The Connection

The Connection, Shirley Clarke’s first feature film, already contains the author’s passion for jazz’s experimentation, featuring legendary musicians such as Freddie Redd and Jackie McLean in the cast. Based on an off-Broadway play by Jack Gelber, and entirely shot in a loft, the film portrays a white director, lost as he tries to make ‘an honest document’ about a group of junkie musicians waiting for the dealer. Theatrical, ironic and at times ruthless, dismissing any realism, The Connection directly confronts cinema’s limitations in its relation to itself.