Update: Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story is screening at AMC Elmwood Palace in Harahan, Louisiana.
Sony Pictures Classics has released the trailer for Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story, a soulful and heartfelt documentary celebrating 50 years of the funky and fabulous New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Jazz Fest invites moviegoers to bliss out on New Orleans’ unique culture. The documentary weaves together live performances and interviews from the 50th anniversary of the festival in 2019, featuring some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Jimmy Buffett, Bruce Springsteen, Katy Perry, Pitbull, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, Earth, Wind & Fire, and many others. The film also draws from a wealth of archival documentary footage from the past half century.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, better known as Jazz Fest, is the signature annual music and cultural event of the city and has been called America’s greatest festival. Celebrating the music, food, arts and crafts of all of Louisiana since 1970, Jazz Fest is an essential showcase of the rich heritage of the region, and hundreds of thousands attend the event each year. Local music heroes are joined on 14 stages by some of the most important figures in entertainment, highlighting the connections between Louisiana culture and the world.
Codirected by five-time Academy Award nominee Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern, the documentary premiered on March 16 at the SXSW Festival In Austin and opens at theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 13. No release date for New Orleans-area theaters has been announced.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Sony Pictures Classics to bring Jazz Fest to the big screen,” said Marshall. “With everything we’ve gone through this past year, our hope is that this documentary, celebrating one of the greatest music festivals in the world, will bring some much-needed joy and happiness to audiences everywhere.”
The documentary is produced by Marshall, Suffern and Sean Stuart (The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash). Quint Davis and Jimmy Buffett served as executive producers.
Marshall’s long history in Hollywood includes producing such Oscar-nominated movies as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Sixth Sense, The Color Purple, Seabiscuit and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Marshall and his wife Kathleen Kennedy co-founded Amblin Entertainment, a film production company, with Steven Spielberg in 1981.
“Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story is a masterpiece of storytelling, and joy,” Davis said. “The Kennedy-Marshall team has captured—as never seen before—the spirit, passion, and fun of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, while documenting the creation of the Festival with founder George Wein.”
