Sunday, May 17, 2026 at 8:30 PM to 10:00 AM
Zebulon, Los Angeles
**The Magic City: Birmingham According to Sun Ra** Free Los Angeles screening of the new documentary THE MAGIC CITY: BIRMINGHAM ACCORDING TO SUN RA from filmmakers Guillaume Maupin and Pablo Guarise. On May 22, 1914, Herman Poole Blount arrived on Earth in Birmingham, Alabama. Many years later, he would become known as Sun Ra and would become one of the most extraordinary and prolific jazz musicians of his century, as well as the bearer of a visionary cosmic philosophy. “The Magic City,” known as Birmingham, was an industrial city in the segregated South. It was there that Sun Ra laid the foundations of his mystical thinking and his music, seeing in his city an incredible world full of signs. He left it for Chicago at the age of 32 and did not return until late in his life. Portraying this artist as a young man as much as portraying a city, The Magic City tells the story of Sun Ra’s early years in this urban universe that was both political and magical, common and fantastic, disturbing and fascinating. The Magic City – Birmingham According to Sun Ra is a playful and flamboyant musical film shot on 16mm. Avoiding talking heads and interviews, this film offers a new approach that combines elements of a coming-of-age novel and an anthropological study. It seeks to highlight Sun Ra’s exceptional place in the history of music, both innovative and syncretic. The Magic City is not a traditional music documentary. Filmed with Birmingham communities, it combines archival footage, playful mise en scène, and reenactments.