Trying To Get Good The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon Showing: May 31, 8pm, MTC
Jack Sheldon is a great trumpet player who takes his art and calling so seriously while simultaneously taking himself not so very seriously that after 50 years in jazz he still is “trying to get good.” Sheldon is a jazz survivor, “the last cat standing” from the bebop generation, in the words of Billy Crystal. Besides Crystal, other friends and admirers “sit in” to give Jack his props, including Merv Griffin, Clint Eastwood, Chris Botti, Dave Frischberg, Tierney Sutton, Terry Gibbs and Johnny Mandel. But the best of Trying to Get Good is all Jack, all the way: playing, singing, interacting with his public and relating some tasty and serious tales. (2008, 89 min.) – G.R.
Underbelly
film on the arts
Directed by Penny Peyser and Doug McIntyre (Filmmaker in person)
Directed by Steve Balderson (Filmmaker in person)
Showing: May 31, 8pm, Matheson
Water Flowing Together
documentary
Pleasant Gehman transited from the heady times of the L.A. punk scene and its un-traditions to take up the ur-traditions of bellydancing and become Princess Farhana. Supreme adept in the performance of Oriental Dance, always an enthusiastic and encouraging teacher, this adventurous woman is now putting moves on terpsichorean territory where no other bellydancer has gone before and, in a manner of speaking, pulls it off. We are ecstatic to have two local bellydancing troupes, Trillium Tribe and Rock Rose, present with us at this screening. We are casting runes in the hope that Princess Farhana will also be able to join us. (2007, 90 min.) – G.R.
Directed by Gwendolen Cates
“Dance: An art which takes the longest to perfect and is the shortest in lifespan.” Water Flowing Together is the story of Jock Soto, half Navajo Indian, half Puerto Rican, transplanted through his love of dance from a reservation in the Southwest to Manhattan, where he rose to stardom as the Golden Boy of the New York City Ballet. In a sensitive depiction of the way our lives inevitably change, the film relates Jock’s transition to a new phase of his life after a career of constant physical discipline and achievement. Incredibly gorgeous dance photography – not to be missed by anyone with a love of the arts and human grace. (2007, 77 min.) – D.B.
films on the arts
Showing: May 30, 8pm, Saint Anthony’s
Preceded by M Directed by Tiffany Doesken-Polos (Filmmaker in person)
A pulsating, coruscating, semi-abstract exploration of the grace and beauty of the human form. Light, motion, color, texture … Eros. (Silent, 2006, 4 min.) – D.B. M is the Annabelle Butterfly Dance (1895) of the 21st century. – G.R.
Welcome to Nollywood
Directed by Jamie Meltzer (Filmmaker in person)
This exciting and hope-filled documentary introduces us to Nigeria’s budding motion picture industry (now the world’s third largest with a production of 2400 films a year). Nollywood harkens back to the days of Hollywood’s silent picture boom. No need to learn the local language – these folks operate entirely in English (subtitles help with thick accents). Rejoice in how the movies can make the Third World a more prosperous one. (2007, 57 min.) – D.B.
Preceded by Salim Baba Directed by Tim Sternberg
films on the arts
Showing: May 30, 11am, Crown Hall
Since the age of 10, Salim Muhammed has made a living by taking his hand-cranked cinema cart to the neighborhoods of North Kolkata, India and screening discarded scraps of film for the local children. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary, 2007. (2007, 15 min., in Bengali with English subtitles)
Mendocino Film Festival 2008
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