MFAH Film Series – 4th Annual Jazz on Film: Shadows

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents 4th Annual Jazz on Film. Named “Best Film Festival 2015” by the Houston Press! Peter Lucas, an independent film curator, artist, writer, and filmmaker, again lends his programming talents to the 4th annual edition of this popular series.

About the Curator
Curator Peter Lucas has organized exhibitions, film series, and public programs in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Seattle International Film Festival, Northwest Film Forum, and Experience Music Project. He is also an arts writer, as well as an active filmmaker and visual artist.

Shadows

Directed by John Cassavetes
1959, USA, B/W
87 minutes, 35mm

Maverick filmmaker John Cassavetes’s directorial debut presented a raw slice of Beat-era bohemia.

Shot on location in Manhattan with a nonprofessional cast and crew, Shadows centers on struggling singer Hugh, his brooding brother Benny, and their sister Lelia. The film’s improvisational tone and stark visual style are complimented by musical interludes featuring bassist Charles Mingus, tenor saxophonist Shafi Hadi, and drummer Dannie Richmond.

Critic Amos Vogel called it “a compassionate, violent portrayal of pickups and brawls, loneliness, casual affairs, and search for identity.”