This Friday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m., the Levon Helm biopic, “Ain’t In It For My Health” screens in New Orleans at Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.) in Central City.

Levon Helm biopic "Ain't In It For My Health" screens at new film preview series May 17

Drummer Helm was a beloved musician and singer, and in the 1990s owned a Decatur Street music club in New Orleans. OffBeat featured an in-depth interview with Helm in December of 1998 (read it here). He is probably most well-known as a founding member of The Band. The film follows him at home in Woodstock in the midst of creating his first studio album in 25 years. Starting with the image of a tour bus warming its engine in the stillness of an empty lot, “Ain’t In It For My Health” is a haunting, personal portrait of the music legend, and evokes the mood of a lifetime spent on the road. Jacob Hatley’s intimate documentary portrays Helm as the ultimate survivor, having overcome drugs, bankruptcy, the bitter breakup of The Band and a bout of throat cancer—but then, as the rueful title indicates, he wasn’t in it for his health.

Gathr Films, a theatrical distribution service, has selected New Orleans as one of 20 U.S. markets to hold a series of sneak preview screenings of first-run films, even ahead of premieres in major markets like New York and Los Angeles. The company selects, screens and distributes a wide range of films from production houses all over the U.S. The Helm doc is the first of the previews set to screen in New Orleans, and was set up by Gathr Previews, a subsidiary of the firm. The Gathr Previews program  is membership-based and sells tickets to each of its preview screenings, which take place weekly in each of the selected cities.

Tickets to the weekly preview screenings can be purchased on an individual basis, or at a monthly rate. A one-month subscription (four films) is $19 per month, and a three-month subscription (12 films) is $49. Members are emailed their tickets each week for the following week’s film. For more info on the program, visit: www.gathr.us, and for the upcoming month’s New Orleans Gathr Previews film schedule, click here.

“Ain’t In It For My Health” Preview Screening
Date: Friday, May 17
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
1618 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard (map)
Neighborhood: Central City

TICKET CONTEST

OffBeat will give away two [2] pairs of tickets to this Friday’s first Gathr Previews screening of “Ain’t In It For My Health” at Zeitgeist. For a chance to win, please complete and submit the form below to enter the contest. Winners will be notified via e-mail on Friday, May 17 by 3:00 p.m.