How Sweet the Sound: The Blind Boys of Alabama
Host sponsor – Main Street Landing
Directed by Leslie McCleave
USA ⎮ 2017 ⎮ Documentary ⎮ 89 min ⎮ Open Captions & Audio Description*
Film Source: Filmmaker
***Followed by a Q&A with director Leslie McCleave***
Start your Sunday with some gospel!
Filmed over the course of ten years, How Sweet the Sound is the first film to tell the story of this legendary gospel quartet. The Blind Boys of Alabama met as children in the 1930’s at a state-run segregated vocational school and would become one of the last great gospel quartets, traversing the famed “gospel highway” and beyond. As the surviving band members recount their unlikely success story, we see a rare, frank view of life on and off the road with these renowned performers, now in their 70s and 80s. Combining vérité footage shot over ten years with current and archival performances, the film examines the past, present and future of this group, winners of six Grammys and, in 2009, a Lifetime Achievement Award.
* If you require audio description please let us know 1 week in advance of the screening as there is a limited number of devices at Film House.
This event is part of Global Roots Film Festival: Disability.