A new documentary tracing Pulp’s journey from Sheffield outsiders to one of Britain’s defining pop bands arrives on MUBI on September 25 after a one-night theatrical presentation.
Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore?, directed by longtime collaborator Garth Jennings, combines footage from the band’s 2025 tour with four decades of previously unseen archival material. Frontman Jarvis Cocker narrates the film.
From early Sheffield years to the comeback
The 99-minute documentary looks back at the group’s difficult early years, its breakthrough in the 1990s and the cultural impact of songs such as “Common People.” It also places the band’s recent return in the context of its long and uneven path to success.
MUBI says the film uses material from Pulp’s arena shows as well as personal archives to connect the group’s current performances with its origins.
A return after a long recording gap
Pulp returned with More in 2025, its first studio album in 24 years. The comeback tour that followed provides much of the live footage featured in Jennings’ film.
Reuters reported that Cocker revisits teenage diary entries and early rehearsals while reflecting on how the band developed its identity before its commercial breakthrough.
Sources: MUBI official film page, Sept. 25, 2026; Reuters, Sept. 21, 2026. Image: Jason Persse / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 — Jarvis Cocker of Pulp at Coachella.
