The Devil’s Horn

 As we learn in Larry Weinstein’s hugely entertaining film, Adolphe Sax survived countless bizarre near-death experiences before finally dying in poverty at the age of 80.

It’s said that the saxophone carries its inventor’s curse, an idea pondered here by the likes of jazz great Jimmy Heath, the Sonics’ Rob Lind, and avant-gardist Colin Stetson, among others.

The one guy Weinstein didn’t get on-camera was Rolling Stones sideman/wildman Bobby Keyes, who, hex or no hex, died the day shooting began.

“He thought he epitomized the curse,” said Weinstein, who has a lot more to say about The Devil’s Horn—screening at the Vancity Theatre on Tuesday (June 14)—in a feature interview coming to Straight.com.

The Projector: What to see and where to see it 

Macbeth
Speaking of cursed, Roman Polanski’s dark and gory take on the Scottish Play kicks off the Cinematheque’s two-month-long celebration of Shakespeare in film, double-billed with Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight. Screening Friday to Monday (June 10 to 13).

I Am the Blues
Like a field recording with pictures, filmmaker Daniel Cross enters the deep, deep South to capture the music and words of the ancient practitioners of America’s darkest musical art. The Vancity Theatre holds the first of three screenings on Monday (June 13).

Blackway
Anthony Hopkins, Julia Stiles, and Ray Liotta made their home in Vernon while shooting this thriller in and around the Okanagan, all thanks to Enderby-born and -raised producer Rick Dugdale. Catch a preview of Blackway at the Rio Theatre on Monday (June 13).

The Amazing Nina Simone

 Jeff L. Lieberman’s doc goes deeper into the turbulent biography of this incomparable American artist than Liz Garbus’s Oscar-nominated effort (What Happened, Miss Simone?)—enough so that he seems, at times, to be capturing an entirely separate life. Vancouverite Henry Young, Simone’s guitarist at the time of the Martin Luther King assassination, is among the talking heads. He’ll join Lieberman (also a former local) for a Q & A when The Amazing Nina Simone makes its Canadian debut at the Vancouver Playhouse next Thursday (June 16). Tix available at www.amazingnina.com.