Cinema-goers seem to be more interested in true stories and real people now than ever before, which is good news for those who like to tell true stories about real people. One such storyteller is documentary director Tim Slade, whose film Four opens in Brisbane at Dendy George Street tonight.
‘The film is a journey for the audience, a journey through the four corners of the world, that is at once familiar and unknown,’ said Slade. ‘It demonstrates that the timeless rhythms and harmonies of music, and the rhythms and harmonies of life and nature, are one and the same thing.’
Following on from a hit season in Sydney and sold out sessions at the Sydney and Melbourne International Film Festivals, Four is geared to delight Brisbane audiences with what critics have praised in such glowing terms as ‘vibrant and ambitious’, ‘sumptuous and very poignant’, ‘exquisite’, and ‘seamless’.
The film follows four world-class violinists from far-flung locations and backgrounds, one for each season and with Vivaldi’s iconic baroque violin concerto series, The Four Seasons, as an auditory backdrop.
Cinema-goers seem to be more interested in true stories and real people now than ever before, which is good news for those who like to tell true stories about real people. One such storyteller is documentary director Tim Slade, whose film Four opens in Brisbane at Dendy George Street tonight.
‘The film is a journey for the audience, a journey through the four corners of the world, that is at once familiar and unknown,’ said Slade. ‘It demonstrates that the timeless rhythms and harmonies of music, and the rhythms and harmonies of life and nature, are one and the same thing.’
Following on from a hit season in Sydney and sold out sessions at the Sydney and Melbourne International Film Festivals, Four is geared to delight Brisbane audiences with what critics have praised in such glowing terms as ‘vibrant and ambitious’, ‘sumptuous and very poignant’, ‘exquisite’, and ‘seamless’.
The film follows four world-class violinists from far-flung locations and backgrounds, one for each season and with Vivaldi’s iconic baroque violin concerto series, The Four Seasons, as an auditory backdrop.
The first quarter of the film, Spring/Tokyo, international violinist Sayaka Shoji leads young and brilliant students through Vivaldi’s Spring Concerto, revealing the timeless lessons in the music, and in their own culture.
In Summer/Australia, Niki Vasilakis travels from her home in Adelaide 3,000 km north to Waiben on Thursday Island to perform a concert with friends who come from all over our wide brown land.
Violinist Cho-Liang ‘Jimmy’ Lin is the ring leader of a cultural melting pot of musicians in Autumn/New York who reunite at the Barney Greengrass delicatessen on the city’s Upper West Side.
And finally, deep in Finnish Lapland, 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, the enigmatic violinist Pekka Kuusisto and his musician friends travel through the ice and dark to perform the Winter Concerto in a neighbourhood concert.
With an AFI Award nomination for best documentary (to be awarded in December this year), Slade and the team are already immensely proud of this artwork.
‘In a sense,’ Slade said, ‘Four is as simple and elegant as its original idea—to celebrate the four seasons in four different nations through the eyes and sounds of a brilliant violinist of that country.’
‘It grew organically, and took on, purely because of what the people we met felt—a strong sense of reminding us how beautiful our planet is, and our seasons, our homelands, and that we should be careful to take care of them.’
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For more information on Four and other Dendy films, go to www.dendy.com.au
Comments (1)
Sarah... this documentary is growing in popularity. One thing your readers might not know is that Pekka Kuusisto (featured in "Winter") is coming to Brisbane on 25 June and will be performing at the Conservatorium Theatre South Bank.
His concert will be like no other classical violin concert, he will play all sorts of music including Duke Ellingtion and modern improvisation.
Maybe you would like to come and write something about the concert? Just drop me a line!
Posted by Jeff Wecker | May 2, 2008 10:19 AM
Posted on May 2, 2008 10:19