13th Annual Clarksdale Film Festival & Music Festival

Join us at the new world headquarters of Shared Experiences for a curated collection of blues documentaries and Mississippi-connected films — plus 'live' music, special guests and more.

Schedule
Friday - January 27, 2023
3:00pm: National Anthem by Clarksdale’s Will Goss
73 minutes
Clarksdale premiere. "National Anthem" is the story of a one-hit-wonder pop star, who’s fallen on hard times. Clint has lost his house, his wife, and his career, and the only thing he’s managed to save is the bottle. But one day, he receives an email from another planet, which asks him to come there and write their national anthem. This planet worships Clint, and little does he know when he accepts the invitation, that he will once again be famous!

4:15pm: 3 Mississippi Music Videos by Tim Hardiman
13 minutes
2022 blues music videos filmed in Clarksdale, Bentonia and the Mississippi Delta by Nashville's Tim Hardiman. Featured: Son House "Forever On My Mind," Robert Finley "Country Boy" and The Black Keys "Poor Boy A Long Way From Home."

4:30pm: Nighthawks & Our Cornerstone by Helena’s Nolan Dean
25 minutes
Special Guest: Director Noland Dean from nearby Helena, AR. "Nighthawks" short suspense drama (7 min) - An Arab immigrant appears to stalk a diner waitress after her late night shift, but looks can be deceiving. "Our Cornerstone: Centennial Baptist Church" historical documentary (18 min) - The little known story of how a rural church in Helena, Arkansas, and its pastor, Elias Camp Morris, became the cornerstone of the Black Baptist tradition.

5:00pm: Lobby Reception with ‘live’ music by Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod Duo!
60 minutes
Anthony "Big A" Sherrod and Preston Rumbaugh perform in the lobby for our daily reception! Blues guitarist/singer "Big A" is a protege of Clarksdale's legendary Big Jack Johnson, who is featured in the "Deep Blues" film that follows the lobby reception.

6:15pm: Deep Blues film with director Robert Mugge
91 minutes
Special Guest: Director Robert Mugge ("Blues Divas," "Last of the Mississippi Jukes," "Hellounds on My Trail"). Presented By Nina Parikh and Carey Miller of the Mississippi Film Office, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023! In 1990, commissioned by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, veteran music film director Robert Mugge and renowned music scholar Robert Palmer ventured deep into the heart of the North Mississippi Hill Country and Mississippi Delta to seek out the best rural blues acts currently working. Starting on Beale Street in Memphis, they headed south to the juke joints, lounges, front porches, and parlors of Holly Springs, Greenville, Clarksdale, Bentonia, and Lexington. Along the way, they visited celebrated landmarks and documented talented artists cut off from the mainstream of the recording industry. The resulting film expresses reverence for the rich musical history of the region, spotlighting local performers, soon to be world-renowned, thanks in large part to the film, and demonstrating how the blues continues to thrive in new generations of gifted musicians. Featuring the music of Junior Kimbrough - R.L. Burnside - Jessie Mae Hemphill - Big Jack Johnson - Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes - Jack Owens & Bud Spires - Lonnie Pitchford - Booker T. Laury - Wade Walton - Jessie Mae’s Fife And Drum Band.

Saturday - January 28, 2023
11:00am: Blues Divas with director Robert Mugge
120 minutes
Special Guest: Director Robert Mugge ("Deep Blues," "Last of the Mississippi Jukes," "Hellounds on My Trail").

1:15pm: Bonnie Blue James Cotton film with guests
86 minutes
Special Guest: Executive producer Judy Laster (co-founder The Reel Blues Fest, founder Woods Hole Film Festival) and co-producer James Montgomery (acclaimed leader of the James Montgomery Blues Band). THE FILM: "Bonnie Blue: James Cotton’s Life in the Blues" is an emotionally evocative feature documentary that portrays the untold story of James Cotton, a legend whose musical influence shaped the Chicago Blues style having been mentored with the originators of the Delta blues tradition. Cotton’s life tracks a swath of America’s history -- from the post-depression cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta to tough Chicagoland’s era of brilliant artistic reinvention to today’s live music scene in Austin, Texas. In between are tours with Janis Joplin, Paul Butterfield and sessions with the Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Steve Miller, B.B. King and many more. This new film capture’s America’s soul as the blues becomes interpreted in jazz, big band, rock and roll, punk, hip-hop and rap. Born in 1935 on Bonnie Blue plantation in Tunica, Mississippi, apprenticing with Sonny Boy Williamson II and Howlin’ Wolf, and schooled by Muddy Waters, James ‘Super Harp’ Cotton became a mentor to harp players around the globe as he brought the delta blues into mainstream rock ‘n roll. Orphaned at nine, Cotton’s journey tracks America’s history and his story is one of empowerment during a time when the weight of racial inequity made the journey seem impossible. Bonnie Blue – James Cotton’s Life in the Blues is a unique portrait of an era and its impact today. Cotton’s music made history; his musical voice was unique, and the blues were never the same. Original interviews with many of today’s most prominent musicians including Buddy Guy, Billy Branch, Bobby Rush, Steve Miller and Jimmie Vaughan are combined with unique live performances and found archival footage to create an authentic rendering of Cotton’s harmonica power and enduring musical influence. As rock ‘n’ roll jolted a nation to rediscover its sense of its original self, Cotton expressed his soul as part of a desire to engage audiences with high energy joy. His life and music is an expression of the exhilaration he found bearing witness to music’s ability to make overt social barriers become invisible, to bring people together and have fun, to touch the heart living the blues.

3:00pm: Tail Dragger film with Special Guests
88 minutes
Mississippi premiere of director Kevin Mukherji's new 2022 documentary film 'TAIL DRAGGER' showcases the life and times of 82-year-old, Southern-born, Grammy-nominated blues singer Tail Dragger, who was a protégé of Howlin’ Wolf and whose career recalls the heyday of blues clubs on Chicago’s West and South sides.

4:40pm: Harmonica Bean with director Ted Reed
20 minutes
Special GuestS: Award-winning director/producer Ted Reed ("Blues Trail Revisited"), bluesman Terry "Harmonica" Bean and film editor Noland Dean. World-premiere of an exciting new documentary by Clarksdale Film & Music Festival favorite Ted Reed about Pontotoc, Mississippi's world-famous Terry "Harmonica" Bean. Raised in a huge North Mississippi Hill Country family, Bean started playing blues as a kid before nearly joining the Major Leagues as an ambidextrous baseball prodigy. Instead, Bean worked a factory job by day and played blues harmonica by night for decades before turning to blues music full-time and touring the world. This is the story of his life and music. Please join us in the Shared Experience's lobby for a "live" one-man-blues-band performance Terry "Harmonica" Bean after the screening.

5:00pm: Lobby Reception with ‘live’ blues by Terry 'Harmonica' Bean!
60 minutes
Right after Ted Reed's new documentary about Pontotoc, Mississippi's Terry "Harmonica" Bean, the bluesman himself performs in the lobby for our daily reception!

6:15pm: Paradise Highway Morgan Freeman thriller (filmed in Clarksdale) Presented By Mississippi Film Office
115 minutes
Presented By Nina Parikh and Carey Miller of the Mississippi Film Office, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023! THE FILM: New thriller filmed in and around Clarksdale (including in a house on W 2nd Street and at The Den, downtown) in summer 2021 and released in 2022. A truck driver has been forced to smuggle illicit cargo to save her brother from a deadly prison gang. With FBI operatives hot on her trail, Sally's conscience is challenged when the final package turns out to be a teenage girl. Written and directed by Anna Gutto. Stars Morgan Freeman, Juliette Binoche, Frank Grillo, Hala Finley and more. Presented By the Mississippi Film Office.

Sunday - January 29, 2023
1:00pm: 'Live' Blues by Libby Rae Watson
45 minutes
Catch Libby Rae Watson (our favorite South Mississippi blueswoman, who learned from Sam Chatmon, Big Joe Williams and others) in the Shared Experiences lobby as close out this year's festival. Thanks, y'all!

2:00pm: 'Live' Blues by Sean 'Bad' Apple
45 minutes
Catch Sean "Bad" Apple (the owner of Bad Apple Blues Club, who learned music at the feet of Jack Owens, RL Boyce and others) in the Shared Experiences lobby as close out this year's festival. Thanks, y'all!

3:00pm: 'Live' Blues by Lucious Spiller
45 minutes
Catch Lucious Spiller (who has played everywhere with everybody and has the voice of a blues and soul angel) and friends in the Shared Experiences lobby as close out this year's festival. Thanks, y'all!

Date: January 27 - 29, 2023

Location: Shared Experiences Headquarters - 121 Delta Ave Clarksdale, MS 38614

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