Xavier University of Louisiana and Loyola University will present free screenings of the documentary City of a Million Dreams.
Xavier will present the film on Sunday, March 27, at 4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Qatar Pharmacy Pavilion. The film will be shown at Loyola University in Nunemaker Hall on the third floor of the Monroe Science Complex on Tuesday, March 29, at 7 p.m. A panel discussion will follow. Free parking is available on the Loyola campus in the West Road garage from 6:30–9 p.m.
This richly chronicled documentary by Jason Barry explores the history and culture of New Orleans through the performance lens of African American funeral traditions and second-line parades.
The Xavier event will include a pre-screening reception and performance by the Dr. Michael White Quartet at 3 p.m. The film will be shown at 4 p.m.
Offering a unique view of New Orleans, City of a Million Dreams affords its audience a compelling and haunting examination of how black performative culture contributes to how community members navigate the immediacy of life and death on a daily basis. Serving as protagonist are Xavier professor and renowned clarinetist Dr. Michael White and the late blogger Deb “Big Red” Cotton who embody the depths in which New Orleans’ history and culture informs an individual and collective understanding of place, spirit and time. White’s recorded and original music is heard throughout the film.
A discussion with Berry, White, editor Tim Watson, choreographer Monique Moss, and musician Gregg Stafford will follow the screening at 5:30 p.m. The Sunday program resumes Xavier University’s Culture of New Orleans Series after a two-year absence due to Covid. The event is free and open to the public.
In an interview with OffBeat, Berry said, “The first jazz funeral I went to was in 1973. It was for De De Pierce, the grand old man of Preservation Hall, a pianist. It was at Corpus Christi Church. I remember I had seen him before, but I didn’t really know him other than as a spectator. I remember standing outside on the sidewalk watching the coffin come out and the musicians put their instruments up, almost like a military unit putting up swords. The sun was coming down and dancing off the saxophones and the trumpets and the clarinets. It was one of the most beautiful spectacles I’d ever seen. I was mesmerized by it. Then I followed the procession as they put the coffin into the limousine. Then the band moved out. I was walking with the crowd and then they turned on the uptempo music and people danced the soul away.
“When it was over, I was walking back to my car and I was just thinking, this is so beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like this. As the years passed, I kept going to funerals. And I did articles about them. I did a long piece when Chief Pete of the White Eagles died. Often I went to funerals, not even with an assignment. I just went and I took notes. I went as part of a community. I went to pay condolences, often for someone I had known, or even if I didn’t know them. Sometimes I went because I thought these are important events to attend. And I began slowly to form the view that these funerals were stories about the city at a given point in time, like moments of history unfolding.”
For more information about City of a Million Dreams, including future in-person and livestream screenings, visit here.
