SYNOPSIS
The life and music of legendary jazz drummer, composer and activist Max Roach. Tracing his creative peaks, personal struggles and reinventions from the Jim Crow to civil rights eras.
Director: Sam Pollard
Language: English
Duration: 82 MINS
Year: 2023
Genre: DOCUMENTARY
FREE TO THE PUBLIC
FILM DETAILS
Date: Sunday - October 20, 2024
Time: 2:15 PM​
Venue: Plainfield High School
950 Park Ave, Plainfield, NJ 07060
SCREENING DETAILS
About the Co Director
Samuel D. Pollard is an American film director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. His films have garnered numerous awards such as Peabodys, Emmys, and an Academy Award nomination. In 2020, the International Documentary Association gave him a career achievement award. Spike Lee, whose films Pollard has edited and produced, described him as being "a master filmmaker." Henry Louis Gates Jr. characterizes Pollard's work in this way: "When I think about his documentaries, they add up to a corpus — a way of telling African-American history in its various dimensions.
About the Co Director
Shapiro is co-director/producer (with Sam Pollard) and cinematographer of the documentary Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes, which explores the life and career of the master drummer, bandleader, activist across seven decades. The film premiered at the 2023 South by Southwest Film Festival, and had its broadcast premiere on the PBS series American Masters.[2][3]
Shapiro directed and was cinematographer of the documentary Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters, which follows the photographer over a decade as he creates his images.[4] Brief Encounters premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival and is screening theatrically at festivals and on television internationally. The New York Times rated the film as a "Critics' Pick," and Variety described it as "must see."[5][6][7]
Shapiro's work as a cinematographer and producer includes projects for PBS (American Masters, PBS Arts, EGG), National Geographic, The Sundance Channel, and independent filmmakers including Katy Chevigny, Barbara Kopple, the feature "Paul Goodman Changed my Life," among others