Inspired Excellence

When the cargo ship Saint-Jacques docks at a seaport, the crew waste no time going ashore to enjoy the distractions offered by the town. As he wanders the streets after dark, one of the sailors, Jean, encounters an attractive prostitute, Bella, whom he mistakes for the one great love of his life.On the run from the police after killing a man, a steward on another ship takes refuge in Bella's modest quarters. Jean saves the man from certain arrest and then embarks on a romantic idyll with Bella. Discovering true love for the first time, the prostitute is sure that Jean will offer her a new life, but tragically it is not to be. Everything in life is a mere illusion…

One of the towering figures of 20th century's music, Alabama-born pianist and organist Herman "Sun Ra" Blount (1914) became the cosmic musician par excellence. Despite dressing in extraterrestrial costumes (but inspired by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt) and despite living inside a self-crafted sci-fi mythology (he always maintained that he was from Saturn, and no biographer conclusively proved his birth date) and despite littering his music with lyrics inspired to a self-penned spiritual philosophy (he never engaged in sexual relationships apparently because he considered himself an angel), Sun Ra created one of the most original styles of music thanks to a chronic disrespect for both established dogmas and trendy movements.