In May 2022, Kate Bush’s iconic 1985 track “Running Up That Hill” enjoyed a meteoric resurgence thanks to its use in the series Stranger Things. This spectacular comeback brought back into the spotlight an artist who, for nearly half a century, has fascinated and intrigued audiences alike. From her debut with Wuthering Heights, the first single she imposed on her record label at the age of just 19, Kate Bush asserted a unique artistic vision, from which she has never deviated. Free, daring, and deeply independent, she imposed a radically innovative aesthetic from her very first albums, going against the norms of her time.

The daughter of a doctor, nurtured by the worlds of David Bowie, Marc Bolan, and Elton John, she composed dozens of songs on the family piano from the age of 11. Spotted by David Gilmour, Pink Floyd’s guitarist, she recorded her first demos at the age of 16 and entered a professional studio for the first time. From her very first album, she developed a unique sound that would transform pop music forever. She enjoyed immediate and phenomenal success, which allowed her to assert her artistic choices with her record label and, over the course of her albums, achieve total mastery of production.

In 1979, she invented a new stage language with The Tour of Life, a revolutionary tour that shook up everything that had been done before. Each song was conceived as a meticulously orchestrated theater scene: multiple costume changes, optical illusions, poetry readings, mime and magic acts. This total performance placed Kate Bush at the forefront of a generation of artists who saw the stage as a field for multimedia experimentation.

In the 1980s, she furthered her sound research with the Fairlight, one of the first digital samplers, which she used to incorporate unexpected sounds into her compositions. Always ahead of her time, she made her own music videos—Babooshka, Running Up That Hill—long before MTV normalized music videos as a promotional tool.

This documentary traces her exceptional journey through the words of Kate Bush herself, as well as through the voices and musical reinterpretations of those she continues to inspire. Pauline de Tarragon (aka Pi Ja Ma), Leah Kardos, Flora Fischbach, Laura Cahen, Alice Lewis, Verity Susman, and Matthew Simms (aka Memorials) together sketch out the undiminished power of a body of work that, far from belonging to the past, continues to fuel the creative impulses of today.