The folks over at the Capitol Cinema Collective worked hard last year to launch the Hartford International Film Festival. It was small, and funky and fun. Little did they know it would grow so rapidly, or garner so much attention in just a year's time.
It begins today with an already sold out showing of Fred Claus, and the documentary, My War, My Story at Hartford's Bow Tie Cinema. You can check the schedule for the entire run of films and events.
One particular set of films is interest to music fans. Both will be shown Saturday evening in the Wilde Audtitorium on the University of Hartford campus, A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake and Chasin' Gus' Ghost, a documentary about pioneering blues, and jug band musician Gus Cannon, and about the legacy of jug band music.
I had the opportunity to preview Chasin' Gus' Ghost and as a person with a lifelong musical obsession, I can truly relate to producer/director Todd Kwait's focus on a specific musician, and the type of music he helped create. I can also say that as someone who knows a lot about music, and some about this type of music, that I learned plenty about unexamined corners of folk music. It's filled with great interviews with Geoff Muldaur, John Sebastian, Maria Muldaur, Bob Weir and others, and with great performances too. Maybe my favorite sequence was the penultimate visit of Bob Kweskin and the other musicians to the Japanese Jug Band festival, the most moving is the appearance of Fritz Richmond, an original member of the Kweskin band, who died during the making of the film (Muldaur's tribute is chilling).
Get out and see a movie this weekend in Hartford.
One final note, the Stephen Gyllenhaal Film Festival runs all weeked at Trinity's CineStudio. You might recognize the name because he's the dad to a famous actor and actress, but he's an accomplished writer, director and poet. And a graduate of Trinity College. The director will be in town to host seminar activities and film showings.
UPDATE: Interestingly, musicians featured in Chasin' Gus' Ghost will be playing nearby in Northampton Mass this weekend. On Thursday, the Carolina Chocolate Drops who metamorphosed from the Sankofa Strings will be at the Iron Horse, and on Saturday, John Sebastian and his band will be at the Academy of Music.
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