Film Screening & Director Talk "The Blues Society" with director Augusta Palmer

THE BLUES SOCIETY is a re-evaluation of the 1960s seen through the lens of the Memphis Country Blues Festival (1966-1969). It’s the story of Blues masters like Furry Lewis and Robert Wilkins, who had attained fame in the 1920s but were living in obscurity by the 1960s. It’s also the story of a group of white artists from the North and the South who created a celebration of African American music in a highly segregated city. THE BLUES SOCIETY follows the festival from its start in 1966 as an impromptu happening up to the 1969 Festival, which mushroomed into a 3-day event and garnered substantial print and television coverage - including an appearance on Steve Allen’s national PBS show, Sounds of Summer. Drawing on stunning archival footage, sparkling animation, and interviews with organizers, participants, concertgoers and contemporary commentary from writer Jamey Hatley, sociologist Zandria Robinson and musician Dom Flemons, the film asks, “What is the legacy of the Memphis Country Blues Festival, and why do the Blues matter today?”

Fort Greene resident & director Augusta Palmer is a filmmaker and scholar who has created award-winning fiction, experimental, and documentary films. Her father, Robert Palmer, was one of the founding members of the Memphis Country Blues Society and became the first Pop Music Editor at The New York Times. Augusta Palmer earned a Ph. D. in Cinema Studies from New York University and is Associate Professor in the Media & Communication department at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York. Palmer’s media work has been funded by the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Register at Info desk on day of event. Limit of 25 attendees.