The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premiere of the acclaimed new documentary “The Torch” showing April 2-7 at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre.
At 85, Chicago legend Buddy Guy remains the standard bearer for the blues — an icon determined to see the art form live on long after he’s gone. Enter young guitar phenom Quinn Sullivan, who has been mentored by Guy since he was a kid.
This stirring documentary — amplified by electrifying musical performances — charts the guidance Guy himself received from the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf while observing the Grammy-winner passing his wisdom to the next generation.
Buddy Guy is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, and a living link to the city’s halcyon days of electric blues. Buddy Guy has received 8 Grammy Awards, a 2015 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, the Billboard Magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts.
“I always look forward to getting whatever time we can with him (Buddy Guy), because you walk away and you feel like there’s been this amazing knowledge dropped on you,” said Derek Trucks, who is featured in the film.
“I vividly remember sitting in my interview with Derek Trucks and having a sense of relief wash over me when he said those words,” said director Jim Farrell.
“There was an understanding among Buddy Guy and his peers – last man standing needs to make sure the music lives on. When B.B. King died in 2015, that promise became reality. He was already grooming his teenage protégé, Quinn Sullivan, but the urgency became palpable. The goal of ‘The Torch’ was to pull back the curtain on this process and watch it unfold over time.”
“The Torch” will be shown at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre April 2-7. Showtimes will be 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, April 2, 3 and 4; and 4 on Wednesday and Thursday, April 6 and 7.
Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, please call 928-282-1177. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Hwy. 89A, in West Sedona. For more information, visit: www.SedonaFilmFestival.org.
