Matt Yoka’s debut feature documentary Whirlybird is among the films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this week. To indie rock fans, Yoka’s name should sound familiar. He’s directed several of Ty Segall’s iconic videos. “The Singer,” “Thank God For Sinners,” “Break A Guitar,” “Goodbye Bread,” the interactive “Manipulator”, and Fuzz’s “Raise” are all his handiwork. So, given Yoka and Segall’s track record together, it makes sense that the director turned to the musician to compose the music for his film.

Matt Yoka’s ‘Whirlybird’ works overtime

Screening in the festival’s U.S. Documentary Competition, Whirlybird is a complex film with many layers. It’s a story about Los Angeles. It also examines the rise of breaking news reporting in the 1980s and 90s. And, last but certainly not least, it’s about the turbulent and heartbreaking relationship between husband-and-wife helicopter reporting duo Zoey Tur and Marika Gerrard.

The departure point for Matt Yoka’s documentary

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Yoka pursued Media Studies at the University of San Francisco, which is where he met Segall. He then got a master’s degree at USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism.

Initially, Yoka wanted to make a documentary about his hometown of Los Angeles, specifically about what was going on in the city in the 1990s. But he knew he needed an access point. In an interview with No Film School, Yoka said Thom Andersen’s Los Angeles Plays Itself, a documentary that depicts the city through cinema, inspired him. Looking for an angle for his story, he arrived on helicopter reporting. In the 1990s, helicopters pretty much covered every major news event happening in the city.

Once he landed on helicopter reporting, Yoka’s compass pointed toward Zoey Tur. Zoey (who previously went by Bob) and her then-wife Marika created Los Angeles News Service (LANS) and were the premier team operating in this journalistic genre in the 1990s. To Yoka’s good fortune, they agreed to the project and gave the filmmaker access to a treasure trove of archival footage. 2,000 hours of Los Angeles history, to be exact.

Does the ‘Emotional Mugger’ short that Matt Yoka and Ty Segall collaborated on a foreshadowing of ‘Whirlybird’?

Yoka has mentioned that Whirlybird was six years in the making. While working on the film, his obsession with Los Angeles manifested in another project, a 14-minute video he made with Segall to promote Segall’s 2016 album Emotional Mugger. In an interview, Yoka described the narrative short as being both his and Segall’s messed up love song for Los Angeles. In the film, Segall’s character takes on all the ugliness he encounters as he walks across the city. Yoka even includes a shot of a helicopter.

Ty Segall’s score for Yoka’s ‘Whirlybird’

As far as Segall’s score for the film, you can get a hint in a clip posted on Deadline. It complements the film’s editing and propels the story forward. You can catch up with it here.

Segall appears to be getting more and more into the scoring biz. Or, he’s just eager to help his friends. Last year, he composed the music for two shorts by Josh Erkman, Hidden Mother, and Diddie Wa Diddie. Erkman is another frequent Segall collaborator. He directed the videos for Segall’s “Taste,” and The C.I.A.’s “Oblivion.”

‘Whirlybird”s landing

Reviews for Whirlybird are already coming in, and the reception has been positive. The Playlist gives it an A- and writes, “Whirlybird seeks to shine a light on those who watch the news just as much as it documents the manic fixation of those who report the news.” The Wrap calls it “a compelling portrait of an American family.” And The Hollywood Reporter describes it as being, “The fascinating story behind some of L.A.’s most famous news scenes.”

Below you’ll find the video Yoka did for the festival as a brief introduction to the film. We’re also including the Emotional Mugger short film. If you want to hear more from Yoka, you can listen to an interview he did this weekend with KPCW.

Whirlybird is an A&E Indiefilms feature film. It’s executive produced by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey’s World of Wonder.