Arts & Entertainment 'Silent' Satchmo Jazz ensemble provides soundtrack to film based on the early life of Louis Armstrong. Suzanne Chessler Special to the Jewish News O ne exception stands out among the sordid childhood experiences of jazz great Louis Armstrong — the positive influence of a New Orleans Jewish family. Armstrong's relationship with the Karnofskys enters into the silent film Louis, which captures a brief time span in the musician's young life and is debuting in a limited tour. The film, directed by Dan Pritzker and starring Jackie Earle Haley and Shanti Lowry, will be shown Thursday evening, Aug. 26, at the Max M. Fisher Music Center, where the screening will be enhanced by live performances of a group of jazz notables including Wynton Marsalis on trumpet and Cecile Licad on piano, under the direction of conductor Andy Farber. Pritzker, a rhythm and blues composer and performer before tackling cinema, made a point of meeting Karnofsky descendents as he did pre-production research. "This film is not intended as a biography,' says Pritzker, 50, seen in concert with Sonia Dada, a band that has played at the Ark in Ann Arbor. "I wrote a more whimsical, mythical story. "Although there are certain signature moments in Armstrong's life that I've sewn into the fabric of the film, my interest was to tap into my imagination for a time before 1922 when Armstrong's life began to be well documented." The movie, developed for adults, shows the alleys, bordellos and cemeteries of early-20th century New Orleans as faced by Armstrong, befriended, employed and helped in getting his first horn by the Karnofskys. "The impetus to work on Louis came while I was researching the writing of a screenplay about Buddy Bolden, a trumpeter in New Orleans in the early part of the 20th century,' says Pritzker, who has a Jewish family background and holdings that have placed him on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans. "I was told that Bolden invented jazz but not very much was known about him. We know when Bolden was born, when he was committed to an asylum and when he died. I'm not interested in writing about the life of someone we know all about or could know all about. I found it inspiring that I could use my imagination. "I thought as long as I was going to shoot the film about Bolden, maybe I could write a companion piece about a little boy who wants to learn to play the trumpet. Having the film play to a live orchestra was the intention from the outset." The idea for the silent film paired with live music developed after Pritzker saw Charlie Chaplin's City Lights with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing the score. Pritzker, now editing the Bolden project as a full-length feature film, used modern cam- era techniques for the Armstrong movie. His interest in jazz, both as a composer-musician and filmmaker, has to do with the redemp- tive, uplifting qualities of the sounds. "I loved New Orleans jazz long before I started doing the film research',' says Pritzker, whose song "Lover, Lover" has climbed record charts. "From my point of view, ifs the most life-affirming music in the world:' El Louis will be screened, accompanied by an all-star jazz ensemble, 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 26, at the Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward, in Detroit. $10-$85. (313) 576-5111; www.detroitsymphony.com . Jews Nate Bloom Special to the Jewish News Emmy Time The Primetime Emmy Awards, for excellence in TV, will be broadcast live on NBC beginning 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29. Here are the Jewish nominees in some of the many Emmy cat- egories. Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) and Kyra Sedgwick (The Julianna Closer) are two of Margulies the six nominated actresses competing for the Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series. Sedgwick's mother is Jewish, and she strongly identifies as Jewish. This is her fifth nomination in a row for The Closer (no wins yet). Margulies, whose husband is Michigan native Keith Lieberthal, has many Emmy wins; but this is her first nomination for The Good Wife. Her Wife co-star Alan Cumming is nomi- nated for outstanding guest actor in a drama series for playing religious 46 August 26 • 2010 Jewish character Eli Gold. Cumming, as Gold, will be a regular on the series next season. Newcomer and hot TV star Lea Michele (Glee) is nominated Lea Michele for outstanding lead actress in a com- edy series. Michele is the daughter of a Sephardi Jewish father and an Italian Catholic mother. Larry David, the star and cre- Larry David ator of Curb Your Enthusiasm, is nomi- nated for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series (Curb). This is David's fourth nomination for the same role since 2003, and some pre- dict this is his year. Mega-veteran actor Eli Wallach, 94, is nominated for out- standing guest actor in a comedy series H. Jon (Nurse Jackie). The Benjamin outstanding voice- over category has three Jewish nomi- nees: Hank Azaria (The Simpsons); Seth Green (Robot Chicken) and H. Jon Benjamin (Archer). Mad Men, created and produced by Matthew Weiner, is up for outstand- ing drama series; and Weiner also is up for a writing Emmy. Likewise, Lost is nominated for outstanding drama series and series co-creator/producer Damon Lindelof is nominated for a writing award. You Don't t i Jack, an HBO original film about Michigan': Dr. Jack Kevorkian, is nominated for outstand- ing original TV film or miniseries. Its director, Barry Levinson, is up for an Emmy for outstand- ing director of a made-for-TV film or miniseries. He competes with Bob Balaban (Georgia O'Keefe) And Jeremy Podeswa Jeremy (The Pacific). Podeswa Other interesting nominees include Steve Levitan, co-creator of the hit sitcom Modern Family, who is up for an Emmy for outstanding comedy series and for a writing award; Adam Shankman, with nominations for outstanding chore- ography and produc- ing (with Michigan native Bill Mechanic) for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards Steve Levitan telecast; and Agnieszka Holland, for outstanding director of a drama series episode, the pilot for HBO's Treme. Holland grew up in post-war Poland; her Jewish father barely sur- vived the Holocaust. Agnieszka Her Catholic mother Holland fought with the Polish underground. Holland's best-known feature film is the Holocaust movie Europa Europa. The Daily Show, starring Jon Stewart, is nominated for outstanding variety, music or comedy series, and Stewart also competes for outstand- ing writing in that category. El Contact Nate Bloom at middleoftheroadl@aoLcom.