LOUIS TO PREMIERE WITH 5 CITY TOUR IN AUGUST

Cole Smithey

LOUIS TO PREMIERE WITH 5 CITY TOUR IN LATE AUGUST

ACCOMPANIED BY WYNTON MARSALIS,
CECILE LICAD
AND AN ALL-STAR JAZZ ENSEMBLE

LOUIS, a silent film directed by Dan Pritzker and starring Jackie Earle
Haley,
Shanti Lowry and Anthony Coleman, will premiere in US cities in late
August
with live musical accompaniment by Wynton Marsalis, renowned pianist
Cecile
Licad and a 10-piece all-star jazz ensemble, including Sherman Irby,
Victor
Goines, Marcus Printup, Ted Nash, Kurt Bacher, Vincent Gardner, Wycliffe
Gordon, Dan Nimmer, Carlos Henriquez, Ali Jackson, and conductor Andy
Farber. Marsalis will play a score comprised primarily of his own
compositions. Licad will play the music of 19th century American
composer L.M.
Gottschalk. The group will perform live with the film in a series
of special performances in New York City, Chicago, Washington
DC, Detroit, and Philadelphia August 25 – 31.Partial proceeds from
the five concerts will benefit Providence Saint Mel School in Chicago,
IL in
honor of Paul J. Adams III

Shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond
as a modern re-imagining of early silent film, LOUIS is
an homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, beautiful women
and the birth of American music. The grand Storyville bordellos, alleys
and cemeteries of 1907 New Orleans provide a backdrop of lust, blood and
magic
for 6 year old Louis (Anthony Coleman-pictured above; photo credit:
Peter
Sorel) as he navigates the colorful intricacies of life in the
city. Young
Louis's dreams of playing the
trumpet are interrupted by a chance meeting with a beautiful and
vulnerable
girl named Grace (Lowry) and her baby, Jasmine. Haley, in a
performance reminiscent of the great comic stars of the silent screen,
plays
the evil Judge Perry who is determined not to let Jasmine's true
heritage derail his candidacy for
governor.

"The idea of accompanying a silent film telling a mythical tale
of a young Louis Armstrong was appealing to me," says Marsalis
(pictured below; photo credit: Frank Stewart). "Of course, calling
it a silent film is a misnomer — there will be plenty of music, and
jazz
is like a conversation between the players so there'll
be no shortage of dialogue. I look forward to playing with Cecile. The
contrast between Gottschalk's music
and jazz can be a revelation to those unfamiliar with Gottschalk's music
and jazz."

"The combination of Cecile playing Gottschalk and Wynton and his
ensemble
playing jazz reflects the wide-ranging nature of the American musical
landscape," notes Pritzker. "LOUIS came about when I was writing
a screenplay about Buddy Bolden, the first jazz trumpeter of New
Orleans, and I took my mom to see Chaplin's 'City
Lights' with the Chicago Symphony
performing the score. It was without a doubt the best movie experience I
ever
had. The challenge of trying to tell a story visually, without dialogue,
was compelling. I thought that if I was going to shoot one film, I might
as well try to shoot two — the second being a silent film that picked
up where
BOLDEN ended. And it put Vilmos and me on even footing — he'd never
made a silent film before either."

LOUIS is a companion piece to Pritzker's
BOLDEN, starring Anthony Mackie, Wendell Pierce and Lowry. BOLDEN will
be
released theatrically in 2011.