University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

NEWS RELEASE

CSUN’s Cinematheque To Screen Landmark
Documentary ‘A Great Day in Harlem’

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Feb. 8, 2007) — A shot taken in 1958 for Esquire Magazine by first-time photographer Art Kane captured history.

The photograph, entitled A Great Day in Harlem, is more like a class picture than anything else. It archives a rare gathering of some of jazz’s greatest performing legends including Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Count Basie and dozens of others.

In 1994, director Jean Bach produced a film documentary to chronicle the making of the famous photograph. The public is invited to a free screening of this film, also entitled A Great Day in Harlem, on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in Cal State Northridge’s Armer Theater.

The screening, part of CSUN’s Cinematheque’s Black History Month celebration, is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. in the theater located in Northridge’s Manzanita Hall on the southwest corner of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St.

A question and answer session will follow the movie. Among those scheduled to participate are Fred Johnson, general manager of public radio station KCSN 88.5-FM, photojournalist Kent Kirkton, chair of CSUN’s Department of Journalism, and jazz historian Gordon Goodwin.

A Great Day in Harlem was a labor of love Bach, a jazz fan. The documentary is filled with countless anecdotes about the elements of the photograph and the effort that went into taking it—from why Thelonious Monk wore a light coat and positioned himself next to Marian McPartland and Mary Lou Williams … to why Count Basie sat on the curb next to a group of children. It also features music by many of the artists in the photograph.

Cal State Northridge’s Cinematheque is an innovative film screening program housed in the Alan and Elaine Armer Theater, a state-of-the-art, 130-seat motion picture theater. The only venue of its kind in the San Fernando Valley, the Cinematheque presents thematically designed retrospectives of classic films as well as aesthetically significant contemporary releases in conjunction with the appearance of featured guest artists for lectures and panel discussions.

For a complete list of the Cinematheque’s spring 2007 offerings, visit its Web site http://www.cinematheque.csun.edu/. For more information about the CSUN Cinematheque, call the Department of Cinema and Television Arts at (818) 677-3192.