Çortlanh (Obsertirr
January 5, 2011
Page 11
Arts
X
S
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Reel Music Festival Lines Up
African-
American films
and more
featured
*
“Every sound has a story and
every story has a sound,” writes the
Northwest Film Center, announc
ing the 28th annual Reel Music Fes
tival with intentions to celebrate the
unexpected stories behind some of
the world’s greatest music from Fri
day, Jan. 7 through Jan. 18 at vari
ous screening locations in Portland.
Featuring everything from col
lections of vintage performance clips
to new documentary and dramatics
films, to cutting-edge music videos
and animation. Reel Music embraces
films that explore a variety of musi
cal genres rock, classical, opera, and
avante garde as well as jazz, blues,
reggae, folk, and hip-hop, and fuses
them into a unique cinematic cel
ebration, says the press release.
Believing in the power of cinema
to unify communities, the North
west Film Center will celebrate a
number of films of both traditional
African music and contemporary
African-American contributions to
music, including three of the follow
ing:
Benda Bilili! — French directors
Renaud Barret and Florent de la
Tullaye follow the Benda Bilili band's
remarkable fairy tale journey from
the streets of Kinshasa, Congo, to
international stardom. ‘BendaBilili’
is Congolese for ‘see beyond,’
which has profound meaning for
this group of musicians, composed
of five paraplegics and one able-
bodied teenager who makes music
from a tin can connected to a stick
with a piece of nylon. They sing
about life on the streets, suffering
from polio and sleeping on card
board, and ride around on custom
ized Mad Max-style tricycles. Fan
tastic music and remarkable charac-
Sweet Street Food Cart
on the comer of MLK and Lombard
Monday - Saturday, 11:00am - 9:00pm
‘Kinshasa Symphony’ goes behind the scenes to feature the only
orchestra in the Congo. The documentary is one o f the many films
featured this month at the Northwest Film Center’s Reel Music
Film Festival.
Ray Charles
ters make this an uplifting and un
forgettable film.
Ray Charles America - Ameri
can director Manya Spraic profiles
Ray Charles, one of the few music
icons who resonated with so many
aspects of American culture. Over
time, both his story and his work
became two sides of the same coin.
Few came from less—dirt poor,
blind, and ultimately orphaned—to
achieve more. The film examines the
social and political context of
Charles’ work and how his unique
approach to music and his ability to
transcend racial barriers changed
the cultural landscape as we know
it. Through in-depth interviews,
unreleased music, and never-before-
seen footage, the film tells of Charles'
impact in broader stories of love,
politics, art, and business.
Kinshasa Symphony - German
directors Claud Wishmann and Mar
tin Baer bring to life the African beats
in Beethoven by profiling the 200
musicians of the Kimanguiste Sym
phony Orchestra, the only orchestra
in the Congo. For musicians who
have survived two putsches and the
effects of a decades-long war, a pas
sion for music is inspiration to over
come mundane obstacles like a lack
of electricity. Kinshasa Symphony
paints a picture of the diverse, fast-
paced, vibrant city in which these
musicians live and work— and the
courage of ¿community that demands
a better tomorrow.
For a complete lineup, visit the
website nwfilm.org. Screening loca
tions include the Northwest Film
Center’s Whitsell Auditorium at the
Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W.
Park Ave., Portland Art Museum’s
Fields Ballroom, 1119 S.W. Park
Ave., McMenamin’s Mission The
ater, 1624 N.W .Glisan, and Missis
sippi Studios, 3939 N. Mississippi
Ave.
Wednesday Special: 3 Wings $2.00
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Friends of
Chamber Music
Fiends o f Chamber Music bring the presti
gious Pacifica Quartet, one o f the finest
chamber ensembles performing today, to
Portland, for 7:30 p.m. concerts on Monday,
Jan. 10 and Tuesday, Jan. 11 at Lincoln
Performance Hall, 1620 S. W. Park Ave. Call
503-224-9842 or any Ticketmaster outlet.
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For Special Group Rates
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