In the 1960s, Claude Nobs started a jazz festival in his hometown of Montreux, Switzerland. Quickly, the festival became a creative hub for some of the biggest musicians of the 20th century, such as Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye. They All Came Out to Montreux is a loving history of the Montreux Jazz Festival and the remarkable man who started it. 

Nobs was a firm believer in the power of music and gave artists the space to flourish. This value is reflected in the film itself when the recorded live performances take center stage. Toward the end of the documentary, the treasure trove of archival material becomes a narrative point, highlighting the festival’s easy embrace of new video technologies to record and preserve performances. In this way, They All Came Out to Montreux becomes not only a testament to the music and performers, but also a love letter to the work of cultural archiving.––Frederic Boyer

Oliver Murray