Pulp’s ‘Encore’ Doc Sets September Premiere

Pulp’s ongoing comeback story is about to hit the screen. Garth Jennings’ PULP: What Do You Do for an Encore? will premiere exclusively on MUBI Sept. 25, with a one-night-only U.S. theatrical preview set for the night before. The film’s first trailer can be sampled below.

As previously reported, Jennings’ 90-minute documentary combines footage from Pulp’s biggest-ever arena production with four decades of previously unseen archival material. The film was shot around the band’s 2025 tour behind More, its first album in 24 years, and is narrated by frontman Jarvis Cocker. Twenty songs, spanning hits and deep cuts, are woven through the story of the Sheffield outsiders who became one of Britain’s most singular cultural exports.

More from Spin:

• KISS’ 1976 Anaheim Stadium Conquest Finally Gets Its Due
• Myles Bullock Be Cast As Dr. Dre In Snoop Dogg Biopic
• Robert Glasper Readies 8th Robtober Blue Note Run

The project is particularly personal for Jennings, whose relationship with Pulp dates back to 1997, when he directed the video for “Help the Aged.” When the band returned to touring in 2023, he reached out and helped develop the staging for the shows before filming two 2025 O2 Arena performances.

“I thought they were the greatest thing ever,” Jennings tells SPIN of discovering Pulp through BBC DJ John Peel’s annual Festive 50 year-end best-of list. “There was a song, ‘Razzmatazz,’ that absolutely lit me up like a Christmas tree. I had never seen anyone like Jarvis either. I’d grown up loving people like Freddie Mercury or Sammy Davis Jr., who put it all on the stage. With Jarvis, there’s no stopping him, and he’s just so engaging. From the outset, I loved them, And what’s been so nice is realizing that I love them even more now.”

“Everyone has their own world on stage,” he continues. “They create their own little universe, and even though they’re perfectly in sync, there’s a sense of very different characters up there. In the documentary, you realize just how important those personalities are, and how each one of them is brilliant and vital. It’s almost like a chemical reaction. I loved being around that.”

An accompanying album, Live!, will be released Aug. 28 through Rough Trade. That night, Pulp performs at Manchester, U.K.’s Wythenshawe Park.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.