Jazz on Film features three weekends of special screenings celebrating the rich and varied intersections of jazz and cinema. Organized by guest curator Peter Lucas, this year’s program features the Houston premiere of the new documentary on bossa nova pioneers, Elis and Tom from Roberto de Oliveira and Jom Tob Azulay; Bruce Weber’s Let’s Get Lost (1988); and a special 50th anniversary screening of Sun Ra’s Space Is the Place (1974).

Schedule of events

• June 7 and 22: Let’s Get Lost - In the 1950s, Chet Baker’s jazz trumpeting, intimate crooning, and pretty-boy good looks epitomized West Coast cool. When photographer Bruce Weber caught up with him three decades later, time and drug addiction had ravaged Baker’s life and angelic beauty. Shown here in a new 4K digital restoration, the bittersweet portrait intercuts black-and-white footage of the latter-day Baker with the young musician in archival footage and photographs by William Claxton. Preceded by Jammin’ the Blues (Gjon Mili, 1944, 10 minutes, 35mm).
• June 8: Elis and Tom - In 1974, one of the prime architects of bossa nova, Antonio Carlos Jobim (Tom), and popular Brazilian singer Elis Regina came together to record what would become one of the most iconic albums in the history of Brazilian music. Through extensive, long-unseen film footage shot at MGM recording studios in Los Angeles during this unique collaboration, Elis and Tom showcases the artists’ extraordinary personalities, Sun Ra’s Space Is the Place (1974), and the tensions and triumphs of their creative process. The film also traces their backgrounds with archival performance footage, and a number of contributors who share their memories of the sessions, the artists, and their impact.
• June 14: Space Is the Place - Avant-garde jazz mystic Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Myth-Science Arkestra land their yellow spaceship in Oakland offering an alter-destiny to Black youth, including battling the FBI, NASA, and a supernatural pimp named “The Overseer.” This unique iteration of Ra’s musical concepts and social commentary is a blend of science fiction B-movie, blaxploitation flick, and concert documentary.
• June 15:International Sweethearts of Rhythm | Maxine Sullivan: Love to Be in Love - This screening presents two short documentaries by filmmakers Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss that spotlight often unsung women of jazz. International Sweethearts of Rhythm (30 min.) tells the fascinating story of the seriously swinging, multiracial, all-women jazz big band of the 1940s. Maxine Sullivan: Love to Be in Love (50 min.) is a portrait of the largely forgotten jazz vocalist who rose to fame in the 1930s and inspired a generation of younger artists, including Ella Fitzgerald.
• June 21: Jazz Films - Between the 1950s and 1970s, animators John and Faith Hubley made their own independent films with intelligence, passion, humor, and great music. Their poetic sensibility and whimsical, impressionistic visual style fit perfectly with jazz music. Celebrating the centennial of Faith Hubley, this program features the filmmakers’ collaborations with Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, and others.