But the New Orleans-style processional after the funeral service at Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension was joyous and beautiful.

And it was an amazing display of Savannah itself.

If you’re from Savannah and personally invested at all in civic life, you’re likely to recognize at least a couple of dozen people in the pics below. I’m not going to try to point out who they all are right now.

After Ben’s family and friends go through a period of mourning, we’ll begin thinking about ways to permanently honor him, which would be richly deserved.

But there was something beautiful yesterday in the procession from the church to Ellis Square, where some of the city’s best players performed in Ben’s honor just a few yards from the Johnny Mercer statue.

I ended up with a lot of photos that are nearly identical, and I literally ended up with well over 100 that I wanted to post, but that’s a little excessive . . . But I found it too hard to whittle it down much

It will also be interesting to see, given the number of photographers and other folks with cameras around, how many photos get publicly posted. Mangue Banzima has some great shots up at his Qui Style blog. I’ve seen a few great isolated shots posted by media outlets and one beautiful album shared semi-privately by a photographer on Facebook, but I’m hoping we’ll see more.

Now comes word that the Savannah, directed by Annette Haywood-Carter and starring Jim Caviezel, Jamie Alexander, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sam Shepard, and Hal Holbrook, will be screening at the Sedona Film Festival on both February 27th and March 3rd.

I posted about Savannah, which tells the story of legendary Savannah River market hunter Ward Allen, back in March 2012 after a packed screening at Trustees Theater. From that post:

Iâ€m not going to include spoilers here, but the film was darker in its themes than I expected. And thatâ€s a good thing. There are some deeply sad elements to Ward Allenâ€s story — and to the story of Christmas Moultrie, the last child born into slavery at Mulberry Grove Plantation and later Allenâ€s hunting friend and assistant. The multi-layered narrative doesnâ€t shy from those dark moments.

I can’t figure out how to embed it here, but you can see the foreign sales trailer at Fabrication Films.

Griff and Cheryl Day of course own Savannah’s Back in the Day Bakery, a phenomenally successful small business at the corner of Bull and 40th streets.

From the program’s Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook is a throwback to simpler times:

Complete with flowered tablecloths and old-time aprons, Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Ga., is definitely a vintage land. Itâ€s a throwback to the imagined comfort zone of 1940s and ’50s, when baking from scratch was a badge of honor. Looking into the cases at Back in the Day, youâ€d think you were at a community bake sale maybe 60 years ago.

Owners Cheryl and Griffith Day make it all happen: She does the sweets, he does the breads. Together theyâ€ve written The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook.

Lynne Rossetto Kasper: In the photo of you two on the cover, you look like an ad from a 1950s magazine. Youâ€re in that gray dress with the apron. Griffith is in the plaid shirt with the shorts and the white socks.

Cheryl Day: People thought that was styling, but thatâ€s really Cheryl and Griffith Day.

The whole piece is definitely worth a read or a listen:

“The Splendid Table” also posted a couple of great images on their Facebook page, including this one of Cheryl’s Chocolate Heaven Cake:

Congrats to Griff and Cheryl on their ongoing success and thanks to them for continuing to put Savannah in such a glowing spotlight.

The film screened to an appreciative full house in March 2012 at Trustees Theater on Broughton Street, but it has been under the radar since then. I wrote about it here on the blog: “Savannah” — a lush new feature film — the post contains a link to a City Talk column that mentioned the movie too.

From that post:

Iâ€m not going to include spoilers here, but the film was darker in its themes than I expected. And thatâ€s a good thing. There are some deeply sad elements to Ward Allenâ€s story — and to the story of Christmas Moultrie, the last child born into slavery at Mulberry Grove Plantation and later Allenâ€s hunting friend and assistant. The multi-layered narrative doesnâ€t shy from those dark moments.

And now some news from TheDigitelCharleston: Locally produced film “SAVANNAH” ‘special screening†at Charleston Film Festival:

The Charleston Film Festival at the Terrace Theatre has announced that Annette Haywood Carterâ€s “SAVANNAH” will receive a ‘special screening†at 7 p.m. on March 8 as a part of its fourth annual exhibit.

The film was produced by Charlestonâ€s own John Cay and features Charleston-area actor Daniel Jones, alongside stars Jim Caviezel (“The Passion of the Christ”), Sam Shepard (“Safe House”) and Greenville native Jaimie Alexander (“Thor”). Both Carter and Cay will be in attendance for the screening.

Never before shown in a festival setting, “SAVANNAH” tells the true story of Ward Allen, a post-Civil War rebel who betrays his traditional Aristocratic upbringing to become a market hunter, crossing paths with a freed slave (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his pronounced love-interest (Alexander), all while taking up residence on the banks of the Savannah River.

There’s a bit more at the Terrace Theatre website.

UPDATED AT 7 p.m. eastern time, March 15th: The link is to the video is no longer live (it was posted by a number of people on Facebook today so I’m guessing it ran into bandwidth issues again. When it reappears on Vimeo or somewhere, I will repost. UPDATED at midnight 3/16, the trailer is on MovieWeb.com.: http://www.movieweb.com/movie/savannah/trailer

I’m having trouble with the embed, but try that link if the video won’t load. You might have to wade through an ad first, but the trailer should play.

Original post:

Well that was quick.

Savannah, the feature film still being shot that just wrapped shooting around town, already has a slick marketing trailer. I posted this from my own host for a few hours but it was eating too much of my bandwidth. Go here (link is down right now) to view it.

There’s more about the film’s plot here. According to the Savannah Morning News, the film is about the historical figure Ward Allen: “Allen, who was born an aristocrat in Savannah, was a naturalist who stunned society when he turned his back on a life of material comfort to become a market hunter. He became lifelong friends with Christmas Moultrie, a freed slave, and the two established a hunting-and-fishing business partnership in the early 1900s.”

Savannah stars Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Kinky Boots and other curious films). (I met Ejiofor briefly a couple weeks ago — he’s utterly charming.) Hal Holbrook and Sam Shepard can be seen in the trailer too, as is Savannahian Billy Hester according to a couple sharp-eyed friends of mine.

Savannah is the brainchild of local writer/director Annette Haywood-Carter.