The documentary crew is still taking donations.

Last September, OffBeat talked to filmmaker Sascha Just, a New York and Berlin-based filmmaker who was documenting the life of Ellis Marsalis until his passing last April. (She visited New Orleans many times and became a close friend of the musician.)

According to the filmmaker, her documentary titled Ellis paints a portrait of a master musician and mentor-to-many who influenced the direction of jazz through his own music and his unique teaching methods. Told by Ellis in his own words and by his colleagues, family members, and disciples the film chronicles the major stations of Ellis’ life—growing up in a segregated society, pursuing his love for bebop in a city devoted to tradjazz, raising a family, building university jazz programs, and eventually retiring.

Just was struggling to find funding for her project but luckily, The Film Collaborative, is helping her with fundraising efforts and distribution. The Film Collaborative is the first nonprofit focused on distribution-education. TFC educates filmmakers about and helps filmmakers with all aspects of distribution without taking rights. TFC believes in and stands by our three taglines: “filmmakers first.”, “nonprofit, on purpose”, and “we don’t own your rights…you do!”

Just has a special place in her heart for New Orleans. Not only is it a place where the Berlin native visits several times a year, it was where a special friend of hers called home.

“With one sentence he could say something really wonderful and be so insightful and funny. That was it — just one sentence. I loved how involved he got when he speaks of things he is interested in and how in depth he could go into about these things. Even though I am not a musician he became a role model on how to pursue something…to stick with it and go with what you love,” Just told OffBeat.

“I appreciated the way he looked at the world . We had a lot of conversations about how to make sense of the world and make sense of the time we are living in – it especially helps me because right now we are living in a very tense time.,” she adds.

In life, Marsalis was known for his motto: “Can he play?” Just explains that the piano player was talking about commitment. “‘Can he play?’ is something he likes to say because he says this is really all that matters. Obviously he was very knowledgeable about theory, labels, and more but what it comes down to is if you can sit down and play. That is what matters. He was very much about practicing in a meaningful way.”

To learn more about the documentary and how to donate, click here.