Paramount Theater Packed for “Sinners” Showing with Live Q&A from Miles Canton
This October, the hit movie Sinners (2025) came back to town for a sold-out special showing at the Paramount Theater as a part of Charlottesville’s annual Virginia Film Festival. There, lead actor Miles Canton accepted an award for “Achievement in Film Music” before the film began. Afterwards, he did a Q&A and closed the night with a performance of a medley of the movie’s main songs “Traveling” and “I Lied to You.” For anyone who has yet to see Sinners, the Virginia Film Festival (VaFF) labeled it as a feature film in three categories: the Black Excellence series, the Music on Film series, and the After Hours series, even VaFF agrees that it is a must-see of the year.
Rocking theaters this past April, Sinners was written and directed by Ryan Coogler, creator of Creed (2015), Black Panther (2018), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Coogler brought his favorite actor, Michael B. Jordan, who has been in all of his films, on board to play not one, but two lead twin characters. Sinners had an additional star-studded cast like Hailee Steinfeld from the Spider–Verse and Pitch Perfect series, Jack O’Connell from 28 Years Later (2025), and, of course, debut actor Miles Canton.
Sinners takes place in the Jim Crow era in Mississippi as a pair of twins and their cousin create a Blues club, also known as a Juke Joint, but then it all goes south on opening night. This Southern gothic feature tells the story of black joy and community being built as supernatural forces and the unrelenting reality of being black in America combine. The movie bends genres like historical fiction, thriller, and horror, all tied together by perfect musical elements to create one cohesive masterpiece.
When asked about his opinion on the film in his Q&A session, Canton said, “So the crazy thing is, I didn’t even know what the movie was about until I basically got the role…When I got the whole script and I read it from top to bottom, I was like, ‘Oh, this is different, but I was like, ‘Man, this is gonna be special.’” He was correct, but his role is a major factor in what made this movie stand out from the rest.
Canton and his character, Sammy, both have a musical talent that is magnetic to all listeners, supernatural or otherwise. Inspired by legendary blues artists like Buddy Guy, who made a guest appearance at the end of the film, both Canton’s vocals and guitar playing are smooth yet nuanced.
Canton shared that he learned guitar specifically for this role. “We had two months before we went out to film the movie in New Orleans to practice and lock everything in, so I worked every day on guitar…So playing 5-6 hours a day for sure,” he said. That’s not to discount his singing, which is the true focus of the movie. “I think the focal point for my character was supposed to be the guitar, but I think once they heard my voice, and once Ryan [Cooglar] saw me in person, he pivoted the script and made it more about the voice,” he added.
It was an action-packed night at the Paramount, perfect for setting the tone for Halloween. Hopefully, the film will return to theaters before next spooky season, but in the meantime, Sinners is available to stream exclusively on HBO Max.
