The 36th Annual Anchorage Folk Festival

A double Feature at the Wendy!
Sunday, November 17, 2024

Roots of Fire has the power to make you a fan of Cajun music for life, while also making you more of a fan of life itself.”

—Michael Talbot-Haynes, FilmThreat

The 78 Project grabs American music by the roots.”

USA Today

Anchorage Folk Festival presents a Double Feature Fall Film Festival in our home venue, the Wendy Williamson Auditorium at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. This event will support the main event, our two-week festival in January! The films are both documentaries about music, culture, and history. It begins with Roots of Fire at 6pm and continues (after a 20-minute intermission) at 7:45pm with The 78 Project Movie. Watch closely, and you’ll see one of our 2025 guest artists in both films!

Admission is $15 for the double feature and $7.50 (half price!) with any valid student ID (UAA or ASD). Tickets are available for purchase at MyAlaskaTix.com.

The Wendy Williamson Auditorium is located at 2533 Providence Drive on the campus of University of Alaska, Anchorage.

Read on for more film details and links to trailers and websites. We are deeply grateful to the producers of these two films for allowing us to show them!

Tickets will also be available at the door.

The battle to revive dying tradition comes to life through the young musicians of Southwest Louisiana in this powerful musical documentary. Amidst shuttered rural dance clubs and encroaching globalization, five Grammy award-winning artists lend their voices, examine the discrimination that almost erased their customs, and share the unique sounds created when the forces of fresh talent and deep history collide to fight for cultural survival.

When Abby Berendt Lavoi and husband Jeremey Lavoi started their Roots of Fire project, and more specifically what would become this feature-length documentary, they say, “we were incredibly interested in ethnicity in the world of Louisiana French music, particularly the areas where Cajun and Zydeco music blend, diverge, and how racial history in Louisiana influenced that. We also had a lot of interest in how Native Americans influenced Louisiana French music.”

official trailer for the documentary 'Roots of Fire' on YouTube Featuring electrifying performances, this vibrant documentary examines the intersection between music and preserving tradition for future generations. Folk festival fans will recognize musicians who have graced our stage and the Alaska Folk Festival stage too.

Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. Learn more about the film at its official website: www.rootsoffire.com/aboutthedoc


Featuring:
Joel Savoy Jourdan Thibodeaux Kristi Guillory Wilson Savoy Kelli Jones (K.C. Jones)


With music from:
Jourdan Thibodeaux et les Rôdailleurs Feufollet Pine Leaf Boys T’monde Bonsoir, Catin

Our second feature, The 78 Project Movie, will begin at 7:45pm (after a 20-minute break) and partners beautifully with the first. You’ve never seen or heard anything like this before!

Inspired by the field recordings of Alan Lomax, director/producer Alex Steyermark and producer/recordist Lavinia Jones Wright created The 78 Project, an ongoing documentary journey to record today’s musicians with yesterday’s technology. Using just one microphone, an authentic 1930s Presto direct-to-disc recorder, and a blank lacquer disc, the musicians are invited to cut a record anywhere they choose. The result is an artifact—a 78rpm record—and a new connection to our cultural legacy. 78 Project participant Rosanne Cash called the experience “time-travel.”

Along the way, a kaleidoscope of technologists, historians and craftsmen from every facet of field recording—Grammy-winning producers, 78 collectors, curators from the Library of Congress and Smithsonian—provide insights and history. In Tennessee, Mississippi, California, and Louisiana, the folk singers, punk rockers, and Gospel and Cajun singers share their lives through intimate performances, and find in that adventure a new connection to our cultural legacy. The 78 Project Movie is a documentary of the project’s travels and recordings between August 2012 and September 2013 and has been called “part road movie, part concert film, and part journey through the past.”

official trailer for the documentary 'The 78 Project Movie' on YouTubeRunning time: 1 hour 35 minutes. Learn more about the film and project at its official website: the78project.com/the-78-project-movie/

Featuring:
Todd Harvey Library of Congress, Washington, DC Jeff Place Smithsonian, Washington, DC Matt Barton Brad McCoy Library of Congress, Culpeper, Virginia Richard Matthews Leeds Radio, Brooklyn, New York Wayne Cory Apollo Masters, Banning, California Joe Bussard Frederick, Maryland Bob Saliba Randolph, New Jersey Alan Graves Port Tobacco, Maryland


With musical performances by:
The Reverend John Wilkins Como, Mississippi Louis Michot, Corey Ledet, & Ashlee Michot Arnaudville, Louisiana Victoria Williams Los Angeles, California John Doe Fairfax, California Dawn Landes Brooklyn, New York Holly Williams w/ Chris Coleman Nashville, Tennessee John Reilly & Tom Brosseau Pasadena, California Gaby Moreno & Adam Levy Los Angeles, California Jaron Lanier Berkeley, California Ella Mae Bowen Franklin, Tennessee Dylan LeBlanc Franklin, Tennessee Coati Mundi Murrieta, California The Bo-Keys w/ Percy Wiggins Memphis, Tennessee John Paul Keith Memphis, Tennessee Ben Vaughn Wonder Valley, California Sea of Bees Sacramento, California The Easy Leaves Santa Rosa, California Little Wings Topanga Canyon, California