Ira Sachs (born November 21, 1965) is an American filmmaker . Sachs started his career directing short films such as Vaudeville (1991) and Lady (1993) before making his feature film debut with The Delta (1997). Sachs later won acclaim for his dramatic independent films Forty Shades of Blue (2005), Keep the Lights On (2012), Love Is Strange (2014), Little Men (2016), and Passages (2023).
85-836: Sachs was born in Memphis, Tennessee . His father grew up in Park City, Utah . Sachs frequently attended the Sundance Film Festival when it was titled, The U.S. Film Festival in the 1980s. In 1986 he spent a few months in Paris as a student. Sachs attended Yale University and graduated in 1988 with a degree in literature, with a focus in film studies and film theory. Sachs said he applied to film school at University of Southern California , UCLA and NYU who all rejected him. He moved to New York City in 1988. Sachs stated, "The first thing I did in 1989 when I came to New York
170-611: A "blueprint" for future incidents of police brutality nationwide. The incident also resulted in the disbanding of the city's "SCORPION" unit, which had been mandated with directly combating the most violent crimes in the city. All the officers charged with involvement in Nichols's death were members of the unit. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 324.0 square miles (839.2 km ), of which 315.1 square miles (816.0 km )
255-484: A biographical documentary film based on Ebert's 2011 memoir titled as Life Itself: A Memoir on 19 January 2014. The festival introduced a new film category titled Sundance Kids , which will help to introduce independent films to a younger generation of audiences. It is also a first category at the festival dedicated to children's films. The festival also hosted several events and discussion panels around themes of success through failure titled Free Fail , which included
340-630: A focal point of Spanish activity until, as Holmes summarizes: [T]he Treaty of San Lorenzo or Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 [implemented in March 1797], [had as its result that] all of the careful, diplomatic work by Spanish officials in Louisiana and West Florida , which has succeeded for a decade in controlling the Indians [e.g., the Choctaws ], was undone. The United States gained the right to navigate
425-571: A historic music scene . With blues clubs on Beale Street originating the unique Memphis blues sound, the city has been nicknamed the "Home of the Blues". Its music has continued to be shaped by a multicultural mix of influences: country , rock and roll , soul , and hip-hop . The city is home to a major professional sports team , the Grizzlies of the NBA . Other attractions include Graceland ,
510-563: A large territory in the Southeast. French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , and Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto encountered the historic Chickasaw in this area in the 16th century. J. D. L. Holmes, writing in Hudson's Four Centuries of Southern Indians (2007), notes that this site was a third strategic point in the late 18th century through which European powers could control United States encroachment beyond
595-502: A long-time male couple, one of whom has an affair with a woman. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Sachs film calling it a return to form. Bradshaw compared the film to the works of Eric Rohmer , Woody Allen and Nora Ephron and declared, "Sachs strikes gold with sophisticated love triangle". The film received controversy for the Motion Picture Association giving the film an NC-17 rating. Sachs called
680-503: A man who wanted to help the Alzheimer's patient with music. Frank , comedy about a young musician, starring Michael Fassbender . 20,000 Days on Earth , a documentary narrating a day in the life of Nick Cave including cameos by Kylie Minogue and Ray Winstone . Also the closing night film of the festival Rudderless , told the story of a father who formed a rock and roll band to perform his late son's music. The awards ceremony
765-808: A substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis has been a natural location for human settlement by varying indigenous cultures over thousands of years. In the first millennium A.D. people of the Mississippian culture were prominent; the culture influenced a network of communities throughout the Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries. The hierarchical societies built complexes with large earthwork ceremonial and burial mounds as expressions of their sophisticated culture. The Chickasaw people, believed to be their descendants, later inhabited this site and
850-674: A yellow fever outbreak, 20,000 residents fled the city. The ensuing panic left the poverty-stricken, the working classes, and the African-American community at the most risk from the epidemic. Those who remained relied on volunteers from religious and physician organizations to tend to the sick. By the end of the year, more than 5,000 were confirmed dead in Memphis. The New Orleans health board listed "not less than 4,600" dead. The Mississippi Valley recorded 120,000 cases of yellow fever, with 20,000 deaths. The $ 15 million in losses caused by
935-542: A young Russian woman living in Memphis with an aging music producer who comes to question her life when his adult son comes to visit. The film was influenced by the films of Ken Loach and Satyajit Ray . The film won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize . He followed up with the period drama film Married Life (2007) based on John Bingham 's 1953 novel Five Roundabouts to Heaven . The film starred Chris Cooper , Patricia Clarkson , Pierce Brosnan , and Rachel McAdams . The film received mixed reviews. He directed
SECTION 10
#17327981689001020-421: Is FedEx , which maintains its global air hub at Memphis International Airport . In 2021, Memphis was the world's second-busiest cargo airport. The International Port of Memphis also hosts the fifth-busiest inland water port in the U.S. The Globalization and World Cities Research Network considers Memphis a "Sufficiency" level global city as of 2020. Memphis is a center for media and entertainment, notably
1105-852: Is a national transportation hub and Mississippi River crossing for Interstate 40 , (east-west), Interstate 55 (north-south), barge traffic, Memphis International Airport ( FedEx's "SuperHub" facility ) and numerous freight railroads that serve the city. 2014 Sundance Film Festival The 2014 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in Park City, Utah , United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City , Ogden , and Sundance Resort in Utah . The festival opened with Whiplash directed by Damien Chazelle and closed with musical drama Rudderless directed by William H. Macy . The festival honored late Roger Ebert and premiered Life Itself by Steve James ,
1190-567: Is land and 9.0 square miles (23.2 km ), or 2.76%, is water. Downtown Memphis rises from a bluff along the Mississippi River . The city and metro area spread out through suburbanization, and encompass southwest Tennessee, northern Mississippi , and eastern Arkansas . Several large parks were founded in the city in the early 20th century, notably Overton Park in Midtown and the 4,500-acre (18 km ) Shelby Farms . The city
1275-581: Is strange." Sachs received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for his work. With 2019 drama film, Frankie Sachs cast Isabelle Huppert , Brendan Gleeson and reunited with Greg Kinnear and Marisa Tomei. The film revolves around an elderly French actress who is in ill health and she decides to spend her last vacation with her family. The film premiered at 2019 Cannes Film Festival . In his mixed review, film critic Owen Gleiberman of Variety compared it to
1360-569: The American Civil Rights Movement . Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 after activities supporting a strike by the city's maintenance workers. The National Civil Rights Museum was established there and is a Smithsonian affiliate institution. Since the civil rights era, Memphis has become one of the nation's leading commercial centers in transportation and logistics . The largest employer
1445-618: The Memphis Pyramid , Sun Studio , the Blues Hall of Fame and Stax Museum of American Soul Music . Memphis-style barbecue has achieved international prominence, and the city hosts the annual World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest , which attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year. Higher-level educational institutions include the University of Memphis , Christian Brothers University and Rhodes College . Occupying
1530-771: The Mississippi River and won control over the Yazoo Strip north of the thirty-first parallel. The Spanish dismantled the fort, shipping its lumber and iron to their locations in Arkansas. In 1796, the site became the westernmost point of the newly admitted state of Tennessee, in what was then called the Southwest United States. The area was still largely occupied and controlled by the Chickasaw nation. Captain Isaac Guion led an American force down
1615-641: The Treaty of Tuscaloosa , signed in October 1818 and ratified by Congress on January 7, 1819, the Chickasaw ceded their territory in Western Tennessee to the United States . The city of Memphis was founded less than five months after the U.S. takeover of the territory, on May 22, 1819 (incorporated December 19, 1826), by John Overton , James Winchester and Andrew Jackson . They named it after
1700-634: The Twin Cities on the Mississippi River. The Memphis metropolitan area includes West Tennessee and the greater Mid-South region , which includes portions of neighboring Arkansas , Mississippi and the Missouri Bootheel . One of the more historic and culturally significant cities of the Southern United States , Memphis has a wide variety of landscapes and distinct neighborhoods . The first European explorer to visit
1785-628: The ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River . From the city's foundation onwards, African Americans formed large proportion of Memphis' population. Prior to the abolition of slavery in the United States , most Black people in Memphis were enslaved, being used as forced labor by white enslavers along the river or on outlying cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta . The city's demographics changed dramatically in
SECTION 20
#17327981689001870-572: The 1850s and 1860s, due to waves of immigration and domestic migration. Due to increased immigration since the 1840s and the Great Famine , Irish Americans made up 9.9% of the population in 1850, but 23.2% by 1860, when the total population was 22,623. Tennessee seceded from the Union in June 1861, and Memphis briefly became a Confederate stronghold. Union ironclad gunboats captured it in
1955-453: The 1880s Memphis led the nation in sanitary reform and improvements. Perhaps the most significant effect of yellow fever on Memphis was in demographic changes. Nearly all of Memphis's upper and middle classes vanished, depriving the city of its general leadership and class structure that dictated everyday life, similar to that in other large Southern cities, such as New Orleans , Charleston, South Carolina , and Atlanta, Georgia . In Memphis,
2040-585: The 1960s, the city was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement , as its large African-American population had been affected by state segregation practices and disenfranchisement in the early 20th century. African-American residents drew from the civil rights movement to improve their lives. In 1968, the Memphis sanitation strike began for living wages and better working conditions; the workers were overwhelmingly African American. They marched to gain public awareness and support for their plight:
2125-538: The 20th century, with four lynchings between 1900 and the lynching of Thomas Williams in 1928. A Tennessee Powder Company built an explosives powder plant to make TNT and gunpowder on a 6,000-acre site in Millington in 1940. The plant was built to make smokeless gunpowder for the British Armed Forces during World War II . In May 1941, DuPont (1802–2017) took over the plant, changed the name to
2210-520: The 30th anniversary of the festival since its foundation in 1981 by Robert Redford . In celebration of 30th anniversary of the festival, the screening of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades took place at the festival. Some of the films which were shown are Beasts of the Southern Wild , Fruitvale Station , Little Miss Sunshine , An Education , Sex, Lies, and Videotape , Reservoir Dogs , The Cove , Hedwig and
2295-498: The 8,161 short films submitted, 66 were selected (59 more than for the 2013 Festival). There were 54 directors, who made their directorial debut at the festival, 35 of whom have films in competition. Sixteen films were selected each for the U.S. Dramatic and U.S. Documentary competition sections, and twelve films each for the World Cinema Dramatic and World Cinema Documentary sections. This year's festival marked
2380-600: The Alfred P. Sloan Jury, which will also take part in the Science in Film Forum Panel, were announced on January 9, 2014. Presenters of awards are followed by asterisks: Others who presented awards included Felicity Huffman , William H. Macy and Nick Offerman . For a full list of films appeared at the festival, see List of films at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival . The number of seats available at
2465-625: The Angry Inch , An Inconvenient Truth , Precious and Napoleon Dynamite . An Artist at the Table event was also hosted at the 30th anniversary of the festival, which was attended by Festival board members, patrons and artists visiting the festival including Mark Ruffalo , Katie Couric and Doug Aitken . Music was major part of the festival. Most of the movies in the festival had musical themes. The opening night film Whiplash used music to explore human nature and identity. God Help
2550-740: The Appalachians and their interference with Indian matters—after Fort Nogales (present-day Vicksburg ) and Fort Confederación (present-day Epes, Alabama ): "Chickasaw Bluffs, located on the Mississippi River at the present-day location of Memphis. Spain and the United States vied for control of this site, which was a favorite of the Chickasaws." In 1795 the Spanish Governor-General of Louisiana , Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet , sent his lieutenant governor, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos , to negotiate and secure consent from
2635-624: The Chickasaw Ordnance Works, and produced powder for the United States Armed Forces . There were 8,000 employees. The plant was dismantled after the war in 1946. From the 1910s to the 1950s, Memphis was a place of machine politics under the direction of E. H. "Boss" Crump . He gained a state law in 1911 to establish a small commission to manage the city. The city retained a form of commission government until 1967 and patronage flourished under Crump. Per
Ira Sachs - Misplaced Pages Continue
2720-529: The French newspaper Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip , and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages. As a Director Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee . It is the county seat of Shelby County , in
2805-515: The Girl , a coming of age drama with musical theme directed by Stuart Murdoch . Memphis starring musician Willis Earl Beal as an artist. Australian musician Flea appears in Low Down , a biopic about American jazz pianist Joe Albany . Only Lovers Left Alive follows a musician and his lover while his world is collapsing down. Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory , a documentary about
2890-766: The Lights On as a semi-autobiographical film. In January 2012, Sachs married artist Boris Torres in New York city, a few days before their twins were born. Sachs and Torres co-parent the children with documentary cinematographer and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson , who bore them. He appeared in the German documentary Wie ich lernte die Zahlen zu lieben / How I Learned to Love the Numbers (2014) by Oliver Sechting and Max Taubert. In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Sachs signed an open letter published in
2975-585: The Ohio River to claim the land, arriving on July 20, 1797. By this time, the Spanish had departed. The fort's ruins went unnoticed 20 years later when Memphis was laid out as a city after the United States government paid the Chickasaw for land. At the beginning of the century, as recognized by the United States in 1786 Treaty of Hopewell , the land still belonged to the Chickasaw Nation . In
3060-622: The Sylvers , Jay Reatard , Zach Myers , and Aretha Franklin . On December 23, 1988, a tanker truck hauling liquefied propane crashed at the I-40/I-240 interchange in Midtown and exploded , starting multiple vehicle and structural fires. Nine people were killed and ten were injured. It was one of Tennessee's deadliest motor vehicle accidents and eventually led to the reconstruction of the interchange where it occurred. On June 2, 2021,
3145-401: The altercations, which were described as "heinous" and showed "a total lack of regard for human life", according to Memphis police chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis. The officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and other crimes. The relatively rapid dismissal and prosecution of the offending officers were favorably perceived by Nichols's family, and Davis called it
3230-679: The area annexed was slightly smaller than first proposed. In 1893 the city was rechartered with home rule , which restored its ability to enact taxes. The state legislature established a cap rate. Although the commission government was retained and enlarged to five commissioners, Democratic politicians regained control from the business elite. The commission form of government was believed effective in getting things done, but because all positions were elected at-large , requiring them to gain majority votes, this practice reduced representation by candidates representing significant minority political interests. In terms of its economy, Memphis developed as
3315-463: The area of present-day Memphis was Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto in 1541. The high Chickasaw Bluffs protecting the location from the waters of the Mississippi was contested by European settlers as Memphis developed. By 1819, when modern Memphis was founded, it was part of the United States territory. John Overton , James Winchester , and Andrew Jackson founded the city. Based on
3400-544: The black settlement was left in ruins. Two whites were killed in the riot. Many blacks permanently fled Memphis afterward, especially as the Freedmen's Bureau continued to have difficulty in protecting them. Their population fell to about 15,000 by 1870, 37.4% of the total population of 40,226. Historian Barrington Walker suggests that the Irish rioted against blacks because of their relatively recent arrival as immigrants and
3485-741: The city has a majority African-American population. Memphis is well known for its cultural contributions to the identity of the American South . Many renowned musicians grew up in and around Memphis and moved to Chicago and other areas from the Mississippi Delta , carrying their music with them to influence other cities and listeners over radio airwaves. Former and current Memphis residents include musicians Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , Muddy Waters , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash , Robert Johnson , W. C. Handy , Bobby Whitlock , B.B. King , Howlin' Wolf , Isaac Hayes , Booker T. Jones , Eric Gales , Al Green , Alex Chilton , Three 6 Mafia ,
Ira Sachs - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-496: The city population. The Union Army's presence attracted many fugitive slaves who had escaped from surrounding rural plantations. So many sought protection behind Union lines that the Army set up contraband camps to accommodate them. Memphis's black population increased from 3,000 in 1860, when the total population was 22,623, to nearly 20,000 in 1865, with most settling south of the city limits. The rapid demographic changes added to
3655-482: The city were the lower classes, such as German and Irish immigrant workers and African Americans. None had the means to flee the city, as did the middle and upper-class whites of Memphis, and thus they were subjected to a city of death. Immediately following the Board of Health's declaration, a Citizen's Relief Committee was formed by Charles G. Fisher. It organized the city into refugee camps. The committee's main priority
3740-493: The city. A massive panic ensued. The same trains and steamboats that had brought thousands into Memphis, in five days carried away more than 25,000 refugees, more than half of the city's population. On August 23, the Board of Health finally declared a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, and the city collapsed, hemorrhaging its population. In July of that year, the city had a population of 47,000; by September, 19,000 remained, and 17,000 of them had yellow fever. The only people left in
3825-551: The country to come home. Though yellow fever cases were recorded in the pages of Elmwood Cemetery's burial record as late as February 29, 1874, the epidemic seemed quieted. The Board of Health declared the epidemic at an end after it had caused over 20,000 deaths and financial losses of nearly $ 200 million. On November 27, a general citizen's meeting was called at the Greenlaw Opera House to offer thanks to those who had stayed behind to serve, of whom many had died. Over
3910-614: The danger of their work, and the struggles to support families with their low pay. Their drive for better pay had been met with resistance by the city government. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , known for his leadership in the non-violent movement, came to lend his support to the workers' cause. King stayed at the Lorraine Motel in the city, and was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968,
3995-526: The day after giving his I've Been to the Mountaintop speech at the Mason Temple . After learning of King's murder, many African Americans in the city rioted, looting and destroying businesses and other facilities, some by arson. The governor ordered Tennessee National Guardsmen into the city within hours, where small, roving bands of rioters continued to be active. Fearing the violence, more of
4080-567: The disease carried by river passengers traveling by ships along the waterways. During the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878, more than 5,000 people were listed in the official register of deaths between July 26 and November 27. The vast majority died of yellow fever, making the epidemic in the city of 40,000 one of the most traumatic and severe in urban U.S. history. Within four days of the Memphis Board of Health's declaration of
4165-517: The drama Keep the Lights On which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival . The film is based on Sachs' own past relationship with Bill Clegg , a literary agent who wrote a memoir about his struggles with addiction, Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man , in 2010. David Rooney described the film as an "immersive portrait of contemporary New York life". The film was nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards including for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. He returned to film with
4250-515: The drama Little Men (2016) starring Jennifer Ehle and Greg Kinnear . The film premiered at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival . Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review writing, "Though Sachs' observations do succeed in personalizing the phenomenon, the reason we go — indeed, the reason we care — is because Little Men is also a story about love, and as Sachs has poignantly noted before, love
4335-423: The election of all the at-large positions. Memphis did not become a home rule city until 1963, although the state legislature had amended the constitution in 1953 to provide home rule for cities and counties. Before that, the city had to get state bills approved in order to change its charter and other policies and programs. Since 1963, it can change the charter by popular approval of the electorate. During
SECTION 50
#17327981689004420-596: The epidemic bankrupted Memphis, and as a result, its charter was revoked by the state legislature. By 1870, Memphis's population of 40,000 was almost double that of Nashville and Atlanta, and it was the second-largest city in the South after New Orleans. Its population continued to grow after 1870, even when the Panic of 1873 hit the US hard, particularly in the South. The Panic of 1873 resulted in expanding Memphis's underclasses amid
4505-536: The epidemic reported seeing as many as 100 to 150 patients daily. The Episcopal Community of St. Mary at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral played an important role during the epidemic in caring for the lower classes. Already supporting a girls' school and church orphanage, the Sisters of St. Mary also sought to provide care for the Canfield Asylum, a home for black children. Each day, they alternated caring for
4590-528: The film saying, "I wrote the film in New York where I was living, but I grew up in Memphis. It was inspired by my memories and my thoughts and my knowledge of the city." The low budget film was shot on 16 mm . The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and later screened at the Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. His next film was released in 2005 entitled, Forty Shades of Blue . The film follows
4675-682: The franchise until after the passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s.) Historian L. B. Wrenn suggests the heightened political hostility of the Democratic contest and related social tensions contributed to a white mob lynching three black grocers in Memphis in 1892 . Journalist Ida B. Wells of Memphis investigated the lynchings, as one of the men killed was a friend of hers. She demonstrated that these and other lynchings were more often due to economic and social competition than any criminal offenses by black men. Her findings were considered so controversial and aroused so much anger that she
4760-428: The freedmen. Unlike the disturbances in some other cities, ex-Confederate veterans were generally not part of the attacks against blacks in Memphis. As a result of the riots in Memphis, and a similar one in New Orleans, Louisiana in September, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act and the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . In the 1870s, a series of yellow fever epidemics devastated Memphis, with
4845-431: The local Chickasaw so that a Spanish fort could be erected on the bluff; Fort San Fernando De Las Barrancas was the result. Holmes notes that consent was reached despite opposition from "disappointed Americans and a pro-American faction of the Chickasaws" when the "pro-Spanish faction signed the Chickasaw Bluffs Cession and Spain provided the Chickasaws with a trading post". Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas remained
4930-427: The middle-class began to leave the city for the suburbs. In 1970, the Census Bureau reported Memphis's population as 60.8% white and 38.9% black. Suburbanization was attracting wealthier residents to newer housing outside the city. After the riots and court-ordered busing in 1973 to achieve desegregation of public schools, "about 40,000 of the system's 71,000 white students abandon[ed] the system in four years." Today,
5015-414: The naval Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, and the city and state were occupied by the Union Army for the duration of the war. Union commanders allowed the city to maintain its civil government during most of this period but excluded Confederate States Army veterans from office. This shifted political dynamics in the city as the war went on. The war years contributed to additional dramatic changes in
5100-402: The next year property tax revenues collapsed, and the city could not make payments on its municipal debts. As a result, Memphis temporarily lost its city charter and was reclassified by the state legislature as a Taxing District from 1878 to 1893. But a new era of sanitation was developed in the city, a new municipal government in 1879 helped form the first regional health organization, and during
5185-418: The ones that have influenced me the greatest as an artist and filmmaker. These are the films that I hold on to as if each one were a member of my own family. They are the films that have made me who I am, as my father and mother have, my siblings and my cousins and my friends. I would be someone different if I had never seen any one of them. They are a part of me." Sachs is Jewish and gay. He described Keep
SECTION 60
#17327981689005270-401: The orphans at St. Mary's, delivering children to the Canfield Asylum, and taking soup and medicine on house calls to patients. Between September 9 and October 4, Sister Constance and three other nuns fell victim to the epidemic and died. They later became known as the Martyrs of Memphis. At long last, on October 28, a killing frost struck. The city sent out word to Memphians scattered all over
5355-400: The past been the poet of middle-aged people's feelings. Now he has gone down a generation, almost into Eric Rohmer territory, into the world of younger people who have much less experience of disappointment and compromise. Or perhaps, in this world of cosmopolitan sophistication, it is Woody Allen territory or Nora Ephron territory" — Peter Bradshaw , The Guardian In 2016 he directed
5440-509: The poorer whites and blacks fundamentally made up the city and played the greatest role in rebuilding it. The epidemic had resulted in Memphis being a less cosmopolitan place, with an economy that served the cotton trade and a population drawn increasingly from poor white and black Southerners. The 1890 election was strongly contested, resulting in white opponents of the D. P. Hadden faction working to deprive them of votes by disenfranchising blacks . The state had enacted several laws, including
5525-416: The poverty and hardship it wrought, giving further credence to Memphis as a rough, shiftless city. Leading up to the outbreak in 1878, it had suffered two yellow fever epidemics, cholera , and malaria , giving it a reputation as sickly and filthy. It was unheard of for a city with a population as large as Memphis's not to have any waterworks; the city still relied for supplies entirely on collecting water from
5610-478: The publisher's summary of L.B. Wrenn's study of the period, "This centralization of political power in a small commission aided the efficient transaction of municipal business, but the public policies that resulted from it tended to benefit upper-class Memphians while neglecting the less affluent residents and neighborhoods." The city installed a revolutionary sewer system and upgraded sanitation and drainage to prevent another epidemic. Pure water from an artesian well
5695-444: The rating "A form of cultural censorship that is quite dangerous, particularly in a culture which is already battling, in such extreme ways, the possibility of LGBT imagery to exist". Sachs submitted these films in the Sight & Sound poll as his favorite of all time. He wrote, "The greatest films ever made are for me the ones that have personally affected me most deeply. It is because of their impact that these very same films are
5780-480: The relationship drama Love Is Strange (2014) starring John Lithgow , Alfred Molina and Marisa Tomei . The film screened at both the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and the 64th Berlin International Film Festival . Mark Kermode of The Guardian praised the film writing, "Watching this quietly beguiling tale of an ageing gay couple who have been together for decades, I was reminded of the films of Yasujirô Ozu , Woody Allen and Maurice Pialat ." "Sachs has in
5865-408: The remains of Confederate General and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest were removed from a Memphis park. On January 7, 2023, after a routine traffic stop, five African American police officers brutally beat a 29-year-old African American man, Tyre Nichols . Nichols died from his injuries in the hospital three days later. Officer body cam footage and local surveillance cameras captured
5950-403: The requirement of poll taxes , that made it more difficult for them to register to vote and served to disenfranchise many blacks. Although political party factions in the future sometimes paid poll taxes to enable blacks to vote, African Americans lost their last positions on the city council in this election and were forced out of the police force. (They did not recover the ability to exercise
6035-424: The river and rain cisterns, and had no way to remove sewage. The combination of a swelling population, especially of lower and working classes, and abysmal health and sanitary conditions made Memphis ripe for a serious epidemic. Kate Bionda, an owner of an Italian "snack house", died of a fever on August 13, 1878. Hers was officially reported by the Board of Health, on August 14, as the first case of yellow fever in
6120-534: The screening of Bottle Rocket turned down by the Sundance Film Festival in 1996 and later become independently successful. The festival had more than 700 sponsors and 1,830 volunteers. A record 12,218 films were submitted, 72 more films than the 2013 festival. Of the 4,057-plus feature films were submitted, 2,014 were from the U.S. and 2,043 were international, and 121 were selected from 37 countries (with 100 of them being world premieres). Of
6205-577: The southwesternmost part of the state, and is situated along the Mississippi River . With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census , Memphis is the second-most populous city in Tennessee after Nashville . Memphis is the fifth-most populous city in the Southeast , the nation's 28th-most populous overall, as well as the largest city bordering the Mississippi River and third largest metropolitan statistical area behind Greater St. Louis and
6290-652: The stress of war and occupation and uncertainty about who was in charge, increasing tensions between the city's ethnic Irish policemen and black Union soldiers after the war. In three days of rioting in early May 1866, the Memphis Riots erupted, in which white mobs made up of policemen, firemen, and other mostly ethnic Irish Americans attacked and killed 46 blacks, wounding 75 and injuring 100; raped several women; and destroyed nearly 100 houses while severely damaging churches and schools in South Memphis. Much of
6375-478: The troubles of a political and social community through its tight-knit existence. With Lady the film was also shot in 16 mm and lasted 28 minutes. The film revolves around the blurred parameters of sexuality, desire, and female identity. He made his directorial film debut with the LGBTQ coming of age drama film The Delta (1997) about a young man exploring his bisexuality . Sachs spoke to his inspiration of
6460-462: The uncertain nature of their own claim to "whiteness"; they were trying to distinguish themselves from blacks in the underclass. The main fighting participants were ethnic Irish, decommissioned black Union soldiers, and newly emancipated African-American freedmen . Walker suggests that most of the mob was not in direct economic conflict with the blacks, as by then the Irish had attained better jobs, but were establishing social and political dominance over
6545-532: The wealth of cotton plantations and river traffic along the Mississippi, Memphis grew into one of the largest cities of the Antebellum South . After the Civil War and the end of slavery , the city continued to grow into the 20th century. It became among the largest world markets for cotton and hardwood . Home to Tennessee's largest African-American population, Memphis played a prominent role in
6630-475: The works of Eric Rohmer writing, " Frankie is a film made with immaculate craftsmanship...Yet for all its naturalistic elegance and lighter-than-air precision, it's an American Rohmer film that doesn't, unfortunately, feel close to being a major Rohmer film." His next film, Passages , was shot in France and was released in 2023. It starred Franz Rogowski , Ben Whishaw , and Adèle Exarchopoulos . It depicts
6715-547: The world's largest spot cotton market and the world's largest hardwood lumber market, both commodity products of the Mississippi Delta. Into the 1950s, it was also the world's largest mule market. These animals were still used extensively for agriculture. Attracting workers from Southern rural areas as well as new European immigrants, from 1900 to 1950 the city increased nearly fourfold in population, from 102,350 to 396,000 residents. Racist violence continued into
6800-439: Was discovered in the 1880s, securing the city's water supply. The commissioners developed an extensive network of parks and public works as part of the national City Beautiful movement , but did not encourage heavy industry, which might have provided substantial employment for the working-class population. The lack of representation in city government resulted in the poor and minorities being underrepresented. The majority controlled
6885-421: Was forced to move away from the city. But she continued to investigate and publish the abuses of lynching . Businessmen were eager to increase the city population after the losses of 1878–79, and supported the annexation of new areas; this measure was passed in 1890 before the census. The annexation measure was finally approved by the state legislature through a compromise achieved with real estate magnates, and
6970-554: Was held on January 26, 2014 at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse in Park City, Utah, and was hosted by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally . Additional awards were presented at separate ceremonies. The Shorts Awards were presented January 21, 2014 at the ceremony in Park City, Utah. Jury members, for the U.S. Documentary Jury, were announced on December 18, 2013. The rest of the jury members including
7055-470: Was in the art department and I was in the...actually, I quit the art department and got a job as the assistant to the director, which Kelly Reichardt never let me forget." Sachs started his career writing and directing several short films including Vaudeville (1992) and Lady (1993). The short Vaudeville was shot in 16 mm and lasted 55 minutes. The story revolves around a traveling theatrical troupe, made up primarily of gay and lesbian performers, mirrors
7140-534: Was to separate the poor from the city and isolate them in refugee camps. The Howard Association, formed specifically for yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans and Memphis, organized nurses and doctors in Memphis and throughout the country. They stayed at the Peabody Hotel , the only hotel to keep its doors open during the epidemic. From there they were assigned to their respective districts. Physicians of
7225-457: Was worked as an assistant on a film called Longtime Companion by the director Norman René , which was about a group of New Yorkers who were confronted with, and confronting, living and dying through the AIDS crisis and it was a very seminal experience, I met a lot of filmmakers who were in the art department or assistants on that film. Kelly Reichardt and I became friends through that film, she
#899100