U.S. THEATRICAL PREMIERE RUN!

THE HAND OF FATIMA is a double portrait of a rock critic and his favorite band. Robert Palmer was America’s pre-eminent music writer, best known for his book DEEP BLUES and his work for the NEW YORK TIMES. The Master Musicians of Jajouka are a hereditary Moroccan brotherhood who play music older than history, but have also jammed with Ornette Coleman and Sonic Youth. Using Robert Palmer’s writing about the band as her guide, Palmer’s daughter Augusta set out for Morocco in 2005 hoping to find out what happened when her father first met the Master Musicians of Jajouka on assignment for ROLLING STONE in 1971.
The film intercuts verite footage of the filmmaker’s journey with animations of Robert’s experiences in the 1970s, allowing the filmmaker (and the audience) to glean the truth between the lines of Robert’s mystical journey and to understand his all-consuming need for musical transcendence. That need was more than met by the Master Musicians, who were introduced to expatriate Tangiers society by the artist Brion Gysin in the 1950s, and then popularized by Rolling Stone Brian Jones, who recorded an album in their village which became a cult favorite upon its release shortly after his death. Encounters with Yoko Ono, Donovan, Anthony DeCurtis, and the elder Palmer’s four wives round out a journey that culminates with the Master Musicians’ indelible performance in their remote Moroccan village.

This theatrical run coincides with the publication of BLUES & CHAOS: THE MUSIC WRITING OF ROBERT PALMER, a major collection edited by Anthony DeCurtis and published by Scribner.

“Rather than a simple ‘documentary’ or a look back down memory lane, this is film as an investigation into myth, self-creation and the complexities of personal relationships. I found it profoundly moving, as well as sharp, funny, and bittersweet. … [It’s] a kind of emotional thriller…which picks up on the evidence, pursues the clues, and then ends with a new dispensation, a settling of the dust and a clear way ahead.” –Ian MacFadyen, writer and editor, NAKED LUNCH @50

“An incandescent film about a divinely intoxicated spirit.” –Jonathan Cott, Contributing Editor, ROLLING STONE

• In person opening night, Nov 13, for Q&As and book signing: Filmmaker Augusta Palmer (both shows) and Anthony DeCurtis, editor of BLUES & CHAOS: THE MUSIC WRITING OF ROBERT PALMER (7:30 show only). A reception will follow the 7:30 screening.

$3 off ADMISSION TO SCREENINGS with  ticket stub from Robert Palmer Tribute to Benefit Jajouka at Le Poisson Rouge on 11/16, 10pm