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In Film Director’s News
It looks like award-winning film director and multi-platinum Grammy-nominated music producer Issac Yowman is using his platform to highlight the iconic music venue, Club Matinee. Found in 1936, the popular performance center housed legends such as Ray Charles (one of his first gigs), James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke, Little Richard, B. B. King and more performing at this KCOH satellite location.
Located in the Historic Fifth Ward on the northeast edge of Downtown Houston, the venue served as a home during the days of segregation.
Yowman, has used his visual talents to document the history made during the era of Club Matinee with his newest NAACP Image Award-nominated film “Memory Builds the Monument.” He partnered with local non-profits Fifth Ward CRC and SOURCE Studio to create the project through his film/tv production company IYO Visuals. The documentary premiered as an Official Selection at SXSW and has won nearly a dozen film festivals globally.
Paramount now has acquired the film and will officially debut “Memory Builds the Monument” on BET throughout Black History Month, and available to stream on BET+.
This community-driven motion picture will be released in conjunction with an original music soundtrack (EP) and a 23,000+ sq ft. The Art Exhibition is located at THE MAG in Downtown Houston. Both the soundtrack and month-long art exhibit are entitled “Southern Glory.”
In collaboration with Morehouse College, Yowman will host an Atlanta screening of the BET special and Q&A on Friday, February 17th in the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center. The activation will serve as an Official Founder’s Week event and is FREE to all residents of ATL, students, and alumni.
Compelled by the vivid memories of the legendary music venue Club Matinee, “Memory Builds The Monument” film showcases how black artists of the Baby Boomer generation played a part in re-defining the cultural landscape of the South. The documentary explores the impossible to ignore the social challenges of African Americans living during this era,
“Music, Film, Art, Community, Education & Legacy – This project is literally the ethos of who I am as an individual…” Yowman says. “At every level this is what the IYO collective represents. This project is a testament of when you do a project with love and purpose, it shines through. I’m really excited about the art exhibition I’m collaborating on with The MAG in Houston & partnering with such a prestigious HBCU such as Morehouse to curate a really dope experience.”
The short documentary features Archie Bell (Founding Member of the Billboard charting group Archie Bell & the Drells; Algenita Scott Davis Esq., Housing Program Manager, Center for Civic & Public Policy Improvement; Rev. Harvey Clemons, pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church; and Jesse Lott, who was recently named the Texas state three-dimensional artist of 2022.
Watch the trailer below:
