Followed by a conversation with Director John Whitehead.
A documentary portrait of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a string band from Raleigh, North Carolina, and their mentor, fiddler Joe Thompson (1919—2012). The film captures how three African-Americans from the hip-hop generation embraced a 19th-century genre and took it to new heights, winning a Grammy in 2010. The story of the band’s meteoric rise, from busking on the street to playing major festivals, is punctuated and informed by the history of the banjo’s origins in Africa, and the untold story of how blacks and whites collaborated to create the earliest forms of American popular music.
FIRST THURSDAYS @ THE CAPRI
A series of films presented in partnership with the Capri Theater on the first Thursday of every month, with speakers invited to lead post-film discussions with audiences.
Browse First Thursday @ the Capri Films