Memphis filmmaker Zaire Love’s confidence was boosted when she won both the Best Narrative Short and the Best Documentary Short awards at Indie Memphis 2023. It was a feat that had never been equalled in the 25 year history of the festival. “On a personal level, it really showed me that I can do it,” she says.
For “Slice,” the winning documentary short, it was only the beginning. “We had our festival run in 2023, and we got into over 20 festivals,” she says. “We won seven festivals. And honestly, that’s rare. It is rare that you get into that many festivals, and it is rare that you are winning or a finalist in it.”
“Slice” is about a uniquely Memphis sport. Think of it as the aquatic equivalent of jookin — acrobatic dives that are unlike the highly technical aerial maneuvers you’ll see at the Paris Olympics over the next two weeks. “Rico [the subject of “Slice”] says if you took somebody at the Olympics, they couldn’t even do what we do,” says Love.
For Love, the short film took up much more of her life than she had expected when she started filming four years ago. “I graduated my MFA program in 2020, and that’s when I considered myself what I wanted to be: a filmmaker. Right after graduation, I start this project that I’m thinking is going to be something that only takes maybe two weeks, and then I’m out of here. But it did take longer. And it has proven to be life-changing.”
The truth is, most documentaries take longer to make than narrative films. “It’s a whole different beast,” says Love. “You can plan all you want, but in documentary, you really have to be able to pivot, because you didn’t know that you were going to get certain gems, certain really special moments that you can’t just file away in the archive. So you got to figure out how to put those nuggets in your film.”
After gaining attention on the festival circuit, “Slice” was licensed by The New Yorker as part of their film series. It premiered on Thursday, July 25th, the day before the Paris Olympic’s opening ceremonies. “I learned that we have so many stories that need to be told, but I also learned to trust myself and trust my vision. Trust that me coming to a project with good intentions to, again, amplify and immortalize, it just showed me that I can do this. It really shows me that like Andre 3000 said, the Black South got something to say, and people really want to listen. So I just feel like it was just confirmation that this is what I’m supposed to be doing in life. This is why I’m here.”
Zaire Love’s “Etto” won Best Hometowner Narrative Short.
More than 170 films screened at the 26th Indie Memphis Film Festival, which ran from October 24 to 29, 2023. Audiences flocked to the opening night film, Raven Jackson’s mesmerizing All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt; Jeanie Finlay’s documentary Your Fat Friend; a sneak preview of Jeffrey Wright in the blistering satire American Fiction; and even Celine and Julie Go Boating, a 50-year-old, three-hour experimental film from French director Jacques Rivette. The biggest ovation this reporter witnessed was for Joann Self Selvidge and Sarah Fleming’s searing documentary Juvenile: 5 Stories, which brought the Friday night audience at Playhouse on the Square to their feet.
Memphis-based filmmakers provided many of the festival’s highlights. In the shorts categories, A.D. Smith’s masterful sci-fi short “r.e.g.g.i.N,” Mark Goshorn Jones’ “Squirrel Meets Boris,” Noah Glenn’s “Bike Lane Ends,” Martina Boothe’s “Dare,” and Janay Kelley’s “Kiss Me Softly” stood out in an extremely competitive field. Among the eight Hometowner feature films, Jessica Chaney’s I Am packed Playhouse with its empowering message for Black women overcoming anxiety. Sissy Denkova flew directly to the festival from Bulgaria, where she was promoting the theatrical release of her heartfelt comedy Scent of Linden, to present it to the Memphis immigrant community which inspired it.
At least one filmmaker made Indie Memphis history at Saturday night’s awards ceremony. Zaire Love is the first director to ever win both Best Hometowner Narrative Short (for “Etto”) and Best Hometowner Documentary Short (for “Slice”) in the same year. (In 2017, Matteo Servente won Best Documentary Short and a special MLK50 social justice award for a narrative short. Love is the first director to win Best in both categories.)
The festival jury awarded Best Narrative Feature to Mountains, director Monica Sorelle’s story of Haitian workers facing gentrification. Best Documentary Feature went to Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s portrait of the Tennessee-born poet. Alicia Ester’s documentary The Spirit of Memphis, which was one of two festival films with scores by IMAKEMADBEATS, won Best Hometowner Feature. The Best Departures Feature, awarded to experimental and cross-genre works, went to Sebastián Pinzón Silva and Canela Reyes’ La Bonga. The Sounds Feature award for best music-related film went to Clyde Petersen for Even Hell Has Its Heroes, a documentary about Seattle doom metal pioneers Earth.
Donna and Ally, winner of the Craig Brewer Emerging Filmmakers Award at Indie Memphis 26.
In the National Shorts category, “Benediction” by Zandashé Brown won for Narrative, “This Is Not A Sports Film” by Lily Ahree Siegel won for Documentary, “Amma Ki Katha” by Nehal Vyas won in Departures, and “Be Thyself” by Daniel Rosendale won the After Dark category, which includes horror and sci-fi. In the Music Video categories, director Jasia Ka took home the National award for “Slut” by Pollyanna, and Lawrence Shaw won the Hometowner category for “If You Feel Alone at Parties” by Blvck Hippie, led by the director’s brother Josh Shaw. The Duncan Williams Screenwriting Award went to The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed by Joanna Arnow. The Ron Tibbett Soul of Southern Film Award, a special jury prize that dates back to Indie Memphis’ origins, went to Mississippi River Styx by Andy McMillan and Tim Grant, which also received an honorable mention from the Documentary jury. The Craig Brewer Emerging Filmmaker Award went to Donna and Ally, which was jubilantly accepted by director Connor Mahoney and the cast. Best Poster Design went to An Evening Song (For Three Voices).
Two short films you will be seeing at future Indie Memphis Film Festivals are “55 South” by Best Hometowner Feature winner Alicia Ester and “Friend Shaped” by Lo Norman, both of which were awarded $15,000 IndieGrants.
The Vision Award went to Molly Wexler, the local producer and Indie Memphis board member who stepped in to run the festival while they searched for new leadership in 2021. The Indie Award, given to Memphis film crew members who have proven themselves invaluable over many productions, went to Laura Jean Hocking, who may have also set another Indie Memphis record by editing three feature films, two music videos (one of which she also directed), and a short film that appeared in this year’s festival.
Black Barbie won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 26th Indie Memphis Film Festival.
The Audience Awards, as determined by ballots passed out during festival screenings, were announced on November 1. Zaire Love added to her hardware haul by winning the Audience Award for Best Documentary Short with “Slice”, while A.D. Smith took home Best Narrative Short with “R.e.g.g.i.n.” The Audience Award for Best Hometowner Feature went to The First Class by Lee Hirsch; the documentary about Crosstown High screened before a sold-out audience at Crosstown Theatre. The audience chose Josh Cannon’s pastoral music video for Bailey Bigger’s “Arkansas Is Nice” as their favorite. For Poster Design, the audience voted for Juvenile: 5 Stories.
Juvenile: 5 Stories‘ Audience Award-winning poster. (Courtesy True Story Films)
In the national competition (which should really be renamed the international competition), the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Lisa Steen’s Late Bloomers. For documentary feature, Indie Memphis ticket buyers chose Black Barbie. You can read my interview with director Lagueria Davis here. The Sounds feature Audience Award went to Augusta Palmer’s The Blues Society. You can read Alex Greene’s interview with the director about this important Memphis story at this link. The Departures feature choice was The Taste of Mango by Chloe Abrahams.
In the National Shorts categories, the top vote-getters were “Hickey” by Giovanna Molina for narrative and “Please Ask For It” by Allison Waid for documentary. The Departures winner was “Prep” by Raymond Knudsen, and the music video prize went to directors Seretse Njemanze and Jehnovah Carlisle for “So Misunderstood” by Jaklyn.
Sam Now won the Audience Award for Best Poster at the 2022 Indie Memphis Film Festival.
The 25th annual Indie Memphis Film Festival wrapped on Monday night with Shaft. The juries’ decisions were announced at a raucous awards ceremony on Saturday night, but it’s taken until now to tabulate the results for the Audience Awards, which are determined by votes from ticket buyers, who are asked to assign each film a letter grade of A through F.
Audience and jury opinions lined up this year for three films which swept both awards. Our Father, The Devil by director Ellie Fombi won both of the Narrative Feature awards, and currently holds the coveted 100 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s a sample:
Kumina Queen by director Nyasha Laing similarly repeated its jury win in the Sounds category.
In the Hometowner categories, director Lauren Ready repeated in Documentary Shorts with “What We Will Never Know.” This is Ready’s fourth Indie Memphis trophy for documentaries, making her one of the most decorated filmmakers in the festival’s 25-year history.
The National Documentary Feature Audience Award went to Butterfly In The Sky, the story of the beloved PBS show Reading Rainbow by directors Brett Whitcomb and Bradford Thomason.
From the exceptionally crowded nine-film field of Hometowner features, audiences voted for Show Business is My Life — But I Can’t Prove It, director G.B. Shannon’s biography of legendary comedian Gary Mule Deer. The crowd-pleasing film about the crowd-pleasing funny man features appearances from comedy luminaries such as David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and Steve Martin, and dramatic recreations of some of Gary Mule Deer’s jokes and stories starring a who’s who of Memphis-based actors.
The audience’s favorite Hometowner Music Video of 2022 was “Imagine That” by Tailbah Safiyah, directed by Zaire Love. Check it out:
The Departures Audience Award, which includes experimental and generally “out there” works honored Maria Judice’s Elephant.
“Stress Dreams” by Greensky Bluegrass, directed by Grant Knolton, won the National Music Video Audience Award.
In the Short film categories, “F*** ‘Em R!ght B@cK” by Harris Doran won the National Narrative category, and “Call Me Anytime, I’m Not Leaving The House” by Sanjna Selva won the National Documentary category. Caleb Suggs’ “Homeboys Haunted 2” took home audience gold in the Hometowner Narrative Shorts. Audiences also chose Reed Harkness’ Sam Now, which won the jury award for Best Documentary, in the poster category.
It’s election day in America, so get out there and vote! While you’re waiting for those results, the Indie Memphis Film Festival has announced the results of their own polls for the best films of the 2020 festival. Everyone who purchased a pass or ticket for the online and outdoor screenings was given a ballot to rate the films on a scale of 1-5.
The big winners were director Emma Seligman’s comedy Shiva Baby, which took home the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and director Tali Yankelevich’s experimental film My Darling Supermarket, which took home the Audience Award for Best Departures Feature. Both Shiva Baby and My Darling Supermarket had previously won the Jury Awards in their respective categories at the awards ceremony last Wednesday night. Camrus Johnson and Pedro Piccinini’s animated short “Grab My Hand: A Letter To My Dad” also won both Jury and Audience awards in its category. Director Zaire Love scored a rare split two-fer by winning the Audience Award for Best Hometowner Documentary Short for “The Black Men I Know” after winning the Jury Award for Best Hometowner Short for her film “Road To Step.”
The Audience Award for Best Hometowner Feature went to Anwar Jamison’s bi-continental romantic comedy Coming to Africa. Jamison’s film prevailed despite having its original premiere screening, which was scheduled for the riverfront, postponed due to stormy weather.
The audience ballots chose What Do You Have To Lose? for Best Documentary Feature, directed by Dr. Trimiko Melancon. What Do You Have to Lose? is the Rhodes College professor’s first feature film.
The Audience Award for Best Hometowner Narrative Short went to the “The Little Death,” a personal drama about miscarriage written and directed by husband and wife team Justin and Ariel Harrison.
For the Best Sounds Feature, awarded for the always-crowded category of music films, the audience chose Andy Black’s documentary Shoe: A Memphis Musical Legacy.
The Audience Award for Best Documentary Short went to “Still Processing,” a moving experimental documentary by Sophy Romvari in which she filmed her real-time reaction to finding lost pictures of her two brothers, who had recently passed away. The voters awarded Best Departures Short to Amin Mahe’s “Letter To My Mother.”
For the music video categories, Lewis Del Mar’s song “The Ceiling,” directed by rubberband, won the National Audience award. The Hometowner Audience Award went to Louise Page’s “Paw In The Honey,” directed by Laura Jean Hocking.
The audience voters chose Hisonni Johnson’s “Take Out Girl” for Best Poster Design.
The winners were informed of their awards via a surprise Zoom call. You can watch their reactions, which range from the funny to the tearful, in this video.
Indie Memphis Announces 2020 Audience Award Winners
Michael Butler, Jr. accepting his award Best Hometowner Narrative Short award for ‘Empty’ at the 2020 Indie Memphis Virtual Award Ceremony.
In normal times, the Indie Memphis awards ceremony is a raucous gathering, full of self-deprecating gags and boozy cheers. This year, things were different.
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the awards ceremony was virtual. The ceremony was broadcast from the auditorium at Playhouse on the Square, where it would usually occur, with about a hundred filmmakers calling in on Zoom. As befitting the times, it was a more somber affair, but it produced moments of unique magic.
Many more of the awards recipients were able to accept in person than in a normal year. Executive Order writers Lázaro Ramos & Lusa Silvestre accepted the Duncan Williams Screenwriting Award from their home in Brazil. I Blame Society director Gillian Hovart, at home in Los Angeles, introduced her cat, who co-starred in the film, when she accepted the Craig Brewer Emerging Filmmaker Award. And most remarkable of all, director Michael Butler, Jr. accepted his Best Hometowner Narrative Short award for “Empty” from Methodist Hospital, where he was on call, cheered on by his fellow nurses, who looked a little bewildered. It was a uniquely 2020 moment.
The Best Narrative Feature went to Emily Seligman’s coming-of-age comedy Shiva Baby, while Best Documentary Feature went to Cane Fire, director Anthony Banua-Simon’s story of colonial exploitation and labor struggle in Hawai’i. When Deni Cheng accepted her Best Narrative Short award for “Paradise,” the astonished first-time filmmaker revealed that she had not been accepted into any other festivals. Kyungwon Song won Best Documentary Short for “Jesa”.
The Hometowner Feature prize went to Lauren Ready for We Can’t Wait, her cinéma vérité portrait of Tami Sawyer’s 2019 mayoral campaign. Best Hometowner Documentary Short was awarded to “Road to Step” by Zaire Love, which documented a season of Black fraternity life at the University of Mississippi. Best Hometowner Music Video went to The Poet, Havi for “You’re My Jesus”.
The Indie Grant program, which awards production packages worth $13,000 to short film proposals from Memphis filmmakers, went to G.B Shannon for his documentary short “Here Be Dragons,” to Justin Malone for his narrative short “Beware of Goat.” The first ever proof-of-concept Indie Grant, intended to help a filmmaker produce a short film that could sell a feature film concept to potential investors, went to Daniel Farrell for “Beale Street Blues.”
The Festival Awards, selected by staff and board members, are enduring traditions at Indie Memphis. The Soul of Southern Film Award, which stretches back to the origin of the festival, went to Lawrence Matthews’ Memphis labor documentary “The Hub.” The Ron Tibbett Excellence in Filmmaking Award, which honors the festival’s DIY roots, went to “The Inheritance” by Ephraim Asili. The Indie Award, which honors a Memphis-based crew member for outstanding service, went to Daniel Lynn, sound engineer at Music + Arts Studio. Lynn, who was mixing sound for the ceremony live stream, was one of the few people to actually accept their awards in person at Playhouse.
The most emotional moment of the night came courtesy of the Vision Awards. Kelly Chandler founded Indie Memphis in 1998 while she was a film student at the University of Memphis. Chandler no longer works in the film industry, and has lived abroad for decades. For years, journalists such as myself and Indie Memphis staff have tried to contact her to clear up details about the founding of the festival which have been lost to history. Finally, earlier this year, Indie Memphis staffer Joseph Carr, with the help of the U of M alumni office, tracked her to South Korea. Chandler gave a moving speech accepting the Vision Award in which she recounted the first night of the festival, which was held not in the Edge coffee shop as legend had it but instead in an empty Cooper-Young warehouse owned by the same people, and encouraging filmmakers to follow their dreams.
More winners from Indie Memphis 2020:
Best After Dark Short: “The Three Men You Meet at Night” by Beck Kitsis
Best Departures Feature: My Darling Supermarket by Tali Yankelevich
Best Departures Short : “The Return of Osiris” by Essa Grayeb
Best Sounds Feature: Born Balearic: Jon Sa Trinxa and the Spirit of Ibiza by Lily Renae
Best Animated Short: “Grab My Hand: A Letter to My Dad” by Camrus Johnson and Pedro
Piccinini
Best Music Video: “Colors” by Black Pumas, directed by Kristian Mercado
Best Poster Design: Pier Kids
Tonight, Indie Memphis 2020 concludes at the Malco Summer Drive-In with One Night in Miami. Regina King, who won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for If Beale Street Could Talk and recently took home an Emmy for her work on HBO’s Watchmen, makes her feature film directorial debut with this adaptation of Kemp Powers play about the night Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) celebrated winning the Heavyweight Championship with his friends Malcom X (Kingsely Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom, Jr.).
Indie Memphis 2020: One Night In Miami, and An Awards Ceremony Like No Other
Then the festival closes with a little Halloween spirit. House is a legendary 1977 horror film from Japan’s fabled Toho studios. Directed by experimental filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi and featuring a cast of all-amateur actors and some truly eye-popping special effects, it has had huge influence on the horror comedy genre.
Indie Memphis 2020: One Night In Miami, and An Awards Ceremony Like No Other (2)
Suhair Lauck at her post behind the cash register in the documentary The Little Tea Shop.
As director of operations for Indie Memphis, Brighid Wheeler has had a crazy year. She and her organization have been charged with trying to figure out how to throw a film festival amid a worldwide pandemic. “I think the biggest challenge — I don’t necessarily want to speak for the whole team, but I think it would resonate with each team member — has been reminding yourself that every situation needs to be rethought. The moment you find yourself approaching something in the same way you would have pre-pandemic, you need to start over.”
The 2020 festival, which began on Wednesday night, is taking place online and outdoors. Indie Memphis has already moved their weekly programming online with the help of Memphis-based cinema services company Eventive. The staff, who specialize in in-person events, have had to learn to become broadcasters on the fly. There’s been a lot of time spent teleconferencing, says Wheeler. “Suddenly, you become an expert in a very specific sense on Zoom, like for our Tuesday nights, when we’re doing our weekly screenings and, [artistic director] Miriam [Bale] was hosting various industry people and having conversations about films with a filmmaker or a critic.”
But the new challenges have brought new opportunities. Wheeler says this has been driven home for her as the team records filmmaker interviews for the festival. “I’m reminded sitting through these Q&As that this is such a unique opportunity. Of course, I would prefer to have these filmmakers physically in Memphis. We are Indie Memphis. That’s our brand. But I’m able to have the majority of the filmmakers for each short film block in attendance for the Q&As. That is just something that is not always afforded to us at the in-person festival.”
Wheeler is in charge of programming the short films for the festival. This year, there are almost 200 of them, organized in themed blocks, all of which are available online. “In my time programming Indie Memphis, I’ve never been as proud of a shorts program as I am about this one,” she says. “I think that speaks to a number of different things, but I want to highlight first and foremost Kayla Myers, who has been a great addition to our programming team.”
On Thursday night, Indie Memphis takes over all four screens at the Malco Summer Drive-In. The Hometowner Documentary Shorts program, which begins at 6:30 PM, features both Memphis filmmakers and newcomers. It begins with “American Dream Safari,” G.B. Shrewsbury’s portrait of Tad Pierson, the Bluff City tour guide operator whose expertise in local music sites is unrivaled. Zaire Love, a graduate of the Crosstown Arts residency program, takes audiences on the “Road to Step,” which examines Black fraternity culture’s step show competition at Ole Miss. Artistic polymath Donald Meyers’ “The Lonely” is an intimate portrait of elderly isolation, and a plea for compassion. Bailey Smith’s “Holding On” is a chronicle of Memphis musician Don Lifted’s first U.S. tour. Matthew Lee urges the audience with “Remembering Veteran’s Day.” Emily Burkhead gets experimental with the hybrid doc “She Is More,” featuring musician Jordan Occasionally. Tyler Pilkington’s “Teched Out” explores the frontier of transhumanism, where the line between human and machine is blurred. Kierra Turner chronicles NBA player Jonathan Stark’s recovery from a potentially career-ending injury in “Wake ‘Em Up.” Josh Cooper’s “Loose Leaves” brings the story of a group of Black women entrepreneurs in Orange Mound. And finally, Matteo Servante and Molly Wexler’s “Little Tea Shop” gives you the background on the famous Downtown restaurant where you can find power players seated next to a person experiencing homelessness, and the immigrant restauranteur Suhair Lauck who brings them together.
“It’s an introduction to Memphis,—a taste of different areas and people within our city,” says Wheeler. “We know how hardworking our filmmakers are, but to see, even through the pandemic, the resilience they continue to display as they make their work is nothing short of amazing.”
Indie Memphis 2020 continues through Thursday, October 29. You can buy online and in-person passes at indiememphis,org.
Indie Memphis 2019 kicks into high gear on Friday with its first full day of films and events. The first screening of the day comes at 10:40 AM with the music documentary The Unicorn, director Tim Geraghty’s portrait of gay psychedelic country musician Peter Grudzien.
Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer
3:30 at Playhouse on the Square is the second annual Black Creators Forum Pitch Rally. Eight filmmakers will present their projects they want to film in Memphis on stage, and a jury will decide which one will receive the $10,000 prize, presented by Epicenter Memphis. The inaugural event was very exciting last year, and with this year’s line up of talent (which you can see over on the Indie Memphis website), it promises to be another great event.
Over at Studio on the Square at 3:40 p.m. is the final work by a giant of filmmaking. Varda by Agnes is a kind of cinematic memoir by the mother of French New Wave, Agnes Varda. It’s a look back at the director’s hugely influential career, made when she was 90 and completed shortly before her death last March. Here’s a clip:
Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer (2)
Part 2 of the unprecedentedly strong Hometowner Narrative Shorts competition field screens at Ballet Memphis at 6:15 p.m. “Shadow in the Room” is an impressionistic short by director Christian Walker. Based on a Memphis Dawls song, and featuring exquisite cinematography by Jared B. Callen, it stars Liz Brasher, Cody Landers, and the increasingly ubiquitous Syderek Watson, who had a standout role on this week’s Bluff City Law.
Waheed AlQawasmi produced “Shadow In The Room” and directed the next short in the bloc, “Swings.” Based on the memoir by ballerina Camilia Del, who also stars in the film, it deftly combines music from Max Richter with Del’s words and movement.
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“A Night Out” is Kevin Brooks and Abby Myers’ short film which took this year’s Memphis Film Prize. It’s a technical tour de force—done entirely in a single, 13-minute tracking shot through Molly Fontaine’s by cinematographer Andrew Trent Fleming. But it also carries an emotional punch, thanks to a bravado performance by Rosalyn R. Ross.
In “Greed” by writer/director A.D. Smith, a severely autistic man, played by G. Reed, works as a human calculator for a drug lord. But while he is dismissed by the gun-toting gangsters around him, he might not be as harmless as he seems.
Indie Memphis Day 3: Legends, Queens, and Sorcerer (4)
Andre Jackson’s tense and chilling “Stop” finds two men, one a cop and the other a mysterious stranger from his past, reunited by a chance encounter on the road.
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Kyle Taubkin’s “Soul Man” earned big applause at the Memphis Film Prize, thanks to a heartfelt performance by Curtis C. Jackson as a washed-up Stax performer trying to come to grips with his past.
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Director Morgan Jon Fox, whose documentary This Is What Love In Action Looks Like is one of the best-loved films ever to screen at Indie Memphis, returns to the festival with his latest short “The One You Never Forget.” A touching story with incredible performances by two teenage actors, this film has had a killer run on the festival circuit that climaxes with this screening.
At Ballet Memphis at 9:00 p.m. is the Hometowner Documentary Short Competition bloc, featuring new work by a number of Memphis documentarians. Matthew Lee’s “9.28.18” is a wonderfully shot, verité portrait of a very eventful day in the Bluff City. Indie Memphis veteran Donald Myers returns with heartfelt memories of his grandfather, Daniel Sokolowski, and his deep connection with his hometown of Chicago in “Sundays With Gramps.” Shot in the burned-out ruins of Elvis Presley’s first house, “Return to Audubon” by director Emily Burkhead and students at the Curb Institute at Rhodes College presents an incredible performance by Susan Marshall of Elvis’ “Heartbreak Hotel. Shot in the churches of Memphis and rural Mississippi, “Soulfed” by Zaire Love will tempt your appetite with an examination of the intimate connection between religion and cuisine. “That First Breath,” a collaboration between Danielle Hurst, Madeline Quasebarth, and Kamaria Thomas, interviews Mid-South doulas and advocates for a more humane and natural childbirth experience. “How We Fall Short” by Brody Kuhar and Julie White is a six-minute dive into the Tennessee criminal justice system. “Floating Pilgrims” by David Goodman is a portrait of the vanishing culture of people who live on boats in the Wolf River Harbor. “St. Nick” is Lauren Ready’s story of a high school athlete fighting debilitating disease. “Fund Our Transit” by Synthia Hogan turns its focus on activist Justin Davis’ fight for better transportation options in Memphis. And finally, Zaire Love’s second entry, “Ponzel,” is one black woman’s search for meaning in an uncertain world.
The competition feature Jezebel (9:30 p.m., Hattiloo Theatre) by director Numa Perrier focuses on the story of a young black woman in Las Vegas who is forced to take a job as a cam girl when the death of her mother threatens to leave her homeless. The emotional heart of the film is the conflict that arises when the protagonist discovers that she kind of likes being naughty with strangers on the internet, and the dangers that arise when one of her clients gets too close.
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Outdoors in the big tent block party, the premiere musical event of the festival happens at 8:30 p.m. Unapologetic Records will celebrate the release of its new compilation album Stuntarious IV with a show featuring performances by A Weirdo From Memphis, IMAKEMADBEATS, C Major, Kid Maestro, She’Chinah, Aaron James, and Cameron Bethany. Expect surprises and, well, lots of mad beats!
Finally, at midnight, a pair of screenings of classic films—for various definitions of the word “classic”— at Studio on the Square. Queen of the Damned is Michael Rymer’s adaptation of the third novel in Anne Rice’s vampire trilogy. Pop star Aaliyah starred as vampire queen Akasha, and had just finished the film when she died in a plane crash in the Bahamas. The film has become something of a camp classic, and is probably most notable today for inspiring a ton of great Halloween costumes.
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The other screening is Exorcist director William Friedkin’s masterpiece Sorcerer. Starring Roy Scheider as an anti-hero in charge of a ragtag group of desperados trying to move a truckload of nitroglycerin through the Amazon jungle, it’s a gripping ride through human greed.
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Come back tomorrow for another daily update on Indie Memphis 2019.
Courtesy of Last Bite Films. 