Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2014

The creation of some of the greatest films ever made such as Apocalypse Now and Citizen Kane have been covered in equally great documentaries. Filmmaker Frank Pavich took a different route, delving into one of the greatest films never made. When Pavich heard that cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky tried to adapt Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel Dune a decade before David Lynch, he was intrigued. “Once you hear a bit, you have to know more,” Pavich said during a visit to Tokyo. “But you reach the end of the road, and there are no more internet sites or books so the only way to learn more is to find Jodorowsky and his collaborators.” Pavich discovered the maverick assembled a creative team including H.R. Giger, Mick Jagger, Salvador Dali and Orson Welles before funding was pulled at the last minute. Pavich employs music and storyboard images to hint at what might have been and show the director’s remarkable recovery from creative heartbreak. Unveiling the film at the Tokyo International Film Festival, Pavich discussed his subject’s ties with Japan. “When I was first studying him, his movies like El Topo were not available in the U.S.,” he said. “If you were lucky, the best way to see it was on a Japanese Laserdisc.” Jodorowsky’s Dune will screen at Shinjuku’s Cinema Quality on May 17 and again from June 14.