The Independent Film Project has chosen John Sayles' Honeydripper to open its annual Independent Film Week, which begins on September 16th in New York.

Scheduled for release later this year (check out the trailer here), the film tells the story of a last-ditch effort to save a threatened blues club and features Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Vondie Curtis Hall, Stacy Keach and Mary Steenburgen. Noted musicians such as Keb' Mo' and Dr. Mable John also appear.

On his blog at Emerging Pictures' website, Sayles writes "There is tension and harmony in almost every song, and wars are fought within music without a word being uttered... I've heard inner city hoop players and jazz musicians use the same phrase to describe the rules of entry to their world – 'If you can play, you can stay.'   Electrified blues bands in Chicago were known to literally play their competitors off the stage, taking over their gigs.  In Honeydripper, Pinetop Purvis (Glover) has to decide whether the new music is a threat or a life-saving opportunity. Tension, harmony, potential violence - put some rhythm in it and it's drama. It’s rock and roll."