Big Ears Festival teams up with filmmakers and curators Lily Keber and Zac Manuel to present a full docket of feature-length films and shorts for the 2024 festival, returning to the Regal Riviera in downtown Knoxville.

Music is an integral component of any piece of cinema. This year’s film program is an ode to all that music and cinema together can unlock; the intricacies of the human experience, the complexities of love and loss, the emotional depths of sickness and healing, and the transformative power of creation. This curation of films explores the remarkable story behind the creation of 1990’s psychedelic rock, the sonic innovations of Detroit techno, the untold histories of Black Appalachia, and the mythos of Americana through archetypal interpretations of cowboy iconography and real life pioneers. These intersections of cultural histories and personal narratives depict the interconnectedness of our lives, both here on earth and in realms beyond.

Many of the films will have Q&As with the artists and directors following the screenings, including King Britt (God Said Give Em’ Drum Machines), John Medeski and Billy Martin (Not Not Jazz), and Charles Lloyd (Charles Lloyd: Arrows Into Infinity) among many others.

Artist Talk:Henry Threadgill in Conversation

Saturday, March 23 at 2:15 p.m.

In addition to screening Pulitzer-prize winning composer and musician Henry Threadgill’s film The Other One, he will discuss his beautiful new autobiography Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music—a riveting account of the music scene in Chicago in the 1960s, his experiences as a Black soldier in Vietnam, and the plethora of ensembles he has led. He’ll be joined by Brent Hayes Edwards, co-author of the book.

Artist Talk:Deconstructing the Soundtrack with Blake Leyh

Saturday, March 23 at 10 a.m.

As part of our Big Ears 2024 Film Program we’re pleased to have Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated composer, music supervisor, music producer, and sound designer Blake Leyh with us for an artist talk titled “Deconstructing the Soundtrack.”

With exclusive film clips from his forty-year career in film sound and music, Leyh shows how techniques from experimental music can be applied to film soundtracks, creating unique sound-music fusions. Excerpts from films as varied as State of Grace (1990), Sick (1997), Shadow (2018), and Neptune Frost (2021) demonstrate applications of subjective musical sound design practice. Practical examples of time distortion, reality splicing, and culture jamming with electric cello, underwater field recordings, and extended audio processing of The Real.

Last Chance to have Wristbands Mailed!

Any orders for passes placed after this Saturday, March 9, assuming passes are still available at that time, will have to be picked up on-site at the festival box office. Order before then to have your passes shipped in advance and head straight to your first shows when you arrive in Knoxville! Purchase your pass today.