An Ezra Jack hang out – a juke box with the entire history of Memphis soul behind the smudged glasss.

MEMPHIS is bathed in natural light, the frame alive, yet the camera movement and montage purposeful, graceful and undeniably disciplined. The below imagery, from artists such as William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Philip de Lorca, Robert Frank, Todd Hido, Gus Van Sant, Bruno Dumont, Clair Denis, Ezra Jack (yep) Keats and others – forecasts the film’s elegant, otherworldly yet entirely natural look.

Memphis is a cursed city – a legendary place home to immeasurable amounts of soul, but suffering a decay that many say is impossible to stop.  Ghosts inhabit the crumbling spaces and a million stories sit quietly behind the faces – waiting to sing the gospel or whisper secrets about the past, the present, and a future that is simply mystery. Take a closer look: MEMPHIS!

Memphis is a cursed city – a legendary place home to immeasurable amounts of soul, but suffering a decay that many say is impossible to stop.  Ghosts inhabit the crumbling spaces and a million stories sit quietly behind the faces – waiting to sing the gospel or whisper secrets about the past, the present, and a future that is simply mystery. Take a closer look: MEMPHIS!

San Servolo Island was once home to both devout religious monks and then, years later, a nest for the mentally insane. Now it is home to both – filmmakers from around the world who are collaborating on 15 incredible (insane?) film projects with as much passion and spirituality and insanity that the monks and former patients of the asylum would surely be proud. Or scared. Or both. Thus far for me and John, developing MEMPHIS has been exciting and exhausting. Making friends with the rest of the crews – from Israel, Phillipines, Thailand, Spain, Lebanon and beyond has been pretty thrilling. Inspiring too. Let’s see where it goes.

Establishing its own sense of rhythm and time through an observational eye and an ear for quiet meditation, MEMPHIS follows the transformation of Ezra Jack from beloved soul singer to unraveling ecstatic. Steeped in ethereal folklore, soul music, urban decay, and the abstract rhythms of life and death, MEMPHIS is a story that subtly gazes upon one man reaching into the darkness in the hope for salvation and rebirth.