Join us for To Louis with Love, a joyful celebration of the legendary Louis Armstrong. Experience the magic of Armstrong’s timeless tunes as Bonnie Northgraves and her band brings his music to life, capturing the spirit and brilliance of his remarkable career. After Bonnie’s set and a brief intermission, enjoy one of the most beloved and revered of all jazz concert films, Bert Stern’s Jazz on a Summer’s Day.
About Jazz on a Summer’s Day (Bert Stern, 1959, 85 min)
Filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island and directed by world-renowned photographer Bert Stern, Jazz on a Summer’s Day features intimate performances by an all-star line-up of musical legends including Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O’Day, Chuck Berry, Dinah Washington, and closes with a beautiful rendition of The Lord’s Prayer by Mahalia Jackson at midnight to usher in Sunday morning. The film has been beautifully and extensively restored in 4K.
VIFF Live Ticket Pack: See three VIFF Live events for $80! Buy Ticket Pack
Gorgeous. Probably the best feature-length jazz concert movie ever made.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Filmed with a rare artistry, a rare attention to making images of music that are themselves musical.
Richard Brody, New Yorker
Co-Presented with
Bonnie Northgraves Quintet
Aug 10
2:00 pm
VIFF Centre, VIFF Cinema
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Harvey Kahn, Bert Stern, George Wein
Screenwriter
Albert D’Annibale, Arnold Per
Cinematography
Courtney Hesfela, Raymond Phelan, Bert Stern
Editor
Aram Avakian
Original Music
Elliot Gruskin
Production Design
Allan Green
Also Playing
Caravaggio
In the latest from Exhibition on Screen, co-directors David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky shed light not only on Caravaggio’s paintings, but his life, often kept half-hidden in the same chiaroscuro tones he shaded his masterpieces with.
Dracula
A bawdy (and then some) deconstruction of Romania's most potent IP, Radu Jude parodies the use of AI in filmmaking with his trademark acidic humour. It's about six films in one, and there's something to offend everyone.
Image: © Silviu Gheție
Half Moon: Kinan Azmeh
Syrian musician Kinan Azmeh questions how art and music can adequately confront the tragedy of war in this introspective documentary. A profound and celebratory meditation on art’s ability to build solidarity, community, and hope in the world.
How to Build a Library
Can a library be decolonized? How to Build a Library follows two visionary women on a quest to restore Nairobi’s McMillan Memorial Library and exorcise its colonial ghosts. A powerful documentary on archives, access, and reclaiming civic space.
Father
Inspired by real-life events of a man whose momentary lapse cost him everything, Father is a profoundly unsettling, devastating watch that doubles as a solemn, immaculately realized account of a tragedy of insurmountable proportions.
God Will Not Help
At the turn of the 20th century, a Chilean woman shows up in a remote Croatian community of shepherds, claiming to be the widow of the family’s eldest son. Deeply buried tensions start to surface among the distrustful clan.
Image: © Kinorama