A FREE screening of a PBS American Masters documentary might lead to the establishment of a local film festival dedicated just to documentaries, if Patrick Longstreth's vision comes to pass.
"This is an experiment. We're hoping this first one goes well," says Longstreth, an established local documentary film director.
The screening in question happens this Friday, and the film is The Disappearance of Miss Scott.
Directed by Nicole London – who will speak at a Q&A afterward – the film concerns the life and times of Hazel Scott, a renowned jazz singer of the 1930s and 1940s who became active in the Civil Rights movement.
Trinidadian by birth, Scott became the first Black American to host her own TV show, The Hazel Scott Show, in the 1950s. Previously, she was one of a handful of Black women with a career in film as well.
Scott's career was effectively ruined shortly thereafter by charges of communist affiliation – a familiar avenue of attack against liberals and Civil Rights advocates in the McCarthy era of the 1950s.
While she denied the allegations in an appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee, her career, like many others in similar circumstances, was never the same.
"I saw the film before it was broadcast, and met the director at the Library of Congress, during the annual Ken Burns gala," Longstreth says. "I really enjoyed how it was put together, combining archival material with some animated segments. And of course I really appreciated the parallels with what's going on now, with the suppression of free speech."
Scott later married Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who was also very influential in the Civil Rights movement and was the first Black congressman elected from New York.
Their son, Adam Clayton Powell III will attend the Q&A, in a video appearance.
"He was a great witness to her life," Longstreth says.
Longstreth says this screening is a sort of dry run for a much more ambitious project he hopes to bring to fruition next year: A dedicated local film festival just for documentaries.
"A film festival like that doesn't really exist in the format I'm envisioning," he tells us. "Most film festivals that feature documentaries, the narrative fiction films always get the spotlight. Then the more artsy documentaries might get the top spot in that category. The more academic historical documentaries don't get programmed nearly as much."
Longstreth says he was inspired by a recent visit to the Sidewalk Arts Festival in Birmingham, Alabama.
"They have very solid documentary programming, that included a lot of historical documentaries. The way they attracted people from all over to little ol' Birmingham made me think something similar could be a success here. I mean, Birmingham looks and feels a little like Savannah," he says.
Longstreth began researching how to put together a good film festival, mostly using his already-established contacts in the field.
"I started reaching out to every festival director I could, setting up interviews," says Longstreth, who has produced several documentaries himself, including the award-winning The Day That Shook Georgia and The Life of Bill Baggs, all co-produced by his wife Anne Longstreth.
Patrick says the long-running success of groups like Cinema Savannah – who are co-sponsors of the screening this weekend – "sort of prove the viability of a festival idea" for documentaries.
"Those screenings are always pretty well-attended."
Longstreth says that the venue for Friday's screening – the Otis S. Johnson Cultural Arts Center, formerly the Savannah Cultural Arts Center – is also the ideal venue for the kind of festival he envisions.
The Cultural Arts Center, which also hosts Cinema Savannah screenings, "is the perfect venue in town for what we want to do. It's a good space for screenings, and is by far the most affordable option," Longstreth says.
The Disappearance of Miss Scott screens Friday June 6, at 7 p.m., at the Otis Johnson Cultural Arts Center downtown (formerly the Savannah Cultural Arts Center). Admission is free, and a Q&A with director Nicole London and Adam Clayton Powell III follow the screening. Also attending will be Katherine Malone-France, president of The Better Angels Society, and Savannah State University professor Dr. Christina Lenore Davis.