Pass the Popcorn brings listeners into Omaha’s film scene with insights and recommendations, in partnership with Film Streams.
By Gabriel Escalera
The Devil and Daniel Johnston explores the life of an outsider music icon
August 20th, 2026
Kurt Cobain once called Daniel Johnston the greatest songwriter on earth. His songs have been covered by artists including Beck, Wilco, Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam.
But behind Johnston’s influence as a musician and visual artist was a complicated life shaped by extraordinary creativity, heartbreak and serious mental health struggles.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston, the acclaimed 2005 documentary directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, explores Johnston’s life and career through interviews, home movies, performance footage and recordings. The film follows him from childhood through his emergence as an influential figure in outsider and alternative music.
Johnston lived with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and spent significant periods in psychiatric facilities. His mental health became an important part of both his personal story and his artistic identity.
His music was unmistakably personal. Johnston’s fragile, high pitched voice often cracked during emotional performances, while his songs explored love, loneliness, mental health, fear of the devil and his belief that love could ultimately save him.
Although Johnston never became a mainstream radio star, his influence on alternative music was substantial. Long before lo fi became an established musical style, Johnston was creating recordings with inexpensive equipment, including a tabletop chord organ, upright pianos and acoustic guitars.
His homemade recording techniques became part of his sound. He would use two cassette players to layer vocals and instruments, creating recordings that were rough, distorted and deeply personal.
That authenticity attracted a devoted audience among musicians and filmmakers. Johnston’s music appeared in films including the 1995 cult classic Kids and the teen comedy Empire Records.
For listeners unfamiliar with his work, the documentary offers an opportunity to discover both the music and the person behind it, while considering the complicated relationship between creativity, fame and mental health.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston is part of Film Streams’ Sights on Sound series, which features films and documentaries about musicians across genres and generations.
The film will screen with support from Make Believe Studios on Saturday, Aug. 22, and Wednesday, Aug. 26, at the Ruth Sokolof Theater in Omaha.
For fans of music documentaries, outsider art or the stories behind the songs, The Devil and Daniel Johnston offers a portrait of an artist whose influence continues to reach far beyond the homemade recordings that first made him known.
