Screen gems
Posted: October 30, 2009 at 3:22 a.m.
LITTLE ROCK — Now that the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is over and the Little Rock Film Festival won’t get here until June 2, what’s an Arkansas film fan to do? Hit the road to Northwest Arkansas!
The new 540 Film Festival, conceived by Rowland McKinney and Cassie Self, will be in Fayetteville Nov. 5-8 at various locations around the Fayetteville Square. McKinney, who was spotted last week at the Little Rock premiere screening of Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (executive produced by Arkansas native Courtney Pledger) and at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, and Self have put together an intriguing slate of films that will appeal to those who favor independent productions.
The lineup will include nine features, eight documentaries, 10 shorts and seven student films, along with after-parties and musical performances.
Among the offerings:
Thru the Moebius Strip, a 3-D animated science fiction/fantasy, complete with time travel;
Phantom Punch, with Ving Rhames as former world heavyweight boxing champion Sonny Liston; directed by Robert Townsend);
Chelsea on the Rocks, a documentary that celebrates the artistic voices and personalities that have emerged from the Chelsea Hotel in New York;
War Eagle, Arkansas, an Arkansas-produced drama written by Conway native Graham Gordy;
Junk Dreams, a documentary about two eightysomething brothers who sail a 29-foot Chinese junk on a 1,620-mile journey from Port Hadlock, Wash., to Valdez, Alaska; and
Left/Right, a comedy about a small-town no-account whogrows up to be a big-city socialite, then loses it all - including his identity.
A four-day pass is $30 and a daily pass is $15; they can be bought online at 540filmfest.com through Saturday. Single tickets are $5 and available at the box office on the square in Fayetteville. Visit the Web site for more information.
If you’re not in the mood for Halloween horror this weekend,get mellow by watchingMasters of American Music. These documentaries, which focus on musicians telling the story of jazz in their words, were broadcast or sold on VHS in the 1980s and 1990s; they are now available on DVD for $19.99 each.
The films are:
Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday. With abundant footage of the artist on stage, plus interviews of Buck Clayton, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Carmen McRae, Annie Ross, Milt Gabler, Albert Murray, Mal Waldron, and Ruby Dee reading Holiday’s words.
Thelonious Monk: American Composer. Filmed in a conversational style, American Composer provides a well-rounded portrait of Monk, who’s often portrayed as not simply eccentric but crazy. Featuring interviews with Thelonious Monk III, Monk’s sister Marion White, Ben Riley, Barry Harris, Billy Taylor, Orrin Keepnews and Randy Weston.
The Story of Jazz. A trek through the stylistic changes that keep jazz fresh. New Orleans traditions, stride, swing, boogiewoogie, big band, jump band, the blues, bebop, Afro-Cuban, cool and free-form are all here, along with observations by jazz artists Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams, Buck Clayton, Illinois Jacquet, Tony Bennett, Lester Bowie, Zilner Randolph, Bud Freeman, Randy Weston, Carmen McRae, Billy Taylor, Jay McShann, Roy Haynes and Wynton Marsalis, among others.
Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker. Virtuoso saxophonist Parker created a new style of jazz before his death at 35 and won fame as king of the hipsters. Film clips, photos and interviews trace Parker’s life from his hometown of Kansas City, Kan., to the New York jazz scene of the 1940s, where he transformed traditions into startling and innovative music.Interviews with Jay McShann, Dizzy Gillespie, Leonard Feather, Chan Parker, Roy Haynes, Roy Porter, Frank Morgan, and Parker’s first wife, Rebecca, add perspective.
The second set of Masters of American Music documentary DVDs, due in early 2010, will profile John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie. For more information, visit naxos.com.
MovieStyle, Pages 35 on 10/30/2009
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