Film footage from the inaugural New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970 will be screened for free tonight at the Old U.S. Mint by the New Orleans Film Society. The screening will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown on the lawn near the Barracks Street entrance of the Mint, or in the Mint’s indoor theatre in case of rain. The footage was taken from seven separate 16mm film reels recorded by Don Perry, one of the founders of the New Orleans Jazz Club and a WDSU cameraman.

The films document some of the most celebrated performances of that historic first Jazz Fest held at Congo Square in Armstrong Park. The festival has of course grown far larger since then, now encompassing all 415 acres of the Fair Grounds for two weekends every year. The footage, which was donated by Perry to the Louisiana State Museum in 1978, has recently been digitized thanks to a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Other films donated by Perry to the Louisiana State Museum include films of jazz concerts and shows in nightclubs, as well as funerals and parades.

The screening is the first of what are planned to be many outdoor screenings as part of the New Orleans Film Society’s “Movies to Geaux” series, for which the NOFS ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to buy a mobile projection system and screen. Bringing food and beverages to the screening is discouraged, and local food trucks and vendors will be stationed in the French Market across the street for the duration of the event.