Flipside – Watch the trailer for the new documentary about a record store and a mid-life crisis

When filmmaker Chris Wilcha revisits the record store he worked at as a teen in New Jersey, he finds the once-thriving bastion of music & weirdness from his youth slowly falling apart and out of touch with the times.

Flipside documents his tragicomic attempt to revive the store while revisiting other projects he has abandoned over the years. In the process, Wilcha captures This American Life icon Ira Glass in the midst of a creative rebirth, discovers the real origin story of David Bowie’s ode to a local New Jersey cable television hero, and uncovers the unlikely connection between jazz photographer Herman Leonard and TV writer David Milch.

This disparate collection of stories coheres into something strange and expansive—a moving meditation on music, work, and the sacrifices and satisfaction of trying to live a creative life.

In his first feature, 1999’s The Target Shoots First, Chris Wilcha documented his tenure at Columbia House. He then worked on adapting This American Life from radio to television for two seasons.

Flipside hits US cinemas on 31st May 2024.