In 2013 the Strand Theatre brought Charles Burnett, an acclaimed director who was born in Vicksburg, home for a weekend of his films and conversation. In 2025, the Strand is on the precipice of screening his 1999 film, “The Annihilation of Fish” for a second time.

“Bringing Charles home to introduce him to the community of his birth is the program that I am most proud of,” said Daniel Boone, film programmer for the Strand Theatre. “One of the treats of the event was the screening of the ‘The Annihilation of Fish.’ What made it so special was that the film had been made in 1999 but never released. A geriatric romantic comedy starring the late James Earl Jones (the Star Wars films), another Mississippi treasure, and Lynn Redgrave (Georgy Girl) may have seemed too controversial at the time, but the Vicksburg audience enjoyed it all those years ago, and now they can see it again.”

After years of negotiating and a new restoration, the film is opening in theaters around the country.

“Although Charles left Vicksburg as a child and moved to the Los Angeles area, his films often reflect the reality that the people he grew up around there were mostly from the South,” Boone said. “I wish he could be with us for this show, but I’m not giving up on getting him back here again. And it’s certainly a shame that James Earl Jones, who passed away in September of 2024, didn’t live to see this film finally in theaters.”  

Burnett is the winner of an Honorary Academy Award® for lifetime achievement, and remains one of America’s most celebrated independent filmmakers, Boone said. In “The Annihilation of Fish”, Redgrave plays Poinsettia, a former housewife with an imagined lover in the form of 19th-century composer Giacomo Puccini. She moves into a Los Angeles boarding house with an energetic landlady (Margot Kidder) where she meets a Jamaican widower, Fish (James Earl Jones), who has recently been released from a mental institution despite his continued battles against unseen demons. In the face of personal challenges and differences, the couple grows together and begins to discover new things about themselves and the nuances of love and happiness.

“The Annihilation of Fish” will be shown at the Strand Theatre in downtown Vicksburg Saturday, March 22, at 7 p.m Tickets are $10 at the door and available for $9 in advance at Highway 61 Coffeehouse.