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The Jazz Heritage Center in San Francisco kicks off a new program celebrating jazz and film with a showing of the 1998 documentary "The Legend of Bop City" and a conversation with the film's director on Sunday, January 17. The screening also marks the opening of the Heritage Center's new Media and Education Center, an intimate, 50-seat theater in the heart of the city's storied Fillmore District.

"We are very pleased to launch this important effort," says Peter Fitzsimmons, Executive Director of the Jazz Heritage Center. "Jazz and film have had a long, meaningful relationship. We are exploring this topic with jazz film experts, film screenings and, of course, a special celebration of a legendary Fillmore jazz club. This initiative brings the organization to a new level and we look forward to sharing the experience with our growing number of supporters, members and fans."

Programming will include twice-weekly film screenings, a new exhibit of vintage and rare jazz film posters, a mini jazz film festival, lectures, and a celebration of Bop City, one of the Fillmore District's most popular jazz clubs during the 1950s and 1960s.

The new exhibit and film series kicks off on Sunday, January 17 at 3 pm with a screening of the documentary, "The Legend of Bop City," and a panel discussion with the director, Carol Chamberland, jazz educator Herb Wong, and several musicians featured in the film, including saxophonist John Handy and vocalist Denise Perrier.

The following Sunday, January 24, marks the opening of the JHC's next major exhibit, "Jazzin', Jammin' & Jivin'." This unique exhibit, just shown at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, features 50 vintage film posters illustrating an eight-decade period during which some of the greatest jazz musicians of African heritage appeared on film, including Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, and many others.

The exhibit will be displayed in the JHC's Koret Heritage Lobby space outside the entrance to Yoshi's Jazz Club and inside the JHC's Media and Education Center. The exhibit is on loan from the Separate Cinema Archive.

Get an exclusive peek at posters from the exhibit!

At 3 pm, Mark Cantor, the curator of the exhibit and a well-known jazz film archivist and historian, will give the opening lecture for the exhibit, in partnership with the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.

A mini jazz film festival will take place on February 5-7, led by noted jazz scholar and film historian Hal Miller. As the curator of one of the world's most comprehensive personal jazz film collections, Miller makes numerous guest lectures at colleges and jazz societies around the country. Much of the footage shown in the Ken Burns documentary "Jazz" came from Miller's collection, and he continues to be a primary resource for jazz video footage for networks and independent production companies.

A variety of jazz films will be screened throughout the month of February, featuring some of the classic films illustrated in the "Jazzin', Jammin' & Jivin'" poster exhibit, including "Stormy Weather," "Cabin in the Sky," "Swing in Harlem," "Lady Sings the Blues," "Round Midnight" and others. Films from Miller's "Jazz Icons" series will also be shown.

The Jazz Heritage Center, located at 1320 Fillmore Street, is the only permanent cultural and educational complex dedicated to the long history of Jazz in San Francisco and the Fillmore District. Located within the new Fillmore Heritage Center in the heart of the Historic Fillmore Jazz Preservation District, the non-profit Jazz Heritage Center is part jazz museum, part jazz cultural center, and part jazz art gallery.

For more information, call 415.377.4565 or visit the Jazz Heritage Center website.