For Immediate Release
Blues Documentary "Electrified" DIrected by Phil Ranstrom to Premiere
during Sundance Film Festival
Special screening features live performance by Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Hubert Sumlin
Chicago
(January 16, 2008) – Sundance will be “Electrified” on Friday January 25th at the
world premiere of the blues documentary film Electrified- The Story of the Maxwell Street Urban Blues Directed by Phil Ranstrom at Harry O’s in Park City,
Utah. The evening begins at 10:00
pm and features a screening of the film and a live performance by acclaimed blues
guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd and blues legend Hubert Sumlin. Actor Chevy Chase will be master of ceremonies.
During the
intermission between the screening and the live performance, the film’s executive
producer Les Walgreen will present a limited-edition “Electrified” guitar donated
by Fender to online auction house Charity Buzz for an auction to benefit The Center for Environmental
Education Online.
Electrified tells the definitive history of
the Chicago blues. Narrated by actor Joe Mantegna,
the
film chronicles how the urban neighborhood of Maxwell Street created a unique environment of commerce and cooperation
that led first to the hard-driving sound of the urban blues, and ultimately to
rock and roll.
Interviews
with many of the legendary bluesmen who “studied at Chicago’s Maxwell Street
school of music,” including Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite, Jimmie Lee Robinson and the “father of rock and roll” Bo Diddley, complement the film’s historical narrative and create an
exceptional history of this important era in American music.
A
companion film, Cheat You Fair: The Story of
Maxwell Street,
documents the last days of the historic Maxwell Street market. It premiered to critical acclaim at the Chicago
International Documentary Film Festival in April 2007, and is scheduled to be
shown at the Amnesty International venue at Sundance January 18-20 and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago on February 2.
Both Electrified and Cheat You Fair were written, directed and
produced by longtime Chicago resident Phil Ranstrom who began the projects in
1994 shortly before the Maxwell Street market was demolished.
####
This event is not sanctioned,
affiliated, or an official sponsor or program of the Sundance Film Festival.
|
