SEOUL — Blues fans are in for a treat this week in Seoul. A series of documentaries by acclaimed filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood and Wim Wenders will screen Tuesday through Sunday at the Seoul Art Cinema.
The seven films, produced by Scorsese, have been on traveling exhibit in a show titled “The Blues: Seven Documentaries.” The acclaimed series of films, most of which run just shorter than an hour and a half, has already traveled to Italy and France after debuting on PBS as a television series in the United States last year.
The series includes “Feel Like Going Home” by Scorsese and “Piano Blues,” by Eastwood, a blues piano devotee and player.
“The Soul of a Man,” by Wim Wenders, is a mix of biographies of popular blues singers and covers of their songs by such artists as Nick Cave, Los Lobos and Lou Reed. Wenders was also the filmmaker behind “Buena Vista Social Club,” the popular 1999 film about a group of legendary Cuban musicians reunited when most of them were in their 90s.
Taken as a whole, the films track the evolution of blues music from its roots as African labor music to a uniquely American art form and the foundation of rock, jazz and hip-hop.
The Seoul Art Cinema is located just north of Insadong, the popular shopping and café district near Gyeongbokgung Palace. To get to the theater, take either Subway Line 3 to Anguk Station or Subway Line 5 to Gwanghwamun.
The theater is about a 10-minute walk north of either stop, a block east of the National Folk Museum and next door to the Jungdok Public Library.
Tickets for all showings are 6,000 won (about $5) per film. For more information, call commercial 720-9782 or see an Internet listing at www.seoulselection.com.
