May/June 2017: Buster Williams (Festival Edition)
Reel Jazz
Written by: Charlene DiehlCinematheque, the spunky indie cinema just across from Old Market Square, is getting in on the jazz action during the TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival, offering a line-up of great films for jazz lovers.
- Mavis (2015) is a documentary about the soul legend and civil rights activist Mavis Staples, one of this year’s featured artists on the big stage. (June 15, 17)
- King of Jazz (1930) is a newly-restored feature film starring Paul Whiteman and his orchestra, built of performance clips from across the US and Europe, “A marvel of camera wizardry, joyous color schemes, charming costumes and seductive lighting effects.” (June 16, 17, 18)
- I Called Him Morgan (2016), a documentary about the troubled life of bebop trumpet legend Lee Morgan. The Guardian calls it “documentary-as-jazz… Spellbinding, hallucinatory, exuberant, tragic.” (June 16, 17, 18)
- Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Story (2016) is the definitive documentary of one of the all-time icons of jazz, an enigmatic, passionate, boundary-smashing artist. Featuring “hundreds of never-before-seen photos, home movies, animated paintings by artist Rudy Gutierrez, and other treasures—Coltrane’s musician friends, children, and biographers tell his story” (Variety). (June 14, 15, 21, 22)
- The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), a sci-fi tale of betrayal, hopelessness, and planetary destruction, marks David Bowie’s leap to screen stardom. “Beautiful, jagged, freakish, startling and displacing… tender and mournful” (The Journal Herald). (June 24, 25)
Screenings take place in the afternoon and evening, so check jazzwinnipeg.com for schedule details. Watch for a pop-up record sale too!