Icarus Films has announced the Home Video (DVD and VOD) release of the feature documentary The Great Flood, from director Bill Morrison, and a wonderful score by Grammy-winning guitarist/composer Bill Frisell, on May 20, 2014.
The story, told without dialogue, centers on the Mississippi River Flood of 1927, the most destructive in U.S. history and the cause of a million people’s displacement. The river overflowed its banks in 145 places, inundating 27,000 square miles in water up to 30 feet deep. Musically, the “Great Migration” of rural southern blacks to Northern cities saw the Delta Blues electrified and reinterpreted as the Chicago Blues, Rhythm and Blues, and Rock and Roll.
Made with rare archival footage sourced and woven together by Mr. Morrison, much of it on volatile nitrate stock and, in many cases, not seen since it was first photographed, The Great Flood is a stunning high-definition portrait of life during the flood.
Icarus released The Great Flood in theaters a year ago, when I saw it, with limited screenings and engagements across the U.S. and Canada.
Other Morrison films that Icarus Films has acquired for distribution include Light Is Calling, The Miner’s Hymns, Release, Outerborough, The Film Of Her, and Decasia, currently available exclusively on Blu-Ray.
Check out the compelling trailer below for a glimpse at what to expect:
