15th Annual Clarksdale Film And Music Festival

Arts and Entertainment

December 28, 2024

From: Clarksdale Film And Music Festival

Join us for the 15th Annual Clarksdale Film Festival & Music Festival

Schedule Of Events

January 24, 2025

2:00 PM : THE RIVER - A Songwriter's Stories of the South - 68 minutes

Special guests include co-producer Laurie Hoffma. Filmed in Mississippi (including Clarksdale) and Tennessee, THE RIVER is an award-winning musical journey through lives, lore and locales along the Mississippi, Cumberland and Tallahatchie rivers. Featuring the Nashville-based "cosmic roots band" Coyote Motel, aerial dance troupe Suspended Gravity Circus and light artists Darling Lucifer Productions.

3:20 PM : A WELL SPENT LIVE - Bluesman Mance Lipscomb - 44 minutes

While perhaps not a household name, Texas bluesman Mance Lipscomb is considered by many to be among the genre's absolute greats. This glowing 1971 portrait of the legendary musician is among director Les Blank’s special masterworks and was reportedly a favorite film of noted author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

4:15 PM : MISSISSIPPI MUD - A Natural History of the Blues - 15 minutes

Comprised of interviews with Mississippi musicians, historians, and river guides and featuring historic archival images, MISSISSIPPI MUD: A Natural History of the Blues explores the relationship between the ecology of the Mississippi Delta and the creation of the genre of blues music.

4:40 PM : (I'M NOT) YOUR NEGRONI - 23 minutes

Award-winning bartender Joseph “Joe” Stinchcomb stirs up the small town of Oxford, Mississippi when he launches a craft cocktail menu honoring Black History Month.

5:15 PM : I BELIEVE I'LL GO BACK HOME: Robert Johnson's Copiah County Roots and Living Legacy - 28 minutes

In 1931 legendary bluesman Robert Johnson went home in search of his father. Instead, he became one. Johnson's descendants reveal the human being behind the myth and his living legacy as a father, grandfather, and musical inspiration in Copiah County.

6:00 PM : 'LIVE' BLUES by Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod - 45 minutes

Catch one of the stars from Friday night's feature film - TALKIN' CLARKSDALE - the torchbearer of Clarksdale blues during our reception!

7:00 PM : TALKIN' CLARKSDALE: A Contemporary Blues Documentary - 60 minutes

WORLD-PREMIERE with filmmaker introduction/Q&A! New documentary takes a fresh look at contemporary blues, exploring its vibrant pulse through the voices of today’s musicians, venue owners, historians and philanthropists. It also delves deep into the rich history of Clarksdale, Mississippi—a town that has nurtured some of the genre’s most legendary and influential figures. Here, the past and present of the blues intertwine, revealing the enduring legacy of this iconic music and the vibrant culture of the town that gave it life.

January 25, 2025

11:00 AM : DUKE OF EARL - Official Sizzle - 9 minutes

Madcow Entertainment and Black 22 Productions present the official sizzle of the feature documentary DUKE OF EARL. (Presented by long-time Clarksdale Film & Music Festival filmmaker and volunteer Tim Hardiman.)

11:15 AM : BIG A - Live at FGCU Bower School of Music (film short) - 5 minutes

Snapshot of Clarksdale's Big A & Allstars performing at FGCU's Bower School of Music in Fort Myers, Florida (February 2024).

11:20 AM : VISIT CLARKSDALE - Tourism Videos -5 minutes

Clarksdale, Mississippi is more than just "Ground Zero for the Blues" and "The Crossroads of American Music," it is also hometown to generations of true blue Southern characters...

11:30 AM : AMERICAN MILEAGE - 71 minutes

Last year, we featured a preview. This year's we feature Tim Hardiman's new feature-length documentary about globe-trotting one-man band Cam Cole. Cole is a singer, songwriter, busker and new age traveler from London, UK who roams around performing on streets and venues as his one man band show influenced by Folk, Delta Blues, Grunge and Rock N' Roll.

12:50 PM : THE JAZZ LOFT According to W Eugene Smith - 88 minutes

Presented in coordination with director Sara Fishko. In 1950s Manhattan, a dingy loft building becomes the home and obsession of the brilliant photographer W. Eugene Smith – who leaves his family and moves there to live the artist’s life. Smith wires the building for sound and captures daily life at 821 Sixth Avenue, where jazz players gather all night, every night, for freewheeling jam sessions both hot and cool.

2:25 PM : THE BLUES UNDER THE SKIN - 88 minutes

In the early 1970s, director Roviros Manthoulis traveled to the Deep South to film interviews/performances by legends B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Mance Lipscomb, Bukka White, Robert Pete Williams & Roosevelt Sykes. Blurring the line between documentary and fiction, this film (virtually unseen in the U.S.) dramatizes the tumultuous relationship of a young couple as they struggle to overcome barriers of poverty and prejudice. "A thrilling rediscovery and untapped treasury of musical performances."

4:05 PM : IS THE THRILL GONE? An Exploration into Delta Blues Music Culture - 12 minutes

Clarksdale, Mississippi, is known for its fertile land and mouthwatering soul food. It's also known as a world-famous musical oasis - home to numerous musicians and creatives. This new film explores how blues music tells a story of turning trial and tribulations into truth and triumph.

4:30 PM : SILENT NO MORE: The Descendants of the Elaine Massacre - 25 minutes

Work-in-progress director's cut of forthcoming documentary about the descents of the Elaine Massacre in nearby Elaine, Arkansas, in 1919. A Cherry Street Production.

5:10 PM : THE BLUES ACCORDIN' TO LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS - 31 minutes

Legendary music film make Les Blank's best-known film is this beautiful 1968 classic! The great Texas bluesman Lightnin’ Hopkins is captured brilliantly in this deeply moving documentary. Blank reveals Lightnin’s inspiration, and features a generous helping of classic blues. The film includes performances at an outdoor barbeque and a black rodeo, and a visit to his boyhood town of Centerville, Texas.

6:00 PM : 'LIVE' BLUES by Andy Cohen

Enjoy the old-school, Pre-War acoustic blues stylings of singer/guitarist Andy Cohen - featured in the new Mississippi John Hurt documentary that follows his performance.

January 26, 2025

1:00 PM : 'LIVE' BLUES by Lucious Spiller

Clarksdale Film & Music Festival presents an afternoon of blues music at Bluesberry Cafe — including juke joint blues favorite Lucious Spiller.

2:00 PM : 'LIVE' BLUES by Sean 'Bad' Apple

Clarksdale Film & Music Festival presents an afternoon of blues music at Bluesberry Cafe — including Bad Apple Blues Club founder Sean 'Bad' Apple.

3:00 PM : 'LIVE' BLUES by Watermelon Slim - 45 minutes

World-famous, multi-award winning, Clarksdale-based blues legend Watermelon Slim closes out a fabulous film festival weekend.

Date : January 24-26, 2025

Time :

January 24, 2025 at 2:00pm

January 25, 2025 at 11:00am

January 26, 2025 at 1:00pm