Round Midnight

(France/USA 1986)
Dir: Bertrand Tavernier
With Dexter Gordon, François Cluzet, Herbie Hancock

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of French cinema’s great love letter to jazz.
Dale Turner (played by real-life jazz legend Dexter Gordon) is a brilliant tenor saxophonist. His life in 1950s New York is falling apart due to severe alcoholism and drug addiction. Dale accepts a gig to play in Paris at the Blue Note club. In France, Black American musicians are treated with deep respect and valued for their humanity rather than judged by their skin color. The character of Dale Turner is a fictional composite based on real-life jazz greats Bud Powell and Lester Young. The story is adapted from Francis Paudras’s memoir, “Dance of the Infidels,” about his friendship with Powell.
Herbie Hancock composed and arranged the film’s magnificent score, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Score, while Dexter Gordon received an Academy Award nomination for his performance.
(133 min. English and French with Hebrew subtitles)

Israeli jazz saxophonist, composer, and music educator Tal Varon will give a short talk before the screening. Tal first watched ‘Round Midnight with his father as a teenager, and first heard its soundtrack when his classmates gave him a copy on cassette for his birthday.
Total duration approx. 155 minutes

The film is screened as part of Soundtrack’s collaboration with the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Jazz Festival. On Saturday, November 21st at 6pm a special listening session with Tal Varon will take place at the Oneaway Sound Room at Bijou (108 Allenby St., Har Sinai Alley, Tel Aviv).
The soundtrack for the film Round Midnight represents an intergenerational meeting of jazz giants. In this listening session, we will hear selected pieces representing the various streams that converge into this unique soundtrack – from earlier performances of the pieces, to earlier works by the musicians and creators who performed on the soundtrack, and, of course, selected tracks from the soundtrack itself. The session will offer participants an opportunity to gain a deeper appreciation of the background and the creative synergy that birthed this extraordinary soundtrack, for which musical director Herbie Hancock won an Academy Award.

Screenings

Sat 28.11, 15:00, Hall 1  |  Buy tickets

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