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No Direction Home
Directed by	Martin Scorsese
Produced by	Susan Lacy Jeff Rosen Martin Scorsese Nigel Sinclair Anthony Wall
Starring	Bob Dylan
Music by	Bob Dylan
Cinematography	Mustapha Barat
Editing by	David Tedeschi
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	July 21, 2005
Running time	208 min.
Language	English
Budget	$2,000,000
IMDb profile

No Direction Home is a documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on American popular music and culture of the 20th century. The film does not cover Dylan's entire career; rather, it focuses on his beginnings, his rise to fame in the 1960s, his transformation from an acoustic guitar-based musician and performer to an electric guitar-influenced sound and his "retirement" from touring in 1966 following an infamous motorcycle accident. The film was first presented on television in both the United States (as part of the PBS American Masters series) and the United Kingdom (as part of the BBC Two Arena series) on September 26–27 2005. A DVD version of the film and accompanying soundtrack album (The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack) were released that same month.

The project eventually titled as No Direction Home began to take shape in 1995 when Dylan's manager, Jeff Rosen, began scheduling interviews with Dylan's friends and associates. Among those interviewed were poet Allen Ginsberg and folk musician Dave Van Ronk, both of whom died before the film was ever completed. Dylan's old girlfriend Suze Rotolo also granted a rare interview, and she later told Rolling Stone Magazine that she was very pleased with the project's results. Dylan himself also sat for ten hours in a relaxed and open conversation with Rosen in 2000.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, an unnamed source close to the project claimed that Dylan himself had no involvement with the project apart from the interview, saying that "[Dylan] has no interest in this...Bob truly does not look back." However, work on the first installment of Dylan's autobiography, Chronicles, Vol. 1, did overlap production of the project, though it's unclear how much, if any, influence Chronicles may have had on No Direction Home.

Though raw material was being gathered for the project, Rosen needed someone to edit and shape it into a quality picture, and celebrated filmmaker Martin Scorsese was approached to 'direct' the documentary planned from the project. Scorsese eventually agreed and came aboard in 2001.

In the meantime, Dylan's office gathered hundreds of hours of historical film footage dating from the time covered in No Direction Home. These included a scratchy recording of Dylan's high school rock band, his 1965 screen test for Andy Warhol, and newly-discovered footage of the famous Manchester, England concert from May 17, 1966, when an angry fan called out "Judas!" just before Dylan and the Hawks performed "Like A Rolling Stone." Shot by D.A. Pennebaker, the onstage, color footage was found in 2004 in a pile of water-damaged film recovered from Dylan's vaults.

No Direction Home received a Peabody Award in 2006, and a Columbia-duPont Award in January 2007.

The title of the film is borrowed from the title of Robert Shelton's 1986 biography of Dylan, which in turn was taken from the lyric of the Dylan song, "Like a Rolling Stone", on the Highway 61 Revisited album.

The film also showcases important influences on Dylan, including:

• John Jacob Niles
• Odetta
• Woody Guthrie
• The Clancy Brothers
• Joan Baez
• Allen Ginsberg
• Pete Seeger
• Dave Van Ronk
• Suze Rotolo

The cover picture of Dylan on the DVD was taken beside the Aust Ferry terminal in Gloucestershire, England, in May 1966, shortly before the Severn Bridge which replaced the ferry was opened.

• No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, Robert Shelton, 1986, Da Capo Press reprint 2003, ISBN 0-306-81287-8

• No Direction Home: Bob Dylan - A Martin Scorsese Picture at the Internet Movie Database
• Review by Lucas Stensland
• No Direction Home at bbc.co.uk.
• "Master of Evasion" by Said Shirazi A review of the documentary

Films directed by Martin Scorsese

What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? • It's Not Just You, Murray! • The Big Shave • Who's That Knocking at My Door • Street Scenes • Boxcar Bertha • Mean Streets • Italianamerican • Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore • Taxi Driver • New York, New York • American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince • The Last Waltz • Raging Bull • The King of Comedy • After Hours • The Color of Money • The Last Temptation of Christ • New York Stories • Goodfellas • Cape Fear • The Age of Innocence • Casino • Kundun • My Voyage to Italy • Bringing Out the Dead • Gangs of New York • The Aviator • No Direction Home • The Departed • Shine a Light