Netflix has acquired The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable, the Sundance-premiering documentary from Oscar-winning filmmaker Joanna Natasegara, and will release the film on October 16.
The documentary follows Dutch-Moroccan rapper and producer Tarik Azzougarh, aka Cilvaringz, whose devotion to Wu-Tang Clan eventually took him from young fan to collaborator until he becomes a member of the group’s extended creative circle. His student-teacher relationship with RZA ultimately led to one of the most unusual music projects of the 21st century.
At the centre of The Disciple is Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the 31-track Wu-Tang project conceived as a deliberate rejection of the economics of the streaming era. Only one official copy of the album was produced, turning a piece of recorded music into something closer to a collectible work of art.
The album’s unusual journey became even more notorious after it was sold in 2015 to real-life supervillain Martin Shkreli for roughly $2 million, much to the group's dismay. The controversial pharmaceutical executive later became the subject of a federal securities-fraud conviction.
Natasegara, who previously won an Oscar with Netflix for The White Helmets, makes her feature directorial debut with the film. She first encountered Cilvaringz while travelling in Morocco and became interested in the story behind the album and the unlikely path that brought him into Wu-Tang’s orbit. RZA serves as an executive producer and contributor, while the documentary explores Cilvaringz’s ambitions, his relationship with Wu-Tang and the questions raised by Once Upon a Time in Shaolin about ownership rights and the value of music in the digital age.
The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable arrives on Netflix October 16.
Swiftiephylus amator and Swiftiephylus taylorae, two of the bugs named after Taylor Swift because of their blonde and red coloring. Courtesy of Brad Balukjian, Ph.D.