Emerging from the scorched plains and migrant routes of Depression-era America, Woody Guthrie was one of the most influential folk singers of his generation, inspiring the likes of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Known for anthems like "This Land Is Your Land," and with the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists" defiantly emblazoned on his guitar, Guthrie journeyed from Oklahoma to Los Angeles to New York City. There, a transformative relationship with prominent Yiddish poet and future mother-in-law Aliza Greenblatt cultivated a whole other side of the artist, connecting him to Jewish history and culture. Guthrie, who once had zero knowledge of Hanukkah or Passover, now wrote songs about latkes, borscht, and the Holocaust. Drawing on a wealth of archival footage and invaluable insight from family, collaborators, and contemporaries, director Steven Pressman crafts a cross-cultural dialogue. Tracing a striking kinship between displaced American and Jewish refugees, in his latest documentary, Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls: Another Side of Woody Guthrie, Bay Area filmmaker Steve Pressman unearths Guthrie's evolution from Dust Bowl balladeer to a rebellious, world-class coalition-building artist.
Director/producer Steven Pressman and associate producer/co-writer Lisa Stark will attend the screening.
And before the film screening, The LewNer Family Singers will perform selected songs from the Woody Guthrie songbook and his contemporaries.
This screening is sponsored by the Nancy P. & Richard K. Robbins Family Foundation, with additional support provided by the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation.
30.00.
Presented by San Francisco Jewish Film Festival