Rahsaan Roland Kirk Documentary Features Performances, Interviews

By Brian Zimmerman I May. 26, 2016

Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935–1977) was a multi-instrumentalist who blended political activism with jazz.
(Photo: Courtesy of Monoduo Films)

Rahsaan Roland Kirk, a groundbreaking reedist and social justice activist who built a reputation on his ability to play multiple horns at once, will be the subject of a new documentary due out on May 31.

Featuring archival footage of Kirk, as well as intimate interviews and animated sequences, Adam Kahan’s The Case of the Three Sided Dream, will present a look at a musician who persevered through partial paralysis to pursue his passion for jazz.

The Case of the Three Sided Dream premiered at the 2014 South by Southwest film festival, and was later screened at Full Frame, the Blue Note Jazz Festival, the IFC Center, IDFA, Sound Unseen, Big Sky, Noise Pop, PAFF LA, Atlanta, MIFF, Raindance and many other festivals over the past year.

The film was awarded Best Documentary at the 2015 Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, as well as Best Documentary at the 2015 Soundtrack Cologne festival in Cologne, Germany. It was also named one of the Top 10 music documentaries of 2014 byNonfics.com.

The film will be released worldwide and will be a joint release by Monoduo Films, Vimeo on Demand, Syndicado and Arthaus. It was made available to stream and download on Vimeo On Demand on May 1, and will be available on iTunes May 31. A DVD release is scheduled for the fall. Further screenings are also planned for later this year in New York, L.A., Toronto and Europe.

Kahan, a filmmaker living in Brooklyn, has made several short documentaries on contemporary artists, including the photographer Andres Serrano, the painter Fred Tomaselli and the sculptor Urs Fischer. The Case of the Three Sided Dream is his first feature.

Kirk, who died in 1977 at the age of 42, was a frequent name in the DownBeat International Critics Poll, placing highly in the Saxophone, Flute and Miscellaneous Instrument categories throughout the ’70s.