Following the success of Ballet Memphis’ 2022 production of SOUL, the company returns to Crosstown Theater with another unique and immersive theatrical experience. Rising choreographic stars Alia Kache of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and Ballet Memphis’ own Julie Niekrasz and Brandon Ramey each present new works performed to musical selections that celebrate the vast and exciting landscape of Americana music. A spotlight on the diversity of American dreams, this production features a live house band that just may have you dancing in the aisles!

Following the success of Ballet Memphis’ 2022 production of SOUL, the company returns to Crosstown Theater with another unique and immersive theatrical experience. Rising choreographic stars Alia Kache of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and Ballet Memphis’ own Julie Niekrasz and Brandon Ramey each present new works performed to musical selections that celebrate the vast and exciting landscape of Americana music. A spotlight on the diversity of American dreams, this production features a live house band that just may have you dancing in the aisles!

Crosstown Arts and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra present HAYDN: THE CREATION in Crosstown Theater.

One of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, Days of Heaven is a moving story about two men who love the same woman. Richard Gere, a fugitive from the slums of Chicago, finds himself pitted against a shy, rich Texan (Sam Shepard) for the love of Abby (Brooke Adams). Writer/director Malick’s first film since Badlands is an extraordinary cinematic achievement of sight and sound.

As part of the return of the Pitch Rally, Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts are excited to present a selection of works from past and current Pitch Rally participants. For some of these works, it will be the first time they’ve screened publicly, so please join us in continuing to celebrate these artists by seeing their films! From a rainy Sunday morning spent getting to church, to the exploration of a young boy growing up in the 7th Ward in New Orleans, these works highlight the early and continued talents of these filmmakers.

Join us for an exhilarating evening where film lovers and filmmakers converge, as eight talented creators pitch their projects, vying for a chance to secure $10,000 to bring their cinematic visions to life. From captivating narratives to thought-provoking documentaries, immerse yourself in a diverse array of stories waiting to be told.

In Paris, isolated Eastern European émigré Trelkovsky (Roman Polanski) rents an apartment in a spooky old building whose inhabitants regard him with suspicion and even outright hostility. When he learns that the apartment’s previous tenant, a beautiful woman, tried to commit suicide by jumping out the window, Trelkovsky begins to identify with her in increasingly disturbing ways. Then, to make matters even worse, he reaches the conclusion that his new neighbors are plotting to kill him.

Jerry (Cary Grant) and Lucy (Irene Dunne) are a married couple who doubt each other’s fidelity: Jerry suspects Lucy and her music teacher (Alexander D’Arcy) of spending an evening together, and Lucy is convinced Jerry lied about a business trip. When the jealous pair file for divorce, both rush into new relationships, but quickly realize their love never died. The soon-to-be-divorced husband and wife then both scramble to spoil each other’s chances for newfound romance.

Join Grammy-winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum for Kafé Kirk, an ongoing jazz series in Crosstown Theater featuring musical and spiritual collaborations with special guest artists. This iteration’s performance will feature jazz saxophonist Eric Darius.

Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini’s 8½ (Otto e mezzo) turns one man’s artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema. An early working title for 8½ was The Beautiful Confusion, and Fellini’s masterpiece is exactly that: a shimmering dream, a circus, and a magic act.

A film director (François Truffaut) tries to get his movie made while observing the real-life dramas in his actors’ lives. Fading icon Severine (Valentina Cortese) forgets her lines when she drinks, while her co-star, Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Aumont), is fixated on his lover’s imminent arrival. Meanwhile, insecure young star Alphonse (Jean-Pierre Léaud) has emotional outbursts, yet seems well-balanced compared to Julie (Jacqueline Bisset), a British actress recuperating from a nervous breakdown.

The Mahogany Chamber Music Series makes its exhilarating return in February by elevating the awareness underrepresented composers as well as standard works for voice. Mahogany series curator, Artina McCain brings along esteemed colleagues mezzo-soprano Paulina Villareal, pianist Jonathan Tsay, baritone James Rodriguez, and soprano Gwendolyn Alfred to share a variety of genres through this vocally virtuosic program.

First grade can be a scary thing, even without the burden of making history. In October 1961, 13 first graders became some of the smallest pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement when they desegregated the Memphis City Schools. ‘The Memphis 13’ is their story. This documentary collects the stories of 13 families united by a comment moment in history, but experiences individually; stories of normal children living through an extraordinary moment. A half century later, they are proud of having broken a barrier, but many remain burdened by this difficult experience. The film uncovers a hidden story of the Movement, honors the children who lived it, and raises questions about the role of children in movements for social change. With a special guest panel discussion after the film.

In Anselm, Wim Wenders creates a portrait of Anselm Kiefer, one of the most innovative and important painters and sculptors of our time. Shot in 3D and 6K-resolution, the film presents a cinematic experience of the artist’s work which explores human existence and the cyclical nature of history, inspired by literature, poetry, philosophy, science, mythology and religion. For over two years, Wenders traced Kiefer’s path from his native Germany to his current home in France, connecting the stages of his life to the essential places of his career that spans more than five decades.

Leroy Green (Taimak), a young martial artist living in New York City, trains tirelessly to attain the same level of mastery as the great Bruce Lee. One night, his life changes forever when he rescues television personality Laura Charles (Vanity) from evil businessman Eddie Arkadian (Chris Murney). Impressed by Leroy’s bravery, Laura falls for Leroy — but to keep her safe, he will have to defeat a gang leader named Sho’nuff (Julius J. Carry III), the self-styled Shogun of Harlem.

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Crosstown Arts present Rhapsody in Blue 100th Anniversary in Crosstown Theater.

Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives in a bombed-out, post-war Vienna at the invitation of his childhood friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) only to find him dead. Martins develops the ultimate conspiracy theory after learning of a “third man” present at the time of Harry’s death, butting up against interference from British police officer Major Calloway (Trevor Howard), and falling head-over-heels for Harry’s grief-stricken lover Anna (Alida Valli).

In January, encounter MLK Freedom Celebration, which aims to pay homage to capturing the beauty, struggle, and resilience of the Memphis community through music. 

Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts are excited to present When The Apocalypse is Over, a block of aspect ratio-, post-production-, or VFX-heavy shorts from the latest generations of filmmakers in the Philippines.

Come help us celebrate the end of another fun year with the return of our annual Shoot & Splice Movie Trivia! Test your film knowledge against returning Trivia Masters — John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal and Chris McCoy of the Memphis Flyer. The trivia masters will take full advantage of the theater so be prepared for some fun video rounds!

The first film in Abbas Kiarostami’s sublime, interlacing trilogy of films set in the northern Iranian village of Koker takes a premise of fable-like simplicity — a boy searches for the home of his classmate whose school notebook he has accidentally taken — and transforms it into a miraculous, child’s-eye adventure of the everyday. 

Desert ants suddenly form a collective intelligence and begin to wage war on the inhabitants. It is up to two scientists and a stray girl they rescue from the ants to destroy them. Acclaimed graphic designer Saul Bass’s only feature film is a visually striking curiosity that, originally a box office flop, garnered cult status a year after its release. Interpreted by some as an ecological commentary, by others as political, and by others as a runoff of the anxieties of the time, Phase IV is as spellbinding as the movie posters and title sequences for which its director is known. Featuring an otherworldly score by composer Brian Gascoigne and starring Michael Murphy and Nigel Davenport as the scientists.

The original hip-hop movie, Wild Style was the first feature film to document the scene’s music, break dancing, and street art at its inception. Through the eyes of a subway tagger named Zoro (played by graffiti legend Lee Quinones) and his encounters with assorted B-boys and g-girs, rappers, and fellow artists, we see the vibrant street culture of the Bronx in the early 1980s. Filmed with vivid, semi-documentary authenticity, this extraordinary time capsule boasts appearances by groundbreaking artists like Grandmaster Flash, the Cold Crush Brothers, Lady Pink, Fab 5 Freddy, Busy Bee, and others.

Newly restored in 4K to coincide with its 40th anniversary, the 1984 film was directed by renowned filmmaker Jonathan Demme and is considered by critics as the greatest concert film of all time. Stop Making Sense stars core band members David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison along with Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir, Steve Scales, Lynn Mabry, and Edna Holt. The live performance was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December of 1983 and features Talking Heads’ most memorable songs.

With the unique concept of gradually introducing performers to the stage, artists Ross Salvosa, Artina McCain, and the Joshua David trio will take the audience on a journey from classical solo piano, to the amused tenderness of Samuel Barber’s Souvenirs, and end the night with a riveting set of jazz featuring world-renowned jazz trombonist Mike Dease.

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

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims. Directed by John Carpenter. 

In the masterful sequel to the 1931 classic, the mad scientist is persuaded by a creepy doctor to create a mate for his creature to help fabricate a new race, but all doesn’t go as planned. Elsa Lanchester has dual roles as novelist Mary Shelley and the frightful wig-wearing bride. Directed by James Whale.

Inspired by militant leaders like Malcom X and Stokely Carmichael, a new radicalized generation of civil rights activists made up of young college students, Vietnam vets, musicians, and intellectuals emerged in Memphis in 1967. The Invaders uncovers the history and significance of the often-overlooked group, detailing their direct involvement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the pivotal hours leading up to his assassination. The Invaders touches on themes of race, government surveillance and economic injustice. The film offers a unique perspective on the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike by emphasizing the role of resident youth in the movement, as well as focusing on the function of poverty and economic disparity in Memphis.

Presented in collaboration with the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Q&A following the screening!

From Universal Pictures’ Get Out, a speculative thriller from Blumhouse (producers of The Visit, Insidious series, and The Gift) and the mind of Jordan Peele, when a young African-American man visits his white girlfriend’s family estate, he becomes ensnared in a more sinister real reason for the invitation. Directed by Jordan Peele.

This animated tale follows the misadventures of three teens who believe that an old ramshackle dwelling in their neighborhood houses a man-eating entity that is feasting on the locals. Directed by Gil Kenan.

Suspiria is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey’s 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy but realizes, after a series of brutal murders, that the academy is a front for a supernatural conspiracy.

After receiving an anonymous letter about a missing 12-year-old girl, devoutly Christian Police Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) travels by seaplane to a remote Scottish island to investigate. But the islanders welcome neither his badge nor religious devotion, for Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) and his devoted followers worship only the pagan gods of old — and those gods demand a sacrifice. Howie fears for the missing girl’s life and follows every possible lead to find her — despite the islanders’ interference — before she becomes a human sacrificial lamb. Directed by Robin Hardy. 

A group of unemployed parapsychologists go into business as professional ghost neutralizers. But when New York City comes under stack from a host of supernatural demons, the self-proclaimed Ghostbusters must step up and save the world from the sinister “Zuul.” Directed by Ivan Reitman.

The most famous four notes in musical history – don’t miss this performance of Beethoven’s revolutionary work in an intimate setting. MSO Principal Horn Caroline Kinsey is the featured soloist for Romanian American composer Dan Lazarescou’s evocative musical exploration.

Based on an acclaimed 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging Rock is set at the turn of the twentieth century and concerns a small group of students from an all- female college who vanish, along with a chaperone, while on a St. Valentine’s Day outing.

In this chilling adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel, withdrawn and sensitive teen Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) faces taunting from classmates at school and abuse from her pious mother (Piper Laurie) at home. When strange occurrences start happening around Carrie, she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers. Invited to the prom by the empathetic Tommy Ross (William Katt), Carrie tries to let her guard down, but things eventually take a dark and violent turn. Directed by Brian DePalma. 

When a car hits young Victor’s pet dog Sparky, Victor decides to bring him back to life the only way he knows how. But when the bolt-necked “monster” wreaks havoc and terror in the hearts of Victor’s neighbors, he has to convince them that Sparky’s still the good, loyal friend he was. Directed by Tim Burton.

Sierra Hull’s positively stellar career started early. That is, if you consider a Grand Ole Opry debut at age 10, called back to the famed stage a year later to perform with her hero and mentor Alison Krauss to be early. She played Carnegie Hall at 12; at 13 signed with Rounder Records and issued her debut, Secrets, and garnered the first of many nominations for Mandolin Player of the Year. She played the Kennedy Center at 16 and the next year became the first bluegrass musician to receive a Presidential Scholarship at the Berklee College of Music. As a 20-year-old, Hull played the White House.

Join Grammy-winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum for Kafé Kirk, an ongoing jazz series in Crosstown Theater featuring musical and spiritual collaborations with special guest artists. This iteration’s performance will feature jazz pianist Keiko Matsui.

The collective vision of trumpeter Marc Franklin, guitarist Joe Restivo, and vocalist John Németh has earned the ensemble favorable responses from the public and press alike. The Memphis Commercial Appeal noted the band’s immersive qualities, transporting listeners to a pivotal scene in which jazz and blues maintained influence over Memphis’ soul burgeoning sound. Writer Bob Mehr lauded the band for “re-conjuring a sound and style that was dominant in Memphis, and that would have a formative influence on the young artists who would come to stock the rosters of Stax Records and Hi Records in the decades to come.”

The story of the album art design studio, Hipgnosis, who created some of the most iconic album covers of all time. Whether you’re a fan of Pink Floyd or not, chances are you know exactly what the album covers of The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here look like. But you might not be familiar with the creative duo behind those iconic images: Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, aka the innovative design studio Hipgnosis. 

Talented, ambitious, and backstabbing hairstylists gather for a competition in England, only to find one of their own murdered before judging can begin. Winding through neon-lit halls and backstage dressing rooms, competitors unspool long-simmering resentments and secrets as they search for the killer among them, in this devilishly funny whodunit from debut filmmaker Thomas Hardiman.

An off-the-wall comedy documentary about the greatest rap band that never was. Documentary filmmaker Nina Blackburn (Kasi Lemmons) infiltrates the behind-the-scenes world of rap’s most controversial band. Meet the fast-talking philosophical Ice Cold (Rusty Cundieff), the short-tempered militant Tasty-Taste (Larry B. Scott), and their spiritual center, D.J. Tone Def (Mark Christopher Lawrence). See them in the recording studios, jam with them on stage, hang with them and hear their philosophies on music and life. Featuring hilarious videos of all their biggest hits, plus the “gangstas”, the girls and the guns. A wonderfully funny spoof.

An inside look at The Elephant 6 Recording Co., the ’90s rock collective that launched Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Terror Control, The Apples in Stereo, and other bands. Around 1985, a group of Louisiana high schoolers began experimenting with whatever random instruments and gear they could find. Influenced by psychedelia, and with little to distract them, they birthed a musical revolution.

By the mid-’60s, Ingmar Bergman had already conjured many of the cinema’s most unforgettable images. But with the radical Persona, he attained new levels of visual poetry. In the first of a series of legendary performances for Bergman, Liv Ullmann plays a stage actor who has inexplicably gone mute; an equally mesmerizing Bibi Andersson is the garrulous young nurse caring for her in a remote island cottage. While isolated together there, the women undergo a mysterious spiritual and emotional transference. Performed with astonishing nuance and shot in stark contrast and soft light by Sven Nykvist, the influential Persona is a penetrating, dreamlike work of profound psychological depth (Criterion).

It’s been called “shocking” (Film Comment), “blistering” (Filmmaker), and “a flat-out masterpiece” (The Playlist) yet remained virtually unseen for over 40 years. Now experience this “haunting portrait of juvenile delinquency that ranks among the most powerful in American cinema” (Chicago Reader) from actor/director/co-writer Dennis Hopper as it’s never been seen before: Linda Manz “gives one of the greatest teenage performances of all time” (Film Comment) as a 15-year-old who idolizes Elvis, punk rock, and her ex-con father (Hopper), is surrounded by junkies and predators, and follows them all down a one-way road to oblivion. Sharon Farrell (THE STUNT MAN), Don Gordon (THE LAST MOVIE) and Raymond Burr co-star in “a film about extremes, directed by an extremist” (Time Out) featuring music by Neil Young.

Home from college, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) makes an unsettling discovery: a severed human ear, lying in a field. In the mystery that follows, by turns terrifying and darkly funny, writer-director David Lynch burrows deep beneath the picturesque surfaces of small-town life. Driven to investigate, Jeffrey finds himself drawing closer to his fellow amateur sleuth, Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), as well as their person of interest, lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) — and facing the fury of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), a psychopath who will stop at nothing to keep Dorothy in his grasp. With intense performances and hauntingly powerful scenes and images, Blue Velvet is an unforgettable vision of innocence lost, and one of the most influential American films of the past few decades.

Following Jack Nicholson’s breakout supporting turn in Easy Rider,director Bob Rafelson devised a powerful leading role for the new star in the searing character study Five Easy Pieces. Nicholson plays the now iconic cad Bobby Dupea, a shiftless thirtysomething oil rigger and former piano prodigy immune to any sense of responsibility, who returns to his upper-middle-class childhood home, blue-collar girlfriend (Karen Black, in an Oscar-nominated role) in tow, to see his estranged, ailing father. Moving in its simplicity and gritty in its textures, Five Easy Pieces is a lasting example of early 1970s American alienation.

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival — yet criminally under-seen for over three decades — Chameleon Street recounts the improbable but true story of Michigan con man Douglas Street, the titular “chameleon” who successfully impersonated his way up the socioeconomic ladder by posing as a magazine reporter, an Ivy League student, a respected surgeon, and a corporate lawyer.

Glamour has never been more grotesque than in Female Trouble, which injects the Hollywood melodrama with anarchic decadence. Divine, director John Waters’ larger-than-life muse, engulfs the screen with charisma as Dawn Davenport, the living embodiment of the film’s lurid mantra, “Crime is beauty,” who progresses from a teenage nightmare hell-bent on getting cha-cha heels for Christmas to a fame monster whose egomaniacal impulses land her in the electric chair.

Experience a transformative selection of Black, Indigenous, and Queer voices from Bahia, Brazil, through this MicroCinema event curated by the Black Freedom Fellowship’s Odù Film Festival. These films intertwine the preservation of our planet, ancestral heritage, and queer identity to craft an action-inspiring path toward a future vital to our collective survival. This Indie Memphis x Black Freedom Fellowship MicroCinema event happens two days before the in-person “Odù Film Festival” takes place in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, featuring two days of film screenings from all over the world as well as art exhibitions, art markets, and music concerts. 

Join Grammy-winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum for Kafé Kirk, an ongoing jazz series in Crosstown Theater featuring musical and spiritual collaborations with special guest artists. This iteration’s performance will feature Keia Johnson and Kevin Whalum.

Fassbinder’s biggest international box-office success and the first part of his “postwar trilogy,” The Marriage of Maria Braun is a heartbreaking study of a woman picking herself up from the ruins of her own life, as well as a pointed metaphorical attack on a society determined to forget its past.

Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts are excited to present our next Shoot & Splice: Screen Acting hosted by Akono Dixon. Akono will lead a presentation and discussion on the craft of acting; from building a character and working with a director, to script analysis, auditioning technique, and more. A Memphis native, Akono is a rising filmmaker with credits including DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, EUPHORIA, and the lead role in the upcoming Hallmark film, SPRING BREAKTHROUGH directed by Mykelti Williamson. 

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag ball scene.

One of the most searing romances of the 1990s, Wong Kar Wai’s emotionally raw, lushly stylized portrait of a relationship in breakdown casts Hong Kong superstars Tony Leung and Leslie Cheung as a couple traveling through Argentina and locked in a turbulent cycle of infatuation and destructive jealousy as they break up, make up, and fall apart again and again.

Join PRIZM Ensemble for a free concert celebrating Juneteenth with wonderful choral, chamber, and orchestral music, featuring the Sensational Barnes Brothers.

The Crosstown Arts Film Series presents Halloween III: Season of the Witch with a live score by Robert Traxler, Natalie Hoffmann, and Revenge Body in collaboration with Memphis Concréte Festival at Crosstown Theater.

In honor of the incredible experimental lesbian filmmaker, Barbara Hammer, Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts are excited to bring this Tribute to Barbara Hammer for this month’s MicroCinema. A prolific filmmaker, installation artist, and pioneer of feminist and queer cinema for over 50 years, Hammer’s work consistently and relentlessly explored the intimate experiences of lesbian relationships, the erasure and censorship of queer history, and the relationship between sex, age, and the body. 

Directed by Brian De Palma, Phantom of the Paradise satirizes both horror films and rock groups in the story of a composer of a rock cantata on the theme of Faust, who sells his soul for rock ’n’ roll. Oscar-winner Paul Williams stars and composed the superb rock musical score.

Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts are excited to present a conversation on film & TV writing between filmmaker Craig Brewer and writer Hennah Sekander. This wide ranging conversation will include topics such as the WGA strike, the current creative & business culture of the industry, ins and outs of the writers room, and much more. Prepare for a fun, engaging evening with two of the top writers in the current film & TV industry!

Suture is one of the most outstanding neo-noirs of the 1990s. The wealthy and self-assured Vincent (Michael Harris) meets his blue-collar half-brother Clay (Dennis Haysbert) at their father’s funeral, and is struck by their similarity. He decides to murder Clay and take his identity — only Clay survives the assassination attempt with no memory and is mistaken for Vincent.

One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a 16th-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits.

Serial Mom is a 1994 American black comedy written and directed by John Waters. Happy housewife Beverly Sutphin has a charmed life — a beautiful suburban home, a successful dentist husband, and two normal teenagers. However, when one of her son’s teachers speaks disparagingly of the boy at a parent-teacher conference, Bev runs the instructor over in the school parking lot.

Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts are honored to present Shifting Lines: New Queer Animation from Frameline Distribution. These six shorts traverse various styles of distinctive animation and live-action to explore relationships, family, and the development of identity in ways that are as thoughtful as they are stunning to watch.

A girl on the verge of womanhood finds herself in a sensual fantasyland of vampires, witchcraft, and other threats in this eerie and mystical movie daydream. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders serves up an endlessly looping, nonlinear fairy tale, set in a quasi-medieval landscape.

Think of it like Speed Dating, but for filmmaking guidance and mentorship. This is a great opportunity for new/rising/new-to-Memphis filmmakers to connect with other Memphis-based industry professionals. 

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

John Cassavetes’ hymn to that berserk business of performing, Opening Night is enhanced by its intense “old Hollywood” pedigree as Ben Gazzara, John Blondell, Paul Stewart and Cassavetes himself are the backing band for Rowlands’ knife-edged soloing.

Join Grammy-winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum for Kafé Kirk, an ongoing jazz series in Crosstown Theater featuring musical and spiritual collaborations with special guest artists. This iteration’s performance will feature jazz singer Jazzmeia Horn.

Like a quasar burning past the gaslight, director Lisa Cortés’ eye-opening documentary explodes the whitewashed canon of American pop music. Little Richard: I Am Everything shines a clarifying light on the Black, queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, and establishes the genre’s big bang: Richard Wayne Penniman.

For this month’s MicroCinema, Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts are ecstatic to have partnered with IF/Then Shorts to present an array of incredible, often touching documentary shorts from filmmakers throughout the South. We’re glad to be able to include in this program a preview screening of Zaire Love’s SLICE, which was a part of the 2021 IF/Then + Hulu Short Documentary Lab and the recipient of the 2020 Black Creators Forum Short Film Grant!

The father of video art and coiner of the term “electronic superhighway,” Nam June Paik was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Director Amanda Kim tells the remarkable story of Paik as a citizen of the world and trailblazing artist, who both saw the present and predicted the future with astonishing clairvoyance.

Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts are excited to present a panel and conversation on Intimacy Coordinating. While not a new position, intimacy coordination has recently become an on-set film industry expectation whenever actors are needed to perform vulnerable scenes that require high levels of trust and communication. 

Crosstown Arts presents The Bad Plus & Marc Ribot and the Jazz Bins at Crosstown Theater.

Makaya McCraven is a prolific drummer, composer, and producer. His newest album, In These Times, is the triumphant finale of a project seven-plus years in the making. It’s a preeminent addition to his already-acclaimed and extensive discography, and it’s the album he’s been trying to make since he started making records.

Iron & Wine’s music has captured the emotion and imagination of listeners with their distinctly cinematic songs. As the world continues to spin — so do Iron & Wine continue on their path of releasing new music and touring.

Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts are proud to present three films from A String of Pearls: The Films of Camille Billops and James Hatch. Newly restored, these three shorts, Take Your Bags, Older Women and Love, and Suzanne, Suzanne, highlight the longtime creative partnership of artists, writers, and filmmakers Camille Billops and James Hatch. 

In Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-middle-class sextet sits down to a dinner that is continually delayed, their attempts to eat thwarted by vaudevillian events both actual and imagined, including terrorist attacks, military maneuvers, and ghostly apparitions.

Made not long before the fall of the Berlin wall, this stunning tapestry of sounds and images, shot in black and white and color by the legendary Henri Alekan, is movie poetry. And it forever made the name Wim Wenders synonymous with film art. 

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

Jim Jarmusch combined his love for the ice-cool crime dramas of Jean-Pierre Melville and Seijun Suzuki with the philosophical dimensions of samurai mythology for an eccentrically postmodern take on the hit-man thriller.

Leyla McCalla finds inspiration from her past and present, whether it is her Haitian heritage or her adopted home of New Orleans, she — a bilingual multi-instrumentalist, and alumna of Grammy award-winning African-American string band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops — has risen to produce a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience.

Michael Schultz directed this deeply felt recollection of adolescent life on Chicago’s near North Side in 1964. Like American Graffiti, Cooley High deals with girl, school, and police troubles as a group of high school seniors prepare for post-high-school life.

Indie Memphis and Crosstown Arts are honored to start off Microcinema this year with a program of shorts from the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest avant-garde and experimental film festival in North America! This program of shorts features fascinating works from filmmakers from around the world who employ an array of approaches — an absurdist music video, a mediation on physical and mental spaces within the African Diaspora, and a video essay exploring the innocence and role of bags in post-revolution Iranian cinema. 

With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946 and hailed by The Boston Globe as “the most important American quartet in history,” the ensemble draws on a deep and vital engagement to the classics, while embracing the mission of championing new works, a vibrant combination of the familiar and the daring.

Crosstown Theater
Thursday, February 9, 2023
Doors at 6:30 p.m. | Show begins at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $35 | $30 in advance
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
In partnership with Iris Collective, Avery Fisher Career Grant winner Randall Goosby and New York Times “Best of 2021” pianist Zhu Wang will perform with Iris musicians celebrating music’s capacity to connect us to our past and families. This chamber concert will feature music by Black and living Chinese composers.
https://iriscollective.org/intersections

Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts are excited to present a case study of the 2022 Indie Memphis Film Festival Hometowner award-winning short films, “Nordo” (Best Narrative Short) and “What We’ll Never Know” (Best Documentary Short). Directors Kyle Taubken (Nordo) and Lauren Ready (What We’ll Never Know) will share insights and stories from each stage of the production process — from early development to production and into festival distribution.

Almas’s Rainbow is a coming-of-age comedy/drama about three Black women living in Brooklyn. Ayoka Chenzira’s feature film explores the life of teenager Rainbow Gold (Victoria Gabrielle Platt) who is entering womanhood and navigating conversations and experiences around standards of beauty, self-image, and the rights of Black women have over their bodies.

This stark modern homage to Howard Hawk’s Rio Bravo updates the action with a youth gang attacking a closing police station in a blighted ghetto neighborhood.

Featuring brilliant performances from Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall, this dreamlike masterpiece from Robert Altman careens from the humorous to the chilling to the surreal, resulting in one of the most unusual and compelling films of the 1970s.

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

Featuring a seething, controlled performance from Klaus Kinski, this masterpiece from director Werner Herzog is an unforgettable portrait of madness and power.

The inimitable Kathleen Collins’s second film tells the story of two remarkable people, married and hurtling toward a crossroads in their lives: Sara Rogers, a Black professor of philosophy, is embarking on an intellectual quest just as her painter husband, Victor, sets off on an exploration of joy.

Come help us celebrate the end of another fun year with the return of our annual Shoot & Splice Movie Trivia extravaganza!

Big Star’s 50th Anniversary of #1 Record ​​features Jody Stephens (Big Star), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Pat Sansone (Wilco) Jon Auer (The Posies) and Chris Stamey (The dB’s) plus special guest performances by Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound) and Andrew VanWyngarden (MGMT) in Crosstown Theater.