“A powerful meditation on the origins of an African-American musical genre and the painful reasons for its existence.” (RogerEbert.com)

“This captivating movie, like the blues itself, is at once a recognition of … somber truths and a gesture of protest against them.” (New York Times)

In June 1964, Mississippi was a tense and violent place. As hundreds of college students arrived to join the civil rights movement, the KKK and many local police forces responded, vowing to stop the “Freedom Summer” in its tracks. And that same month, another group of equally idealistic college students—along with musicians and record collectors—also came to the state, but their mission was different: They were trying to find the blues legends Son House and Skip James. When the two separate campaigns inevitably converged, it happened in memorable and tragic fashion. Narrated by Common and featuring the music of Gary Clark Jr., “this captivating movie, like the blues itself, is at once a recognition of somber truths and a gesture of protest against them” (New York Times).