Ilan Eshkeri is an award-winning composer, artist, songwriter, producer and creator. We spoke with Ilan in 2015 (about 47 Ronin, Black Sea and The Snowman & The Snowdog) and were happy to catch up with him to discuss his process writing music for BBC’s A Perfect Planet. This new nature series is his fourth collaboration with legendary naturalist Sir David Attenborough. The bulk of this interview focuses on his efforts to write that music and the underlying idea of hope in many of the themes (we’ve included selections from his score below). Recently, Ilan and Ralph Fiennes completed their third film together – a biopic about Rudolf Nureyev, The White…
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Exclusive: Director Matt Schrader Offers A Look Into ‘SCORE: A Film Music Documentary’
Have you ever wondered why certain film scores stick in your head? Have you ever found yourself humming the bars from Jaws, more terrified by John Williams‘ iconic two-note motif than the (robotic) shark which hunted Roy Scheider and the citizens of Amity Island? So much of that has to do with the craft, and, moreover, the creative skill of the composer. For example, how easily can you recall the theme to Back to the Future?…that was Alan Silvestri. Your kids love the infectious sound/songs of Frozen?…then thank Christophe Beck. You ever imagine yourself as the Caped Crusader and instinctively hum the theme to Batman or The Dark Knight?…give Danny Elfman and Hans…
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G-S-T Review…Finding Vivian Maier
Some people get one shot at greatness. If you happen to be as lucky as Vivian Maier however, one of the 20th century’s greatest street photographers, you can get 100,000 of them. The late Ms. Maier, a mysterious nanny with a passion for observing and capturing people at the most banal points in their day, is the subject of this amazing documentary. One of the many bizarre, yet dazzling facts in this eclectic woman’s life is that her work went almost entirely unseen, even by Maier herself. Finding Vivian Maier is a compelling story of discovery that really began as a fluke (you really need to check out the trailer below)…
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Interview…Composer J. Ralph on Documentaries, Real Life Heroes and the Call to Action
J. Ralph is an Academy Award-nominated composer, singer/songwriter and producer. He is also the founder of the internationally award-winning music production company The Rumor Mill, and has written and produced the music for numerous Grammy winning artists, Oscar-winning films, and The President of The United States, Barack Obama. Considered by many to have had a profound impact on the documentary medium, J. Ralph has helped elevate the experience of what it feels like to watch a documentary through his scores. Incredibly he has written and produced the music for 4 out of the last 5 Oscar winning/nominated documentary feature projects. In the 85 year history of the Academy Awards, J.…
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[OCFF Interview]…'Medora' Directors Andrew Cohn & Davy Rothbart
This past weekend at the 2nd Annual Oak Cliff Film Festival, Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart’s documentary feature, Medora, about a small town in Indiana, won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film, which premiered earlier this year at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, follows the lives of the boys who make up the Medora Hornets, the local high school’s basketball team, as they attempt to end their three-year losing streak. The team serves as a symbol to the community, and their hope and determination parallels with that of the town itself, as it fights to stay alive. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Check out the Medora trailer from the film’s…
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G-S-T Review…La Camioneta
Guatemala’s main source of transportation comes from drivers of colorfully painted, refurbished buses known as “camionetas.” These drivers and their decorated buses are responsible for providing the majority of Guatemalans a way to make a living by transporting them to and from work each day. For as long as he can remember, Ermelindo has had a dream of owning one of these buses, and to perform this service that is so essential to the people of Guatemala and their way of life. The documentary feature debut from Mark Kendall (www.markkendall.net), La Camioneta, follows the bus that will eventually serve to fulfill Ermelindo’s long-awaited dream, as it makes it’s way from…
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Michael Fassbender Drives Formula 1 Documentary '1' For Spitfire Pictures
Long time Formula 1 enthusiast and Golden Globe nominated actor, Michael Fassbender, has signed on to narrate Exclusive Media’s Spitfire Pictures’ new documentary film “1”, it was announced today by the film’s producer and Exclusive Media co-chairman Nigel Sinclair and fellow producer Michael Shevloff together with director Paul Crowder. “1” is an action documentary that brings the glamour, speed, danger, and excitement of Formula One Grand Prix racing to the big screen. “We are honored that Michael has agreed to lend his voice to our film. He is one of the most talented actors in the world today as well as being a Formula 1 fan. His charismatic and daring approach…
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Off the Shelf…Drafthouse Films’ ‘The Ambassador’
A surreal and yet gravely realistic fish out of water documentary, The Ambassador offers a look into a part of the world that only a rare but unsavory few can know or comprehend. Posing as a businessman, Brügger attempts to become a foreign diplomat in hopes of exposing the corrupt diamond smuggling and those who live free of moral boundaries in a lawless African state. Yet one thing that needs to be known up front, since it is not explained in the film, is that Mads Brügger is a Danish comedian as well as a filmmaker. That tiny tidbit goes a long way in understanding that there is a hidden hidden agenda behind this entire…
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G-S-T Review…Side By Side
For over 100 years photo chemical film has been the gold standard in the film industry. But in the last two decades the advent and advances in digital technology have offered filmmakers a cheaper, easier and sometimes better alternative as a means to capture images and tell stories. In Side by Side, Keanu Reeves and writer/director Chris Kenneally put their finger on the pulse film world and explore the levels to which digital capture technology has created a paradigm shift across the world. From directors, to colorists, to editors etc, no trade is unaffected by this change in the medium. Is this the end of film? Well, it’s not a clear cut answer…
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Exploring The Digital Revolution – Clips From Keanu Reeves' Doc 'Side By Side'
Keanu Reeves and Chris Kenneally’s upcoming documentary Side By Side chronicles the debate over the digital revolution in filmmaking. Essentially the duo ask an important question: Will film survive? In anticipation of the release of the doc (stop what you’re doing and check out the trailer here), last week Tribeca.com began their month long series of posts which highlight some of the conversations recorded for the upcoming documentary. Leading up to its release, we film fans can see snippets of video interviews from the project. Essentially deleted scenes/outtakes these are brief but solid bits that just couldn’t make the final cut. Still there’s something to be gained from them and Tribeca will share these important and possibly divisive…
