On Wednesday, September 11th, 2024, Civitella Ranieri will open its doors for a screening of City of a Million Dreams, a documentary by Jason Berry (CRF 2024).
Why do we dance for the dead? To most people, jazz funerals are a mystery.
In 2005, writer and videographer Deb Cotton leaves “hard-hearted Hollywood” for New Orleans, and becomes a chronicler of the parading club culture spawned by the legacy of funerals with music. This tradition is carried by the prolific clarinetist Michael White, renowned for playing “the widow’s wail” in sorrowful dirges. When Hurricane Katrina hits, White loses everything in the catastrophic flooding. In his struggle to rebuild, White becomes an everyman, embodying the resurrection spirit of jazz funerals.
Deb and Michael take us on a journey into the city’s past, searching for answers in the face of tragedies both present and past.
As Deb follows the parading culture through the aching recovery, Michael explores his ancestral roots in the dawn of jazz. The danced-memory of enslaved Africans charges a reimagining of antebellum Congo Square, juxtaposed with the grandeur of European marching bands. With burial pageants as a mirror on the city’s history, the film hits a violent turning point at a parade shooting, plunging Deb and Michael into a search for the city’s soul.
The screening will be held in the Gallery starting at 8:45 PM. The Gallery opens at 8:30 PM.
Reservations are free but mandatory as there are limited seats available.
Jason Berry
Writing, USA
Kirby-Mewshaw Affiliated Fellow
Jason Berry is a New Orleans author and documentary filmmaker; he writes on culture for The Guardian and The Daily Beast. His books include award-winning investigations of the Catholic church and, most recently, City of a Million Dreams, which uses jazz funerals as a lens on how New Orleans evolved. His film based on the book is in festivals and outreach screenings.
Wednesday, September 11th, 2024
Gallery opens at 8:30 PM
Screening starts at 8:45 PM
Duration 1h 30m
Please RSVP here