Louis Armstrong doc ‘Little Satchmo’ to screen Sunday

Screening Sunday at Green Light Cinema in downtown St. Petersburg, the documentary film Little Satchmo tells the story of Sarasota’s Sharon Preston-Folta, the illegitimate daughter of music icon Louis Armstrong. It’s based on her memoir of the same name.

Presented as part of Daddy Kool Records’ Listen Up film series, Little Satchmo – produced with nonprofit fiscal sponsorship from the Southern Documentary Fun for the PBS “Reel South” series – will be followed by a Q&A with Preston-Folta and producer Lea Umberger.

Preston-Folta was born in 1955 to dancer Lucille “Sweets” Preston (as half of an act called Slim & Sweets, she was part of his touring company). Even though he was married to another woman, Armstrong was a pivotal figure in Sharon’s life after Slim’s death – he sometimes took her and her mother on the road with him. She still has a series of letters he sent to Lucille.

“Publicly fawning over a child fathered with his mistress wasn’t exactly an option for Louis Armstrong,” says Sharon Preston-Folta in the film’s trailer. “He always wanted to be a father. But we had to keep it all secret.”

Preston-Folta has donated the collection of letters and memorabilia she amassed from her father to the Library of Congress.

Although PBS is scheduled to begin broadcasting Little Satchmo nationally April 11, it is not yet on the schedule for WEDU in Tampa Bay.

Sunday’s event begins at 3 p.m.; tickets are here.

LITTLE SATCHMO trailer from Crook & Nanny on Vimeo.