The first night of the Miami International Film Festival at O Cinema was completely sold out for the premiere South Florida screening of Brett Morgen’s documentary, Montage of Heck.

That evening, audiences became the most intimate we will ever get to Kurt Cobain.

Morgan was given the key to open a treasure box that had only ever been opened by Courtney Love and his closest family members.

It was a surprise to many that he would even be in the running to make such a film. Why Brett Morgen out of everyone? Love reached out to him after watching one of his previous documentaries. She thought he was the guy and he was thrilled to do it.

After the film was screened, the director opened the room for questions and spoke about the struggles he experienced, due to the delicacy of the subject. Originally, he hoped the documentary would be easy. He thought the footage would explain itself, but he was not expecting what came next.

“I didn’t want to make a celebration of death. I wanted to make a celebration of life.”

Morgen carefully constructed the documentary from interviews and other footage which he presented in a subtle yet impacting way. In addition to carefully selecting the proper footage and working with animators to fill in the blanks, he worried because Courtney Love was not interested in seeing the film during the production process. It wasn’t until after the film was finished that she watched it with Kurt and her’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. Luckily, he told us that in the end she did not have a single complaint about the film as a whole, not even the ending, which he was expecting to have caused a reaction.

Brett Morgen managed to tell Kurt Cobain’s story in a non-controversial or offending manner. If you missed it, look for the film on HBO later this year.