Classic Black Cinema Series - Paris Blues

(1961) Post-WWII Paris was a haven for African-American expats. Artists like Josephine Baker, Miles Davis and James Baldwin emigrated from the U.S. to Paris where they found more artistic freedom and an escape from racial tensions back home. Paris was also the epicenter of the 1950s/1960s jazz scene where artists were emerging and thriving in a city that celebrated jazz and built a culture around it. This setting is the basis of director Martin Ritt’s film Paris Blues starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier and Diahann Carroll. Newman plays Ram Bowen, a trombonist, composer and jazz devotee and Poitier is Eddie Cook, a talented saxophonist who left the U.S. years ago to seek refuge in Paris. The musician buddies meet two American tourists, Lillian (Woodward) and Connie (Carroll), and the ensuing romances put into question their future in the City of Light.

A film series specifically designed as a vehicle to expose the community to the vast artistic value black film has had throughout the years. The goal is to appeal to as diverse a population as possible and further the appreciation of Black cinema.

Curator and host, Felix Curtis, came to Charlotte from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay area where he curated The San Francisco Black Film Festival and Black Filmworks, the annual film festival component of the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, where he later served as Executive Director.