To be and not to be a film by Frank Scheffer

Transcription

1 Pieter van Huystee Film presents in co-production with VPRO and ZDF/3sat To be and not to be a film by Frank Scheffer

2 PROJECT SUMMARY Production company: Language: Genre: Running time: Land of origine: Director: Script: Director of Photography: Sound: Editor: Producer: Line producer: Senior producer: Commissioning Editor: This film is supported by: World premiere: Pieter van Huystee Film Noordermarkt 37-39, 1015 NA Amsterdam, The Netherlands Phone: / Fax: [email protected] Farsi with English subtitles Documentary 54 minutes The Netherlands Frank Scheffer Michael Dreyer, Frank Scheffer Melle van Essen Harold Jalving Daan Wierda Pieter van Huystee Rosan Boersma Sylvia Baan Saskia van Schaik (VPRO) Sonja Schneider (ZDF/3sat) The Dutch Cultural Broadcast Foundation, CoBO Fund June 12 th 2009, Doku Arts Festival in Amsterdam Broadcast premiere: June 26 th 2009 World sales: Festival requests: Publicity: Pieter van Huystee Film Pieter van Huystee cell: / [email protected] Curien Kroon [email protected] Curien Kroon / Pieter van Huystee Film Phone: / [email protected]

3 LOGLINE Director Frank Scheffer follows the Iranian composer and conductor Nader Mashayekhi who has reemigrated to his native country after 30 years to realize his dream in Tehran: founding a symphony orchestra in order to perform both western and traditional Persian music. The film shows how the young musicians perform and perceive western music. This creates a different image of the Iranian society than is usually shown to us. SYNOPSIS In the Islamic country Iran, music is considered an unimportant art. The spoken word is regarded by Persians as much more important. For them the poetry of a poet like Hafez is the highest that can be achieved in the arts. When they hear music, their first question will be what it is saying. The poetry of abstract sound is something they cannot understand. Persians simply cannot listen and I want to do something about that. Those are the words of the Persian conductor and composer Nader Mashayekhi. In Frank Scheffer s new film, the Dutch director follows the Iranian composer Nader Mashayekhi back to Tehran, while he struggles with the foundation of his Tehran Philharmonic Orchestra. Mashayekhi had previously brought the music of modern composers like John Cage to Iran and a performance of Bach s St. John Passion, almost unbelievable projects in times of the official conservative and radical cultural policies of the country. The Iranian composer worked and lived in Vienna for 28 years and after an invitation by Iranian musicians he returned to his home country. Scheffer's film reveals rather a cultural philisophical than a political approach. The film shows another image of life in Iran, looking at young Iranian musicians and how they perceive and experience playing contemporary western music and what it means to them. By integrating visuals with the rhythms of the compositions a captivating, spiritual and melancholic journey emerges, not only concerning the question of being an artist in Iran nowadays

4 BIOGRAPHY FRANK SCHEFFER DIRECTOR Frank Scheffer (b.1956, in The Netherlands) is international recognized as a master of sound and image. He founded Allegri Film Company, which specializes in documentaries on music and art. Scheffer was schooled at the Academy for Industrial Design (Eindhoven), Vrije Academie Art College (Den Haag) where he studied with the famous experimental filmmaker Frans Zwartjes and is a graduate from the Dutch Film Academy (Amsterdam). Early films include Zoetrope People (1982), a documentary on Francis Ford Coppola and his studio with Wim Wenders, Tom Waits, Vittorio Storraro and others, as well as documentaries on the Dalai Lama and various socio/cultural subjects. In 1985 he directed the music video A Day for the band XYMOX on the 4AD label, leading him towards musical subjects saw his short experimental films Wagner s Ring, a condensed version of Richard Wagner s opera The Ring of the Nibelungen in 3 50 conceived with John Cage; and Stoperas 1/2 which was created to be shown with Cage s Europeras 1 & 2. Collaborations with Cage continued with the conceptual film Chessfilmnoise (1988), a documentary on Cage and Elliott Carter Time Is Music (1988), and From Zero (1995) in collaboration with Cage s assistant Andrew Culver. Scheffer s films on music constitute an overview of the great composers of the 20th century from Conducting Mahler (1996) on the famous 1995 Mahler Festival in Amsterdam with Bernard Haitink, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti and Sir Simon Rattle; to Five Orchestral Pieces (1994) on Arnold Schönberg s work Funf Orchesterstucke, opus 16 conducted by Michael Gielen, and The Final Chorale (1990) on Igor Stravinsky s Symphony of Wind Instruments conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw. Furthermore documentaries including Louis Andriessen The Road, (1997), conducted by Peter Eötvös; Luciano Berio Voyage to Cythera, (1999), on his Sinfonia conducted by the composer; Pierre Boulez Éclat (1993) conducted by Ed Spanjaard, and (Helicopter String quartet, (1996) with Karlheinz Stockhausen and The Arditti String quartet. The history of Electronic Music, from Stockhausen to DJ Spooky and Squarepusher, was the subject of Sonic Acts (1998). Which was followed by three experimental projects searching for the influence of the digital medium in film and music: Sonic Images (1998), Sonic Fragments / The Poetics of Digital Fragmentation (1999), Sonic Genetics (2000). In 1999, Scheffer made Music for Airports, ambient video on Brian Eno s music of the same name as arranged by Bang on a Can founders Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, David Lang and Evan Ziporyn. The sprawling In the Ocean (2001), on present day New York composers, features Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Elliott Carter, John Cage, Brian Eno and the Bang on a Can founders. Scheffer is also working on several in depth films on specific composers Frank Zappa: The Present Day Composer Refuses to Die (2000) on Frank Zappa, in cooperation with the Zappa Family Trust, featuring The Mothers of Invention, Pierre Boulez and Ensemble Modern and the 90-minute documentary feature Frank Zappa: Phaze II, The Big Note (2002), that was followed by a two part series Frank Zappa: A Pioneer of the Future of Music, part 1&2 This work in process based on Zappa s idea of conceptual continuity will be completed with a two hour cinema-version. Scheffer has been following and filming Elliott Carter for 25 years; this culminated in a two part series for television A Labyrinth of Memory (2003) and a feature length documentary A Labyrinth of Time (2004), a unique portrait on the composer as well as an overview of the history of modernism in the 20th century.

5 In 2005 the feature documentary 'Tea' based on 'Tea-Opera' composed by Tan Dun, with Pierre Audi (Director) and Xiu Ying Li (libretto), had its world-premiere in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2006 a retrospective of his work and a Docu-Concert was exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York A feature documentary on composer Edgard Varése will be ready in the summer of 2009 and a feature documentary on the Tehran Philharmonic Orchestra and its chief conductor, the Iranian composer Nader Mashayekhi will be released in Currently he is writing a script for a trilogy based in China concerning the philosophy of Confucius and Lao-Tze. In the future a dramatic feature based on 'The Zauberflote' composed by Wolgang Amadeus Mozart is planned In addition to numerous critical and festival awards, Scheffer was honored with a complete retrospective of his films at the 2001 Holland Festival and the 2007 festival Wien Modern in Vienna, Austria.

6 FILMOGRAPHY PIETER VAN HUYSTEE FILM In 1995 Pieter van Huystee started his own production company. Since then he has produced 135 film projects, most of them documentaries, but also feature and short films and single plays with both renowned Dutch filmmakers like Johan van der Keuken, Heddy Honigmann and Peter Delpeut and young talented directors. In 2000, Pieter van Huystee was awarded a Golden Calf, the highest distinction in the Dutch film industry, for his work as a producer. Documentaries include a.o. AMSTERDAM GLOBAL VILLAGE (Johan van der Keuken, 1995) Prix des Cinémas de Récherche Marseille 1997, Dokumentärpreis des Bayerischen Rundfunks Munich 1997, THE GREAT POSTAL ROAD (Bernie IJdis, 1995); O AMOR NATURAL (Heddy Honigmann, 1996) Prix Italia 1997, Certificate of Merit Golden Gate San Francisco 1997, THE UNDERGROUND ORCHESTRA (Heddy Honigmann) Prix SCAM Cinéma du Réel Paris 1998, Jury Award Yamagata 1999, THE LONG HOLIDAY (Johan van der Keuken, 1999) Silver Spire Award San Francisco 2000, Special Honorary Award Thessaloniki 2000, BUÑUEL S PRISONERS (Ramón Gieling, 2000) Don Quijote Critic s Award Leipzig 2000, CRAZY (Heddy Honigmann, 2000) Audience Award IDFA 1999, Golden Calf Utrecht 2000; THE LAST YUGOSLAVIAN FOOTBALL TEAM (Vuk Janic, 2000) EBU Best Sports Documentary 2001; DUTCH APPROACH (René Roelofs, 2000) Comenius Sonderpreis Medaille Germany 2001, Dutch Academy Award 2001, FOR THE TIME BEING (Johan van der Keuken), Official selection Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Cannes 2002, LAGOS/KOOLHAAS (Bregtje van der Haak, 2002); LA MANO (Heddy Honigmann, 2003); International première Museum of Modern Art New York, Official selection IDFA 2003 ; ARNA S CHILDREN (Juliano Mer Khamis / Danniel Danniel, 2003) Official selection IDFA 2003; PUTIN S MAMA (Ineke Smits, 2003) Official selection IDFA 2003, Best Dutch Documentary HotDocs 2004 ; JOHAN CRUIJFF EN UN MOMENTO DADO (Ramón Gieling, 2004); THE RED YEARS (Leo de Boer, 2005) selected for the Highlights of the Lowlands IDFA 2005 ; GOD IS MY DJ (Carin Goeijers, 2006), shown at the IFFR 2005 and in national theatres; IN EUROPE (36 epsiode series based on the bestseller In Europe by Geert Mak); THE DICTATOR HUNTER (Klaartje Quirijns, 2007) Nominated European Film Academy Award 2008, Best Documentary Courmayeur Noir In Festival Italy 2007; FACES (GMax, 2007) Official selection Joris Ivens competition IDFA 2007; JOAQUIN SABINA 19 DIAS Y 500 NOCHES (Ramon Gieling, 2008) Official selection IFFR 2008; SWEETY (Menna Laura Meijer, 2008); ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL (Orhan Eskikoy & Ozgur Dogan, 2008) Official selection Joris Ivens competition IDFA 2008; CARMEN MEETS BORAT (Mercedes Stalenhoef, 2008) Official selection Joris Ivens Competition IDFA 2008, Dutch Entry Oscars 2009; THE NEW RIJKSMUSEUM (Oeke Hoogendijk, 2008); CRIPS (Joost van der Valk & Mags Gavan, 2009) Features and single plays include FELICE.. FELICE.. (Peter Delpeut, 1998) Golden Calf Best Feature and Best Male Performance (Johan Leysen) Utrecht 1998, Best Visualisation Chicago 1998, DISGRACE (Ramón Gieling, 1998), NOORDELOOS (Kees Vlaanderen, 2001) FIPA d Or Meilleure Interprétation Féminine (Juul Vrijdag) Biarritz 2001, QUICKSAND (Kees Vlaanderen, 2004) Dutch Academy Award 2004 for Best Male Performance (Johnny de Mol) ; STILL WORLD (Elbert van Strien, 2005) Nominated a Golden Calf for Best Short Film Utrecht By combining daring with decisiveness, Pieter van Huystee Film nowadays has become one of the leading Dutch independent production companies, highly esteemed for the quality and wide range of its projects. Moreover, many of its documentaries and features are screened at festivals all over the world and have been awarded many times.

7 CREDITS For Han van Essen Director Frank Scheffer Script Michael Dreyer Frank Scheffer Camera Melle van Essen Camera-assistant Sander Roeleveld Sound Harold Jalving Editor Daan Wierda Assistant director Sara Behrad Postproduction supervisor Loods Lux & Lumen Ruud de Bruijn Grading Jef Grosfeld Subtitling Ernestina van de Noort Publicity Curien Kroon

8 Production Iran Amir Hossein Ahooie Pegah Vill Negin Kalantari Natalie Durst Neda Kazemi Production Rosan Boersma Sylvia Baan Mirjam Bal Claire van den Ende Commissioning editors Saskia van Schaik (VPRO) Sonja Schneider (ZDF/3sat) Producer Pieter van Huystee This film was Funded by Dutch Cultural Broadcasting Fund CoBO Fund Thanks to Asseman Hall Mohammad Mehdi Heidarian Mahmoud Fatollahi, Rahmat Alizadeh Neda Kavoosi, Sharareh Irai, Rob van der Doe Eva Schneidereit, Omid Pourhashemi, Shari Parsipoor, Mehran Razaghi,Lucas van Woerkum Ernestine Stoop, Iris Oltheten, Ali Shafai, Ehsan Naderi, Majid Mohit, Mehdi Behboodi, Mohammad Nadali Pieter van Huystee Film / VPRO / ZDF 3sat