Crosstown Theater

This encore of shorts from the 2021 Indie Memphis Film Festival features films that in their distinct visual languages survey the possibilities of connection through expressions of language. These expressions come through in varying manners: playful exploration of what it means to know but also be distant from your mother tongue, films centered outside of the English language, and how we embody deeper communication outside of our abilities with the spoken word. These highlights of the festival beautifully examine the expansive and the limiting experiences of sharing with another and one’s self.

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra presents Kalena Bovell Conducts Beethoven, with works by Clarice Assad, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Featuring Scott Moore, the Principal Trumpeter of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. 

Third Coast Percussion joins forces with the groundbreaking choreography of Movement Art Is for an intimate, evening-length program that explores the duality of human nature. At once intensely personal and fiercely virtuosic, two disparate styles of street dance blend seamlessly with new music by Jlin and Tyondai Braxton, as well as Third Coast Percussion’s critically-acclaimed arrangements of Philip Glass’s Aguas da Amazonia.

Fred Schepisi's internationally-acclaimed 1978 period masterpiece is Australia’s canonical equivalent of 12 YEARS A SLAVE. Visually enthralling and emotionally resonant filmmaking, with a central violent eruption that still shakes audiences to their core.

2x GRAMMY® Award-nominated drummer/composer/producer Nate Smith has announced the release of his inspired new album, Kinfolk 2: See The Birds. The highly anticipated follow up to 2017’s GRAMMY® Award-nominated Kinfolk: Postcards From Everywhere arrives via Edition Records on Friday, September 17. This special performance features Nate Smith (drums), Fima Ephron (bass), Jaleel Shaw (alto & soprano saxophones), Amma Whatt (vocals), Brad Allen Williams (guitar) with musicians of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

The story of four teenage girls living in LA in 1980, mostly doing what they hell they want, anytime they want, with hardly any supervision or input by any sensible adult. FOXES takes place in a world and a time when being a teenager was fun, free and DANGEROUS.

Makaya McCraven is a beat scientist. The bleeding edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is one of Chicago’s savviest cultural players and a multi-talented force whose inventive process & intuitive, cinematic style defy categorization.

Called “a sound visionary” (jazzinchicago.org) who is “not your everyday jazz drummer”(thewordisbond.com), McCraven brilliantly moves between genres and pushes the boundaries of jazz and rhythm to create forms of his own.

Crosstown Arts presents the Mahogany Chamber Performances series finale, featuring dazzling duo repertoire by Latin and Black composers at Crosstown Theater. Come hear the musical prowess of Memphis' very own Adam Sadberry (flute), Frances Cobb (harp), and a rare chance to hear repertoire for two pianos featuring Artina McCain and Adrienne Park. Featuring works by Astor Piazzola, Aldo Lopez Gavilan, Valerie Coleman, Carlos Salzedo, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, and more!

The Mahogany Chamber Performances is a series of three chamber music concerts curated by Dr. Artina McCain, spotlighting Black and other underrepresented composers and performers.

On a photo shoot in Ghana, an American model slips back in time, becomes enslaved on a plantation and bears witness to the agony of her ancestral past.

Sandrine Bonnaire won the Best Actress César for her portrayal of the defiant young drifter Mona, found frozen to death in a ditch at the beginning of Vagabond. Agnès Varda pieces together Mona’s story through flashbacks told by those who encountered her (played by a largely nonprofessional cast), producing a splintered portrait of an enigmatic woman.

NASHVILLE is probably one of the most Robert Altman films Robert Altman ever filmed, with MANY characters and MANY story lines!