Skip to main content
Time Is All You've Got film image; man playing instrument in band

A Tribute to Artie Shaw

James Danderfer Sextet + Time Is All You’ve Got Screening

VIFF Live

This event has passed

One of the most popular and intriguing big band leaders of the Swing era, Artie Shaw took jazz clarinet to a new level of artistry and celebrity. On occasion, Shaw would tour with a smaller group, his Gramercy Five, which became one of the fixtures of small group swing. Come and enjoy a rare performance of this melodic and jubilant music featuring James Danderfer clarinet, Bill Coon guitar, Sharon Minemoto piano, Max Huberdeau vibraphone, Dan Howard bass and Joe Poole drums, to be followed by a screening of Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got.

Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got (1985, 115 min)
Anchored by an incisive interview with its then 72-year-old subject, Artie Shaw: Time is All You’ve Got looks back on the five-decade career of “King of the Clarinet” Artie Shaw (1910-2004), one of the most popular stars of the 1930s and ’40s Swing era. Brigitte Berman’s film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1985, and is screening in a new 4K restoration. Featuring: Artie Shaw, Polly Haynes, John Wexley, Lee Castle, John Best, Helen Forrest, Buddy Rich, Mel Tormé.

In an era of separate white and Black bands, Shaw broke the color barrier by hiring legendary African American musicians like Billie Holiday, Hot Lips Page and Roy Eldridge for his bands. Shaw’s restlessness and intellectual curiosity (he’d author four books of fiction and non-fiction) led him to shun celebrity and retire from show business in the late 1940s, with only occasional comebacks after. Known also as a ladies’ man, Shaw’s eight wives included actresses Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Doris Dowling, Evelyn Keyes, and novelist Kathleen Winsor, author of the notoriously racy bestseller Forever Amber.

Unfailingly entertaining.

Glenn Kenny, New York Times

Superb… A documentary masterpiece… Big-band leader and clarinet virtuoso Artie Shaw’s life story is told sensitively and in detail: He talks about growing up poor and Jewish in New York; his intensely serious approach to music; his love-hate relationship with show business; and his ambition to be a creative writer. A brilliant portrait of a difficult man, an artist who was never happy with himself or anyone else.

Judy Wolfe, POV Magazine

Berman makes history live.

LA Times

 

Presented in partnership with

Media Partner

Director

Brigitte Berman

Featuring

Artie Shaw, Polly Haynes, John Wexley, Lee Castle, John Best, Helen Forrest, Buddy Rich, Mel Tormé.

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

1985

Language

English

Awards

Best Documentary, Academy Awards

19+
180 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Screenwriter

Brigitte Berman

Cinematography

James Aquila, Mark Irwin

Editor

Barry Backus, Brigitte Berman

Original Music

Artie Shaw

Also Playing

Kryptic

Dir. Kourtney Roy
96 min

Oozing psycho-sexual anxiety, Kourtney Roy's fascinating feminist horror movie feints toward creature-feature quirk, but morphs into something much stranger. Chloe Pirrie plays a double role, or maybe Everywoman, adrift in a world of men and monsters.

Kryptic Live will feature a one-time-only screening of the film live scored by composer Cayne Mackenzie + Q&A with director Kourtney Roy.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Mary Ancheta Plays Betty Davis Tribute

Dir. Phil Cox
150 min

In this VIFF Live event, keyboardist Mary Ancheta and her band channel the phenomenal funk of 70s sensation Betty Davis, featuring Dawn Pemberton on vocals. The live music portion of the event will be followed by Phil Cox's invaluable 2017 documentary, They Say I'm Different.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

BC's Blue Note Legacy Quartet

150 min

Four of Vancouver's best jazz musicians come together as BC's Blue Note Legacy Quartet memorializing the iconic recording label (home to Monk, Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and so many others) followed by Sophie Huber's acclaimed 2018 documentary, Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Rose

Dir. Aurélie Saada
102 min

Rose, 78 years old, has just lost her adored husband. When her grief gives way to a powerful impulse to live, making her realize that she can still redefine herself as a woman, the whole balance of the family is upset.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Thom Yorke's Tall Tales

Dir. Jonathan Zawada
65 min

Be among the first to experience Tall Tales, a collaboration between Thom Yorke, producer Mark Pritchard and visual artist Jonathan Zawada at 12:01 am at VIFF Centre.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

One to One: John and Yoko

Dir. Kevin Macdonald & Sam Rice-Edwards
100 min

Both a concert film (Madison Square Gardens, August 1972) and a time machine, dropping us into the dizzying political kaleidoscope of the early 1970s, Kevin Macdonald's latest documentary is a rewarding addition to Lennon Studies.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre