The Martha’s Vineyard Film Center’s third annual Filmusic Festival opens on a high note Thursday, June 23. The weekend of films and music will start with a classic German silent film, “Varieté,” with music by the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra. The popular ensemble will perform a newly composed, original score to accompany E.A. Dupont’s 1925 suspenseful circus tale, digitally restored and starring Emil Janning.
The festival spotlights live music as well as music-themed films, with the Ken Field and John Clark Duo performing Friday, June 24, before the featured film, “The Winding Stream.” Mr. Field is an award-winning saxophonist whose many accomplishments include music for “Sesame Street” and a weekly radio show on Boston’s WMBR. California-based Mr. Clark plays bass and guitar and has appeared at music festivals throughout the country. The duo will bring a blend of gospel, spirituals, and blues to the Film Center, drawing on Mr. Field’s New Orleans–style Revolutionary Snake Ensemble.
A documentary, “The Winding Stream,” highlights the weekend’s films with its story of the celebrated country music group the Carter Family on Friday night. Reaching back to their Virginia beginnings, director Beth Harrington tells how A.P. Carter started the group with his wife Sara and her cousin Maybelle, and searched the region for old-time country tunes. The family expanded to include Maybelle’s equally talented daughters June, Helen, and Anita. Mother Maybelle became the much-loved leader, and June eventually married Johnny Cash, who often performed with the Carters.
One fascinating part of the group’s career was their appearances on the Border Radio station of Dr. John R. Brinkley, a quack who claimed to restore men’s virility with goat glands. Licensed by Mexico, these “border blasters” broadcast with megawatts, escaping more stringent U.S. regulations. For transitions, director Harrington uses amusingly innovative, if sometimes silly, animated and stop-action transitions and includes toe-tapping Carter classics like “Keep on the Sunny Side” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”
Amy Berg’s “Janis: Little Girl Blue” follows “The Winding Stream” on Friday evening. It is a powerful and absorbing story of the late Janis Joplin, one of the top blues vocalists of the ’60s. The director frames her movie around the letters Joplin, who tragically overdosed in 1972, wrote to family and friends. The approach gives a rich portrait of a singer who mesmerized audiences with her electrifying delivery of songs like “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Saturday afternoon brings string solos by two recent Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School graduates, Olivia de Geofroy and Thorpe Karabee. Their performance precedes “The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble,” the story of the world-renowned cellist and the international music group he formed. Together they traveled the ancient trade route from Europe through Asia to China. Vineyarders Roberta Kirn of BeWellSing and drummer extraordinaire Rick Bausman will follow the film with a discussion of multicultural music.
Continuing to combine live music with films about music, Saturday evening’s events include a reception with the lively Island string band Flying Elbows’ musicians Bob Hammond, Nancy Jephcote, Tom Hodgson, and Paul Thurlow. The film offering is “A Song for You: The Austin City Limits Story,” America’s best-known and longest-running TV music series. A Late Night Lounge with Island singer Darby Patterson will follow in the Film Center lobby.
Two films will wind up the festival on Sunday. Playing in the afternoon, “The Amazing Nina Simone” uses interviews with friends and musicians to create a portrait of the legendary singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Jazz by David Hannon will preview the afternoon film. On Sunday evening, the weekend’s one fiction film will be “Elvis and Nixon,” starring Kevin Spacey as the president and Michael Shannon as Elvis. Recent M.V. Regional High School grad Nate D’Angelo will play guitar before the film. WMVY DJ’s Bill Narkiewicz, Laurel Redington, and Dave Kish will introduce the weekend’s films.
For information on tickets and passes, go to mvfilmsociety.com or call 508-696-9369.
