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Sundance Diary

Lili Haydn

Jan 25 2009

From the outside, it must have seemed like we descended onto this villiage of mormons like a swarm of creative locusts, with our blackberries, film schedules, and fancy Uggs.  From the inside, to me Sundance was rich like a pomegranate;  a ruby farm of artists sweetened by their travels and tragedy and imagination, pouring inspiration’s syrum into their films and scores and images.  I was inspired and humbled by all the composers at the BMI composer director panel.  Rolfe Kent, and George S. Clinton shared insights how they score action scenes and the denouement.  On the music in film night, I played and sang songs from my record and from the film i composed “Over the Hills and Far Away” with Kim Carroll and the Doors’ John Densmore for a room full of rubies, listening with empathy, presence, and appreciation, as we opened for Spike Lee’s Stew, and Billy Bob Thornton. 

Every party seemed the same, sponsored by Absynth, which tastes like licorice flavored after shave, and the same techno beat, except for the delicious BMI dinner, where composers and film makers dined, and then were forced to reconfigure with each illustrious course of food.  thank you Doreen and Marlene and Ray for creating such a delightful evening.  I get such a rush from chatting with this tribe of true music people. 

I came away from Sundance with a ton of ideas that i can’t wait to try, and a certainty that I will be back, and hopefully soon to participate in the composers’ lab.

Craig Richey

Jan 24 2009

A day at Sundance always feels more like a week. You have a week’s worth of experiences, meet a week’s worth of people, and the days have a way of forming themselves into back-to-back events you had no idea you were going to attend upon waking. 2009 for me has been the best yet of the four consecutive years I have been going. Thanks to BMI and to Doreen in particular. Doreen has this incredible way of just creating an organic community of like-minded people who naturally connect with each other. And it makes sense.  People that get and love Doreen are likely to love each other! So, as always, it was a big ‘ole love fest. The Roundtable panel was fantastic. I learned so much from hearing my colleagues speak about their process. George S. Clinton was among the panelists and told the three of us who are Sundance Composer’s Lab alums that he felt like a ‘proud papa’. George embodies all the best things about an ideal papa: even-handed, consistent, and tender loving kindness, support, respect, humor, sincerity and honesty. I will always remember his arrival as an advisor in the Lab and how his presence instantly disarmed any insecurity. He truly encouraged us to take risks and even to welcome failure. How can magic happen if you are clutching so hard to your ego and trying so desperately to be ‘good’…? I need to remind myself of this every time I walk into my studio.

Another highlight for me was the ‘Magnificent Howling Audience Score Shop’. When I first heard about it on a conference call with Doreen, George, Rolfe Kent, and Izler, I just took a deep breath and thought ‘OK, you are just supposed to say yes’, hung up the phone and had a momentary panic attack. Then I remembered George. He’d be there. He’d be reminding us all to just jump in the deep end and give it a whirl. So I started ‘planning’ how I could use the audience to write my on-the-spot composition. Blowing in beer bottles, tapping with utensils, getting the rims of wine glasses to whir and sing. It would be amazing. I’d create an ostinato, build counterpoint, add rhythm. My genius would be undeniable! When I got to the Sundance House that night, I quickly realized that the wine glasses were plastic, beer bottles very sparsely spread through the crowd, very quiet (I could barely get mine to make any sound at all) and no utensils either. OK, ‘just drink’. Don’t over-think it. (The plastic glasses actually did make a cool crunching sound if you squeezed them, and better yet, the audience would have to gulp the rest of their drink down first!)

But then Rolfe read his beautifully vivid and imaginative story as each of us looked at the photo that would be projected during our segments, and like the magic of a scene in a film, all my ‘plans’ were moot! There was an image in front of me, and words, and they demanded their own fresh interpretation. What a great reminder – not to get too far ahead. Let the scene tell me what it needs. Rolfe, who dreamed up the event, was amazing at getting the crowd to relax and participate, and ‘warmed them up’ for us. Whew! Everyone was awesome and different. Duncan Sheik and David Poe brought the house down when they called each other’s cell phone, sang into it, and then put the phones together around the mic to create an amazing electronic feedback loop as Rolfe’s UFO appeared!

I was last, and made my bit as short and sweet as I could and invited the audience to explore their own ability to harmonize. Their final chord was really beautiful, gently filling the room with an uplifting, almost angelic chorus. It was so humbling because it reminded me that the music was not ‘mine’ - it never is. It doesn’t belong to anyone. It is music. And like water, it just searches for any opening it can find, flowing through each of us in it’s own particular way.

Ben Decter

Jan 24 2009

Talk about community!  In every sense of the word, I am amazed by the coming-togetherness provided by this past week at Sundance.  As if spending a rare week together with my family away from the pressures of school and work weren’t enough; as if getting to spend time with my favorite lesbians weren’t enough (lest you think I’m offbase here, my sister-in-law and her partner requested such a shout-out!); as if having the opportunity to bond with others like myself, who toil in studios writing melodies and constructing beats and harmonies weren’t enough; as if screeching down the beautiful slopes of Park City with my 9 year old son, Leo, weren’t enough; and running into my college roommate, and being offered constantly refilled glasses of wine, and meeting all kinds of fellow travelers … Well, what a special time!  And then, on top of all this, to learn moments ago that the film I co-scored (with one of my new favorite people, Marco d’Ambrosio) won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentaries.  Well, I think I’ll chalk this up as one of the great weeks of my life.  Thanks Doreen.  Thanks BMI.  What fun.

Christopher Lennertz

Jan 24 2009

It was so amazing to be part of all the events that BMI had at Sundance this year. I think I learned as much being on the panel as anyone in the audience. One of the things I like most about Sundance is the opportunity to hear how other directors and composers approach storytelling and how they collaborate to create a score that is just right for their film. The whole experience of getting away from Los Angeles and spending a week in a small mountain town with other people who are just as crazy about making movies as you are is a huge jolt to one’s creativity and I usually leave there reminded of why I chose to do this in the first place. This year was no different…except for the fact that I got to see George Clinton conduct a huge audience orgasm! Priceless. Thanks Doreen, Ray, Linda, and Anne for putting on so many great events. As always, you guys are amazing!

Peter Golub

Jan 23 2009

I’ve been going to the Sundance Film Festival for ten years now.  I’m always there in my capacity as Director of the Sundance Film Music Program but often also as composer of films being shown. This year I was too busy running around taking care of my official duties (concerts, panels, fund-raising, etc) to see as many films as I usually do.
Crowds were down a bit this year, because of the general economic malaise.  Main street wasn’t as packed as it usually is.  The good news is that there were fewer people there to gawk at celebrities and the focus did seem to be more on films.

There was one film I saw that I found so moving and surprising and oddly satisfying, that I thought it might be worth writing about here. That film is PUSH, directed by Lee Daniels and based on the novel by Sapphire.  A very difficult film to describe - and I’m sure an almost impossible one to market - it centers around an overweight, inarticulate, illiterate, unemotional 15-year old girl, pregnant by her father for the SECOND time, and faced with a hostile and abusive mother.  The director manages to create worlds, both actual and in fantasy, that tell this story in the most surprising way.  It is wildly innovative and daring filmmaking, the kind we all talk about and hope to see.  The performances are truly memorable, especially Gabourey Sidibe as the protagonist, Precious Jones, and Mo’Nique as her mother.  There are also vivid supporting performances by Mariah Carey (as a shrink) and Lenny Kravitz (a male nurse).  In depicting this deeply unpleasant world so compassionately, Lee Daniels made a film that I couldn’t and still can’t stop thinking about.

Meira Blaustein

Jan 23 2009

Tuesday morning started in Park City like everywhere else in the United States, with folks gathering in places, public or private, to watch the Inauguration. Ilene Marder and I were fortunate to be invited to the BMI condo by Woodstock Film Festival’s friends Doreen Ringer Ross and Linda Livingston, so first thing in the morning we headed down to the Caledonian at the bottom of Main Street for an intimate viewing party. The BMI condo happens to be overlooking the public gathering on Main Street, where a giant screen and numerous flat screens were set up, broadcasting loud and clear the whole process to the delight of the hundreds who gathered there, young and old, Sundance participants and regular folks, all celebrating the momentous occasion together. The sun was shining and the air was filled with camaraderie and excitement. While keeping the doors open so we could get a sense of the crowd below, a group of us, including film producers, industry CEOs, composers and musicians all gathered together in the condo over a great breakfast, tears in many people’s eyes, as we watched the historic inauguration. It was a memorable event, one that no one in the room will ever forget. My thanks to the wonderful folks at BMI for inviting us to join them.

Soon enough it was back to business as everyone dispersed to their respective screenings, meetings and events.

T. Griffin

Jan 23 2009

Before the BMI Sundance Director/Composer roundtable, director Tze Chun and I looked at the lineup. 19 people on a panel!? Isn’t it going to be like a bag of cats, total chaos? But we were also thrilled to be asked to participate. Those other 17 people on the panel were some pretty heavy hitters.

We were there because Tze’s film Children Of Invention, which I scored was premiering at the festival. It’s his first feature, and it’s getting an amazing response. It was my first feature score to play at Sundance, and I was there just 6 months after spending three great weeks at the Sundance Composers’ Lab as a fellow this summer.

When we got to the auditorium there was a huge semi circle of stools—20 of them—and a microphone on every one. Tze joked that it looked like the Wu Tang Clan was going to perform. Pretty soon all the panelists filtered in and the room was packed with audience and panel. The energy was great and it was definitely the biggest and buzziest panel audience I saw at the festival.

Any fears that so many panelists would create chaos evaporated as Doreen Ringer-Ross orchestrated a long freewheeling, heartfelt and hilarious two hour of talk about the possibilities and pitfalls of the director/composer relationship.

The discussion quickly turned to the extreme circumstances under which most films are finished, with impossible deadlines, last minute changes and financial straights contributing to the mayhem. We all agreed that an appetite for a kind of artistic white water rafting is necessary in film music, and all the director/composer pairs had come up with ways to keep the artistic decisions safe during the process. Everyone agreed that more time, bigger budgets and the help of music supervisors and music editors would be wonderful. Quick reflexes, teamwork, mutual respect, a sense of adventure and a sense of humor are absolutely necessary.

When I arrived at the Sundance Composers Lab this summer I don’t think I had ever even met another film composer, though I had scored 8 features at that point. One of the things that I loved the most about the experience was that it gave us all an opportunity to work together and learn from one another. This BMI roundtable was an opportunity to expand that circle tenfold.  It was a sort of Composers’ Lab reunion, with former fellows (Craig Richey and myself), Lab advisors (George S. Clinton and Rolfe Kent), and the Sundance Institute’s own Peter Golub on the panel, and many former fellows in the audience and at the BMI Snowball party later that night.  I’m already looking forward to next year.

Thanks Doreen, Sundance and BMI!

George S. Clinton

Jan 23 2009

Best Sundance yet! Perfect weather. Scott Holtzman and I got a cool condo together as usual.

Great Composer’s Roundtable Wednesday helmed by Doreen.

I was proud to see that 3 fellows I advised at the Sundance Composers Lab had films at the festival and were included.

Rolfe Kent’s experiment in live scoring was a lot of fun to be part of and made the Snowball a truly unique experience this year.

Saw some great movies, Shrink, Arlen Faber, The Messenger.

The best and most memorable moment, though, was watching the Obama inauguration with my Sundance “family” in the BMI condo above Main Street. Hundreds of Sundancers had gathered in the street below in front of the monitors to witness the moment. Lots of cheering and crying and laughing. It was like a mini Woodstock. This is, indeed, a new era. We have chosen hope!

iZLER

Jan 22 2009

“The Sundance Virgin”

Monday evening….I’m frantically trying to finish the mix on my current movie Whatever It Takes before packing up my snowshoes and heading off to the Sundance festival. My first……

Since attending this summer’s Sundance Composer’s Lab I’ve been scoring one of the documentaries that participated in the program and finally, we’re mixing the score – it’s 6pm and I’ve been in the studio for 20 hours ….. as I was the previous night and the night previous to that. I haven’t showered in three days and I smell like a French brothel. Just as we’re getting to the print stage, I realize that every effects setting in the entire movie has been deleted due to a random computer bug. Guess I’m not sleeping tonight then…..

Tuesday, the day of departure
5am….Printing the final mixes for the movie with my engineer. I have forgotten what my bed looks like, or for that matter, my wife.

6am….I kiss my wife goodbye at Burbank airport and hope I’ve packed enough socks.

8am.…a stewardess kindly taps me on the shoulder to remind me my seatbelt is undone and I’m drooling on myself in my sleep. Sexy.

10am….Get off the plane, catch the tail end of Barack Obama fluffing his lines at his inauguration speech on the airport gate’s TV.

12pm….Finally in Utah and checking into my hotel where my very kind benefactors are putting me up ….. As I introduce myself, I realize I’m probably not looking too hot and they probably think that offering me a place in their suite was some kind of terrible mistake.

3pm….So this is SUNDANCE. Main Street is chock full of people who all seem to know what they’re doing, unlike me. I have just begun sorting out passes, tickets and schedules when my phone starts to ring… and then keeps ringing…… every time I hang up someone else seems to find me and another round of hang outs, meetings and coffees ensues. I have so much caffeine in my system I could march to Peru and back without blinking.

9pm approximately…I think….I am at the 3rd party of the evening at producer Reuben Lim’s condo. This following a hitherto unplanned drive into the wilds of Utah in a car full of completely lost composers who’s sense of direction seems to be about as astute my sense of algebra. The evening is starting to take on a surreal hue, due presumably to sleep deprivation and the lack of food – I have completely forgotten to eat all day.

11pm….I’m having dinner with my good friend and fellow Labber T.Griffin in a not particularly good Japanese restaurant who’s prices must be aimed at Donald Trump. We are joined by Farid Haerinejad, a film maker who we both admire enormously, and contemplate heading to the next party. At this point I am barely keeping my eyes open and the combination of beer and caffeine is confusing the hell out of my synapses.

12pm…Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wednesday
I wake up at an undisclosed time with a suspiciously bad hangover. I don’t remember being that hammered but the headache and cottonmouth don’t lie…..

Tonight I will be taking the stage at the BMI Snowball along with Rolfe Kent, George S. Clinton, Craig Richie and several other composers to take part in Rolfe’s “Howling Mad Audience Score Workshop”. It’s as frightening as it sounds:

The brainchild of composer Rolfe Kent and the fabulous Doreen Ringer Ross (who has been keeping us all relatively sane here), the idea is that each of us take the stage after being given two lines and a still image from a story written for the event by Rolfe and be given 10 minutes to come up with a musical score for that scene using the audience, whatever we can find in the room and most importantly, no musical instruments. The story (which involves in no particular order, a barn, a flying unicorn and a UFO – naturally), will be read out by Rolfe as each of us flail around onstage attempting to conduct an audience who’s ability to participate will presumably be directly proportional to their intake of Absinthe.

Since this idea was hatched, I have in my own nervous fashion attempted to store secret weapons for the evening – my first idea being to arm the entire audience with kazoos having crashed and burned when Kazoos.com failed to deliver them to my house on time (“I’m assuming I will arrive home to a living room filled with kazoos” is not a sentence you hear very often).

My second idea to enlist the help of DJ Thomas Golubuic also ends up being totally inappropriate and I decide to man up and wing it like everybody else.

My slot is the third in the set, following on from Rolf.

I decide to split the audience into various orchestra sections, being the choir (bemused middle aged couples and Sundance staffers), the percussion section (people generally annoyed at having to stand up and use their seats as musical paraphenalia) and special effects (a bunch of slurringly drunk girls semi conscious on a sofa in front, who have to be fair, been providing special sound effects for the entire evening, regardless of anyone being on stage or not).

Enlisting the help of fellow Lab grads Nicholas Pavkovic and Vivek Madalla to lead the different sections, I attempt to coach and conduct the now severely drunken mob through 2 minutes of “music”, whilst Rolfe reads aloud the lines from his story like some mad wizard from Hogwarts. It’s surprisingly fun and effective.

The other composers come up with increasingly inventive and wacky ways to score their scenes (from Duncan Sheik using two cell phones for impromptu electronica to George S. Clinton conducting the entire audience through an orgasm, seemingly with no regard for the script whatsoever – my hero).

Following this and more schmoozing and drinking, I fall into bed too exhausted to write this blog.

With love, from iZLER

Sundance 2009 Diary

Jan 7 2009

BMI has been bringing music to the Sundance Film Festival for over 15 years and has been a committed partner in promoting the role of music in film since the festival’s inception. From presenting roundtable discussions with composers and filmmakers on the role and voice that music lends to independent film; showcasing some of the most unique and independent musical voices; and providing networking opportunities for composers, songwriters, filmmakers, music and film executives, press and industry, BMI has carried a vision of collaboration and partnership in music and film since the early 1980s.

We will be updating our Sundance events on a daily basis so please come back to stay informed!

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