Carmine Street Guitars

Carmine Street Guitars at UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)

Expired October 11, 2020 4:59 PM
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U.S. Streaming Premiere! Named #2 Best Documentary of 2019 by Rolling Stone!

“Delectable! Rick Kelly is the Geppetto of rock ‘n’ roll.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Once the center of the New York bohemia, Greenwich Village is now home to luxe restaurants, and buzzer door clothing stores catering to the nouveau riche. But one shop in the heart of the Village remains resilient to the encroaching gentrification: Carmine Street Guitars. 


There, custom guitar maker Rick Kelly and his young apprentice Cindy Hulej, build handcrafted guitars out of reclaimed wood from old hotels, bars, churches and other local buildings. Nothing looks or sounds quite like a Rick Kelly guitar, which is the reason they are embraced by the likes of Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Jim Jarmusch, just to name a few. 


Featuring a cast of prominent musicians and artists, and some virtuoso performances, the film captures five days in the life of one shop in the heart of Greenwich Village that remains resilient to an all-too-quickly vanishing way of life.

  • Runtime
    80 minutes
  • Language
    English
  • Country
    Canada
  • Premiere
    2019
  • Rating
    NR
  • Director
    Ron Mann
  • Screenwriter
    Len Blum
  • Producer
    Ron Mann
  • Executive Producer
    Carter Logan, Michael Hirsh
  • Cast
    Rick Kelly, Cindy Hulej, Dorothy Kelly, Eszter Balint, Christine Bougie, Nels Cline, Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Friedberger, Bill Frisell, Dallas and Travis Good, Dave Hill, Jaime Hince, Stuart Hurwood, Jim Jarmusch, Lenny Kaye, Marc Ribot, Charlie Sexton
  • Cinematographer
    John Minh Tran, Becky Parsons
  • Editor
    Robert Kennedy
  • Sound Design
    Ted Rosnick
  • Music
    The Sadies