Owsley Brown, A Filmmaker’s Journey

September 15–October 29, 2017

The local documentary maker presents his films reflecting on the power of music and the creative harmonies of our shared world.

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Serenade for Haiti
Music Makes a City
Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles

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Past Films

The Precious Treasury
- Sunday, October 29 4:15 PM
Owsley Brown
United States, 2008
Filmed across the mountains, plateaus, and sacred sites of Tibet, The Precious Treasury offers a meditation “rooted solely in sight and sound.” Edited by Nathaniel Dorsky. With short Offerings from Nangchen.

Owsley Brown in Person
Serenade for Haiti
- Friday, September 15 7:30 PM
- Sunday, September 24 3 PM
- Saturday, September 30 6:15 PM
- Sunday, October 8 2 PM
Owsley Brown
United States, 2016
Shot over a period of years both before and after Haiti’s deadly 2010 earthquake, this vibrant documentary testifies to the role of music in creating community and sustaining hope under the most difficult of circumstances.

Owsley Brown in Person (September 15 screening only)
Music Makes a City
- Sunday, September 17 4 PM
Owsley Brown, Jerome Hiler
United States, 2010
Discover the origins and work of the Louisville Orchestra, which grew from a city’s devastation to become a major center for contemporary music, in this beautifully made documentary. Narrated by indie icon Will Oldham.

Owsley Brown and Jerome Hiler in Person
Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles
- Saturday, September 16 7:30 PM
Owsley Brown
United States, 1999
The musical work of American expatriate writer Paul Bowles, who lived much of his life in Tangier, is explored in this evocative, globe-hopping documentary. With Nathaniel Dorsky’s short Triste.

Owsley Brown and Nathaniel Dorsky in Person

Owsley Brown, A Filmmaker’s Journey

September 15–October 29, 2017

Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Owsley Brown III has been based in San Francisco since 1993. Nonfiction filmmaking is one of his varied intellectual pursuits, along with his active roles as a civic leader in the arts and interfaith dialogue, a grower of sustainable wines in Mendocino County, and a businessperson and philanthropist. His journey as a filmmaker has involved him in small crews, where he is often the cinematographer, and larger productions where his talents as a director/producer allow him to assemble impressive creative teams. The subjects of his films have taken him to distant places. His works filmed in Tibet, The Precious Treasury and Offerings from Nangchen, present visually poetic records of his pilgrimages to the roof of the world. Serenade for Haiti, made over the course of a decade both before and after that country’s 2010 earthquake, is a thoughtful, uplifting documentary about the importance of musical education. Two other documentaries round out his music trilogy: Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles, filmed partly in Tangier, Morocco, where Brown interviewed Bowles; and Music Makes a City (codirected by Jerome Hiler), for which Brown returned to his hometown to tell the remarkable story of the Louisville Orchestra. A philosophical, almost meta-musical theme that runs through Brown’s cinema is a consideration of the harmonious relationships in our shared world, and an appreciation of natural, spiritual, and creative powers larger than humankind.

Susan Oxtoby, Senior Film Curator

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Thanks to Tina Tom, Christy McGill, and the team at Owsley Brown Presents for their assistance with this series.

Film Series Sponsors:

James B. & Rosalyn L. Pick