3rd i co-presents at Mill Valley Film Festival

upajUPAJ: IMPROVISE

Sat, Oct 12, 12:45pm @ Rafael 1
Sun, Oct 13, 2:45pm @ Throckmorton Theater

Two very different artists share an uncommon bond through dance in this warm, fascinating account of the unlikely collaboration between 64-year-old Indian Kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das and 28-year-old African American tap sensation Jason Samuels Smith. Each carries a torch for the art form he loves: Das, struggling to maintain a place for classical Kathak dance, a storytelling art now eclipsed by Bollywood and commercial mass culture; and Samuels Smith, embracing a tradition epitomized for him by legendary entertainer Gregory Hines, who died before meeting the young Samuels Smith at the latter’s L.A. Tap Festival in 2003. As the two embark on a 2009 tour of the subcontinent called Indian Jazz Suites, the stage becomes the vibrant middle ground for respective traditions, buoyant personalities, high hopes and blazing footwork. Onstage and off, director Hoku Uchiyama’s camera is an intimate partner, capturing a unique friendship with the capacity to thrill, inspire and teach many life-sustaining things about the art of improvisation.

The Mill Valley Film Festival runs October 3-13, 2013.For more info on the festival, and to purchase tickets, please visit the Mill Valley Film Festival website.

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