and co-directed a series of music videos for him, including 'Jesus Walks' and 'Through the Wire'. 

The film is set for a nationwide theatrical release on February 10, and will later premiere on Netflix on February 16. Despite its debut at Sundance, West did take to Instagram on January 21 to say he wanted to give the documentary another edit before it makes its debut on Netflix.

“I’m going to say this kindly for the last time. I must get final edit and approval on this doc before it releases on Netflix,” West wrote on Instagram. “Open the edit room immediately so I can be in charge of my own image. Thank you in advance.”