The Reel History of Deep Ellum

Tomorrow night, Frank Campagna's Kettle Art in Deep Ellum will play host to a singular event: a retrospective of films made in and about -- where else? -- Deep Ellum. The lineup encompasses both past and present, with such offerings as historian Alan Govenar's 1985 film Deep Ellum Blues (a...

By Robert Wilonsky

January 4, 2008

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Tomorrow night, Frank Campagna's Kettle Art in Deep Ellum will play host to a singular event: a retrospective of films made in and about -- where else? -- Deep Ellum. The lineup encompasses both past and present, with such offerings as historian Alan Govenar's 1985 film Deep Ellum Blues (a 12-minute short that "explores the 1920s and 1930s night life in Dallas through the music of Bill Neely"), a short history of the neighborhood that award-winning doc-maker Mark Birnbaum made for the Old Red Courthouse Museum and myriad other music videos, film clips and short movies about this historic 'hood from the likes of Amy Talkington, Hal Samples, Kevin Nash, Tiffany Kieran and Campagna hisself.

Doors open at 7 p.m.; show starts at 8. And admission's absolutely free. Alas, doesn't look like anyone's dug up Ninth Life, that 1991 made-in-Deep-Ellum feature-length murder mystery starring Kim Pendleton and Matthew Posey; damn, I have a copy somewhere. Ah, one day. Also, after the jump, another short about Deep Ellum, this one a 1991 offering from local filmmaker Phil Lee, featuring the late, great Big Al Dupree. Among those interviewed is an old departed friend: former Observer music editor Alex Magocsi. --Robert Wilonsky

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