VTIFF Presents: Satan & Adam
Host sponsor – Main Street Landing
Directed by Scott Balcerek
USA | 2018 | Documentary | 80 min
One day in 1986, Adam Gussow, a white, Ivy League-educated harmonica player, found himself nursing a broken heart and walking down the street in Harlem. There, he came upon a one-man blues band: Sterling Magee. Better known as Satan, Magee was a local legend with heavy blues guitar riffs and makeshift percussion instruments. When Adam sat in on a session with Satan that day, a most unlikely blues pairing formed. Their partnership would transcend the racial tensions of a segregated city and the anxiety of a neighborhood that was hyper-aware of the perils of gentrification. The duo rose to international acclaim from their Harlem street corner. But as quickly as they were discovered, their meteoric rise was cut short when Mr. Satan mysteriously disappeared. The result is a fascinating story 23 years in the making.