The ninth annual Clarksdale Film Festival will be taking place on Friday and Saturday and it is continuing to evolve each year.
Grandma’s Sports Bar and the New Roxy are once again the two main venues for the festival. It was at Delta Cinema in the past, but water issues have kept it from being there the past two years. Grandma’s Sports Bar became a venue when Delta Cinema was unavailable.
In addition to the usual films playing at the festival, there will be film workshops at the Delta Blues Museum.
“Those are free, sponsored by the film festival, but sort of presented by now the 40-year-old Blues Museum,” said film festival co-founder Roger Stolle. “In addition to that, films are running both days. These films are either Mississippi connected in some way or they’re about blues or roots music.”
Film workshops have traditionally been held at one of the venues, according to Stolle, which is always a challenge because films are next door.
“It was great to be able to use the Delta Blues Museum’s arts and education room,” Stolle said.
Clarksdale resident Coop Cooper, who is a filmmaker, will lead the first workshop on podcasting and YouTube videos.
“Folks who want a do it yourself things for podcast, he can help them to do things better,” Stolle said.
Clarksdale resident Will Goss, also a filmmaker, will lead the next workshop on making silent films.
There will be 5 p.m. receptions with blues in Grandma’s Sports Bar.
Robert Birdsong will lead two history bus tours at noon and 1:30 p.m. Saturday and they will depart from the New Roxy.
“Folks just want to get there 15 minutes before hand,” Stolle said. “Have your ticket in hand. Your film festival ticket for that day will get you into everything.”
Stolle said one of the most interesting films at the festival will be on the later Charlie Conerly, who is from Clarksdale and played quarterback for the New York Giants. The film will be at the New Roxy at 3:15 p.m. Saturday.
Conerly is also a war hero and owned a chain of shoe stores in the Clarksdale area.
“We’ll have some special guests,” Stolle said. “We’ll have Lulu Maness, who is related to Charlie Conerly.”
Maness works for the Mississippi Football Hall of Fame.
The director of the film, Michael Collins, will be coming in from New York and have a special question and answer session.
Stolle also mention “Mississippi Madam: The Life of Nellie Jackson” that will play at the New Roxy at 4 p.m. Friday.
Jackson was a black woman from a small community 36 miles south of Natchez, was born into rural poverty in 1902.
She rose up from being a housekeeper to running a successful bordello.
“She was very beloved by her community because she gave so much back to her community,” Stolle said.
Another film at the New Roxy will be “Betty Davis: They Say I’m Different” playing at 4:05 p.m. Saturday.
“Tales of a city: Mississippi Miracle” will be at Grandma’s Sports Bar at noon Saturday.
“Basically, it’s about an Australian musician visiting here and bringing his buddy dieing of cancer on the one trip to Mississippi he gets to make,” Stolle said. “A lifelong blues fan, it’s their journey through here. All kinds of local musicians in it. It’s going to be really well received.
“Mississippi Ramblin': On the Trail of Robert Johnson” will be at Grandma’s Sports Bar at 6:15 p.m. Saturday.
“Horn from the Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story” will be playing at Grandma’s Sports Bar at 12:50 p.m. Saturday.
“That is one that Deak Harp, a local harmonica player, he was really hoping we could get and we did,” Stolle said. “It’s the Paul Butterfield story. Paul Butterfield was the 60s, 70s and into the 80s, was a premiere harmonica player. He influenced a lot of folks.”
Looking ahead, when Delta Cinema is able to be used again, Stolle said he hopes the Clarksdale Film Festival will be at three different venues.
“I would like to be able to take this to the next level,” Stolle said. “If we had a real theater and two pop-up theaters, we could really make some things happens. In the future, if we could get the venues and raise the money, I would like to have more films, more activities like a workshop type of thing and more live music as well. Because that really does bring in the tourists.”
Stolle said the 2020 Clarksdale Film Festival will also be on a Sunday. There will be live music at a venue for tourists still in town on the Sunday.
Tickets are $5 per day and can be purchased at the New Roxy or Grandma’s Sports Bar.
“I would encourage folks to come out and not only support the festival, but it really is a lot of fun,” Stolle said. “It’s a chance to sit and watch really cool movies, some short and some features.”
The film festival lineups and all other information may be found at www.clarksdalefilmfestival.com
