EVENT DESCRIPTION Join award-winning filmmaker Jesse Kreitzer for "The Sin & Salvation Film Tour", a showcase of his Iowa-produced documentary and narrative films, including an exclusive first-look at Black Canaries, a 1900s coalmining folktale inspired by his maternal ancestors.
Screenings are free and open to the public. Tax-deductible donations are encouraged to support the completion of Black Canaries.
The short film program includes:
Black Canaries (2015) In 1907, the Maple coal mine collapsed, blinding the Lockwood family's youngest boy and hauling mule. To keep warm against the winds of the vacant prairie, Father has no choice but to continue drudging the depths of the ruinous mine.
Lomax (2014) A spirited reimagining of folklorist Alan Lomax's seminal 1941 journey through the Mississippi Delta to record an oral history of the blues. Equipped with 500 pounds of audio equipment powered by his car battery, he ventured across nameless roads to discover the most beautiful and harrowing songs ever known. Presented in partnership with The Association for Cultural Equity, Alan Lomax's founding organization, ACE aims to explore and preserve the world's expressive traditions.
Soul of Ashes (Ode to Ruth) (2014) A personal documentary honoring the life and death of filmmaker Jesse Kreitzer's maternal grandmother Ruth Ruckert. Honoring his mother’s dying wish, Thom Ruckert returned to Maple, Iowa to spread Ruth's ashes near her childhood home. During the ceremony, a photographic apparition revealed a spirit returning to the land from which it came.
The Murder Ballad of James Jones (2015) In 1993, Chicago bluesman and Howlin' Wolf protégé James “Tail Dragger” Jones murdered fellow musician “Boston Blackie” during an on-stage performance. Twenty years later, he engraved his confession into a spinning acetate record. Winner of the 2015 Oscar®-qualifying Atlanta Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary.
The Restoration Project (2011) A personal documentary detailing filmmaker Jesse kreitzer's painstaking frame-by-frame restoration of a decayed 8mm family film of his infant father.
