Wednesday, May 19
ALL FILMS LISTED FOR WEDNESDAY < May 19 > ARE BEING SCREENED AT THE EGYPTIAN THEATRE
ADMISSION $5 Festival Passes Accepted
9:00 AM SOL CARIBE 1:15 MusicDoc: A documentary about the musical history and culture of the Dominican people. Director: Felix Limardo
ADMISSION $5 Festival Passes Accepted
10:15 AM RICHARD MARGISON FOLK SINGING OPERA STAR :52 MusicDoc: This one hour documentary film profiles the life of one of opera's leading tenor singers - Richard Margison who began his singing career as a foolk singer on Canada's West Coast. With the help of legendary Canadian folk singer Bruce Cockburn (Lover's in a Dangerous Tilme), Richard Margison reflects on an international opera career that spans a quarter of a century, life growing up on Canada's West Coast, and what could have been if he had followed his dream to be a guitar strumming folk singing star. Directed by Michael Maitland
ADMISSION $10/$5 Festival Passes Accepted
11:15 AM THE LONELIEST ROAD IN AMERICA 1:35 Feature: Jamie is a disillusioned guy with a dead-end job and a suffocating relationship with his girlfriend. On a quest for enlightenment, he takes a road trip from Denver to LA with friends Matt and Ashley. Along highway 50 in Nevada (The Loneliest Road in America) they encounter the ravages of the mining industry that has left skeletons of once-prosperous towns in its wake. Against this backdrop, Jamie confronts the recognition that freedom and exploitation are inextricably linked and that his own personal relationships have followed the same road. Rough language and adult subjects, sexuality, drugs.
Composer: Jamey Scott
ADMISSION $10/$5 Festival Passes Accepted
1:00 PM UNREMEMBERED 2:15 Feature: John Outis doesn't have a past. But his life history is being restored in the present and it's dramatically altering the lives of his friends, his wife, and his lover. As he begins to remember more, his past threatens to end his future until he receives the aid and guidance of Tina Plantes, a brilliant and unconventional physics professor. As she's drawn deeper into the bizarre events of John's life, she discovers a disturbing and far-reaching truth: time is not linear. This film is intriguing and keeps the audience involved. Composer: Nan Avant
ADMISSION $5 Festival Passes Accepted
3:10 PM VIRTUOSO: THE OLGA SAMAROFF STORY 1:02 MusicDoc: Based on the biography, An American Virtuoso on the World Stage, this is a documentary about the life and times of Texas-born Lucy Hickenlooper, who reinvented herself as Olga Samaroff, and became one of America’s foremost international concert pianists of the early 20th Century. While she is largely responsible for catapulting Stokowski’s conducting career to in‐ ternational acclaim, her life as a concert virtuoso is little known. As the first American on the piano faculty at Juilliard in 1924, Samaroff was also an, author, lecturer, and music critic. She lectured widely to bring music education to the masses and counted among her personal friends all the performers and composers of her time. As the beloved Juilliard artist/teacher, she launched the careers of our first generation American born, American-trained concert artists. A personal friend of Thomas Edison, she was also one of the first artists to ever record (1908.) Samaroff was at the very center of a fascinating American musical era that to this day still embodies the indelible stamp of her many contributions to the world of music. Directors: Donna Kline, Wendy Slick
ADMISSION $10/$5 Festival Passes Accepted
4:30 PM FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG: ANDERSON FAIR 1:31 MusicDoc For forty years, Houston’s legendary folk and acoustic music venue, Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant, has fostered and nurtured some of the most important musical performers and songwriters in America including Grammy Award-winning artists Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett and Lucinda Williams. Includes Interviews and performances by Lyle Lovett. For The Sake Of The Song: The Story of Anderson Fair is the captivating saga of one of Texas’ and America’s unsung cultural treasures. This film explores the significant role “the Fair” has played in preserving an American musical tradition and how a devoted family of artists, volunteers and patrons, transformed a politically subversive little coffee house and restaurant into a unique American music institution. Anderson Fair has stubbornly bucked the odds and survived for four decades because of the dedication of a community of people with a common vision - nothing gets in the way of the music. It has always been and is still run by volunteers; no one is paid. And its struggle to survive in many ways mirrors the struggle of the individual artists. For The Sake Of The Song tells the tale of one small place where the sound is true, the spotlight gentle, the applause encouraging, and big things happen. Director: Bruce Bryant, Composer: Gurf Morlix
ADMISSION $10/$5 Festival Passes Accepted
6:15 PM DECONSTRUCTING DAD: THE MUSIC, MACHINES AND MYSTERY OF RAYMOND SCOTT 1:38 MusicDoc: “A fascinating look at a musical genius and the way he lived his life”--Leonard Maltin. You may not know this amazing composer, but you know his music. A documentary exploration of the life and work of composer, inventor, bandleader, and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott (1908-1994), presented from the unique perspective of his filmmaker son. Filled with Scott’s utterly original music, the film will be a cinematic tapestry that interweaves rare family photos, home movies, film and television excerpts (Scott was orchestra leader on the 1950’s Hit Parade TV show), cartoon excerpts (Carl Stalling, legendary music director at Warner Brothers licensed Scott’s tunes to amplify the antics of Bugs Bunny and company), and musical perfor‐ mances. Interviewees will include famous fans such as film composer John Williams, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, saxophonist Don Byron, DJ/philosopher Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky), Moog synthesizer co-inventor Herb Deutsch as well as other Scott devotees and Scott's colleagues, some of his children, and relatives. There is also a lengthy audio interview with Scott himself, plus an appearance with Edward R. Murrow on Person to Person. Going beyond biographical documentary, the film is also a personal quest to unravel the timeless fabric of love, connection and rejection that are a part of every parent child relationship, with the additional el‐ ement of having a famous father obsessed with his work, and further complicated by divorce and related scandal. The end result will be a comprehensive portrait of this musical legend--almost completely forgotten 15 years ago, who is now re-emerging as a vitally important figure in US music history. Director: Stan Warnow
ADMISSION $10/$5 Festival Passes Accepted
8:15 PM THE ANATOMY OF VINCE GUARALDI 1:56 MusicDoc: Back in 1963, two friends got together to make a film about jazz. Ralph J. Gleason (noted jazz writer and co-founder of Rolling Stone) and Vince Guaraldi (then leading the house band at the famed hungry i in San Francisco) met in a recording studio to document how a combo lays down tracks. The result was Guaraldi’s landmark jazz / pop crossover hit, “Cast YourFate To The Wind” but the film of that event was only shown once, then was filed away in Gleason’s attic. Recently two new friends got together to take this rare footage and expand it to follow the musical and social impact of Vince Guaraldi as he went onto create the masterful scores for the Peanuts cartoons, the historic Jazz Mass at Grace Cathedral, and lend his music and personality to participate in some of the most important social movements of his time. The new friends are Toby Gleason (Ralph’s son) and Andrew Thomas, an award-winning documentarian. Together they have unearthed previously unknown recordings and footage, and gathered an eclectic collection of personalities to perform and share their intimate memories of Guaraldi’s impact -- including Dave Brubeck, Dick Gregory, George Winston, Malcolm Boyd, Paul Krassner, Irwin Corey, John Handy, and more. Scored from Guaraldi’s private recordings that have never been heard before now, and featuring new performances by George Winston, John Hendricks, and David Benoit, “The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi” is a musical, visual and cultural feast. Director: Andrew Thomas