Thursday , March 28 2024

Folk and Roots Film Series in NYC

Amazing filmic gathering of American traditional artists at the Anthology Film Archives beginning tonight in NYC:

    THE HIGH LONESOME SCREEN: A FOLK FILM FESTIVAL AT ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
    AUGUST 20-29

    FILMS FROM THE ALAN LOMAX ARCHIVE, APPALSHOP, AND JOHN COHEN

    Just think of us as one enormous porch! From August 20 to August 29, Anthology Film Archives will be host to a film gathering of folk musicians and personalities that reads like a veritable who’s who of American traditional music. Son House, Bukka White, Skip James, Roscoe Holcomb, Othar Turner, Bois-Sec Ardoin, the Carter Family Fold, Hazel Dickens, Jimmy Martin, The Holy Modal Rounders, Ralph Stanley, Nimrod Workman, and many more will grace the screen with more than 40 hours of foot-stomping footage.

    Over 50 works will be screened from three of America’s most prominent sources of filmed performance: The Alan Lomax Archive, Appalshop, and John Cohen. Highlights include a special work-in-progress screening of an incredible documentary on the ultimate underground band, The Holy Modal Rounders, followed by a performance by Rounders-founder Peter Stampfel, an outdoor BBQ on Saturday, August 21, a special presentation by John Cohen, and rare screenings of films and raw footage by Alan Lomax that have never been shown publicly.

    Alan Lomax Films to be screened include:

    The first-ever public screening of BALLADS, BLUES, AND BLUEGRASS (featuring Roscoe Holcomb, Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, Doc Watson, Clarence Ashley, Jack Elliott, and many more)

    From PBS’ American Patchwork series:

    THE LAND WHERE THE BLUES BEGAN

    APPALACHIAN JOURNEY

    CAJUN COUNTRY

    THE DREAMS AND SONGS OF THE NOBLE OLD

    JAZZ PARADES: FEET DON’T FAIL ME NOW

    as well as riveting, never-seen-in-public raw footage from the American Patchwork field trips

    Live footage from the 1966 Newport Folk Festival:

    DEVIL GOT MY WOMAN

    DELTA BLUES / CAJUN TWO-STEP

    BILLY IN THE LOWGROUNDS: OLD-TIME MUSIC FROM NEWPORT

    The Choreometrics / Movement Style and Culture film series:

    DANCE AND HUMAN HISTORY

    PALM PLAY

    STEP STYLE

    Three films by BESS LOMAX HAWES will also be shown.

    APPALSHOP
    Appalshop is a multi-disciplinary arts and education center producing original films, video, theater, music and spoken-word recordings, radio, photography, multimedia, and books in the heart of Appalachia. Appalshop’s education and training programs support communities’ efforts to solve their own problems in a just and equitable way. Each year, Appalshop productions and services reach several million people nationally and internationally. Appalshop is dedicated to the proposition that the world is immeasurably enriched when local cultures garner the resources, including new technologies, to tell their own stories and to listen to the unique stories of others.

    Films to be screened include: HAZEL DICKENS, THE RALPH STANLEY STORY, SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE, STRANGER WITH A CAMERA, AND MORE!

    JOHN COHEN
    Although he is best known as a musician, John Cohen’s photographs and films have been recognized by museums, galleries and at film festivals worldwide. His campaign for the recognition of traditional roots/folk music has led to the production of fifteen films, hundreds of photographs and sound recordings. He has also made more than twenty recordings with the New Lost City Ramblers, along with related articles, liner notes and interviews about music.
    Films to be screened include: THE HIGH LONESOME SOUND, THE BALLAD AND THE SOURCE, SARA AND MAYBELLE, CARNIVAL IN Q’EROS, AND MORE!

    Anthology Film Archives is located at 32 Second Ave. at Second Street and can be reached by the Second Avenue F train or the #6, Bleecker Street stop. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, & AFA members.

Sounds like a mighty soul-satisfying experience of rural-based American music with pictures to go along with the sound. I like BBQ too.

The entire schedule can be found here.

About Eric Olsen

Career media professional and serial entrepreneur Eric Olsen flung himself into the paranormal world in 2012, creating the America's Most Haunted brand and co-authoring the award-winning America's Most Haunted book, published by Berkley/Penguin in Sept, 2014. Olsen is co-host of the nationally syndicated broadcast and Internet radio talk show After Hours AM; his entertaining and informative America's Most Haunted website and social media outlets are must-reads: Twitter@amhaunted, Facebook.com/amhaunted, Pinterest America's Most Haunted. Olsen is also guitarist/singer for popular and wildly eclectic Cleveland cover band The Props.

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