3-19-14--Martino-Unstrung-explores-medical-journey-of-unlikely-American-hero

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3/19/14: "Martino Unstrung" explores medical journey of unlikely American hero

by Berks Arts Council on Mar 17, 2014

"...completely absorbing"
-John Huntley, Just Jazz Guitar magazine

"Perhaps the best documentary about a
jazz musician ever made..."
-Victor L. Schermer, All About Jazz

"...a complete study of the capacity of the brain
and soul to overcome the worst situations."
- In-Edit, Barcelona.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014
7 p.m.
R/C Reading Movies 11 & IMAX
30 North Second Street; Reading, PA 19601

Adults: $8
Students: $5 (Door Only)

SYNOPSIS

VISIT THE MARTINO UNSTRUNG WEBSITE
WATCH THE TRAILER

In 1980 Pat Martino moved his belongings from California to Philadelphia to live with two complete strangers: his parents. As a young jazz guitar virtuoso, he had achieved near legendary status during the 60s and 70s, before being diagnosed with a life-threatening brain condition. Surgery had saved his life but wiped his memory. Back in his childhood home, surrounded by the relics of his former life, his father played him his old recordings at full volume and friends rallied to try to coax him back to being the great artist he had been. He could not dispute the evidence; the face in the mirror was the same as the one on the record sleeves but it meant nothing to him. Amnesia had ripped selfhood from his brain and rendered his life meaningless. He was nobody.

Director Ian Knox and Neuropsychologist Paul Broks travel America in search of the soul of the legendary jazz guitar great Pat Martino. Tracing his remarkable return from the depths of amnesia to the peak of artistic achievement, Broks explores the nature of memory, self, creativity and the mysterious brain mechanisms underlying the construction of personal identity. What is the self? How much change can it survive? Pat Martino is an unlikely American hero whose moving story holds meaning for us all.

The Hidden River Film Initiative (formerly the Greater Reading Film Festival) focuses on independent and local films that audiences in the Berks County area may not have an opportunity to view on the big screen otherwise. Its name refers to the Initiative's location along the banks of the Schuylkill River and Reading's rich history as a river town. Arendt Corssen of the Dutch West India Company, the first European to discover the river, gave it the Dutch name "Schuylkill," which is said to translate to "hidden river."

[Read more about the formation of the Hidden River Film Initiative]

Berks Arts Council

Suite 523 at the Goggleworks Center for the Arts I 201 Washington Street I Reading, PA 19601

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The mission of the Berks Arts Council is to cultivate, support, and promote the arts in our community through collaboration, education, and presentation. In addition to the Hidden River Film Initiative, the Berks Arts Council presents the Berks Jazz Fest, Bandshell Concert Series, Fast Lane Art, and Pagoda Awards, administers the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Re-Granting Program, and provides art exhibition and marketing opportunities for member artists. Visit our website for more information.