Pianomania

Stefan weavers, Pierre- Laurent Aimard, Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel, Till Fellner, Julius Drake, Ian Bostridge, Igudesman and Joo

Pianomania - The search for the perfect sound is a German -Austrian documentary filmmakers Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis from 2009 The film reports from the perspective of Stefan weavers, piano tuner and concert technician with Steinway & Sons, in a humorous way about his work. with great pianists like Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel and Pierre -Laurent Aimard.

Content

In the center of the film is the joint work of Pierre -Laurent Aimard and Stefan weavers. " The Art of Fugue " by Johann Sebastian Bach to be recorded. Pierre -Laurent Aimard has opted for the grand piano No. 109 on the occasion of the Bach recordings. A year before the recording of the film begins.

Weavers studied the sound of historical keyboard instruments from Bach's time. He experimented with silencers made ​​of felt and glass with sound levels. But after a few months of the 109s wing is just sold to Australia and this is not the last obstacle that the two stands in the way. Weavers and Aimard meet regularly, but the way up to the highly anticipated "Bravo" the pianist is long. In addition to plot strands occur on other musicians.

So one afternoon, a rather sleepy artist in jeans and colorful sneakers. It is the Chinese star pianist Lang Lang, who is a guest at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Still suffering from jet lag, he must choose an instrument and allude. His densely packed touring schedule leaves little time for individual settings. For this he requires almost shyly after a heavy bench that will hold up through his extroverted style of playing without slipping. His appearance in the Great Hall completed the piano superstar in a dark suit with a wild hairstyle. The bench holds up, he receives thunderous applause.

The sketches of the comedy duo Igudesman and Joo always parody the elitist world of music. Together with weavers, they can be the craziest scenarios for the next show.

When Grafenegg Music Festival in 2007 one of the last concerts of Alfred Brendel takes place. Weaver prepares the wing for him. Humorously is the star pianist his instructions.

Furthermore, the pianist Till Fellner and Julius Drake and the tenor Ian Bostridge have brief appearances.

Reception

PianoMania celebrated premiere in Locarno and met widely with a positive response. The German Film and Media Rating downgraded the documentation under the title " particularly valuable " and said that " the work behind the scenes intrigued until the last minute ." Even abroad, such as the Financial Times, the British press and the New York Times, referred to the film as exciting and the Los Angeles Times stated that the American film critics are very impressed with this documentation.

Moving

The film is totally observant. All scenes were recorded in Dolby Surround and in up to 90 audio tracks.

Festivals and Awards

In addition to the world's largest documentary film festival, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam ( IDFA ), PianoMania has been very successful run in many national and international film festivals program. These include, among others:

  • Max Ophüls Prize, Germany
  • Lünen Film Festival, Germany
  • Hof International Film Festival, Germany
  • DOK Leipzig, Germany
  • Unheard of Hamburg, Germany
  • Diagonal, Austria
  • Cork Festival, Ireland
  • Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland
  • Zurich Film Festival, Switzerland
  • Valladolid International Film Festival, Spain
  • Sheffield Doc / Fest, Great Britain
  • SoNoRo Bucharest, Romania
  • The Magnificent 7, Serbia
  • International Film Weekend Würzburg, Germany
  • Göteborg International Film Festival, Sweden
  • International Film Festival (Berlinale ), Germany
  • Jameson Dublin IFF, Ireland
  • Zagrebdox, Croatia
  • Sofia International Film Festival, Bulgaria
  • 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival, China
  • Macau International Film Festival, China
  • BAFICI - Festival International de Cinema Independiente Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • St. Paul International Film Festival Minneapolis, USA
  • Doc Outlook Market, Switzerland
  • San Francisco International Festival, USA
  • DOK.fest Munich, Germany
  • Planet Doc Review Film Festival, Poland
  • Moscow International Film Festival, Russia
  • Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia
  • New Zealand International Film Festival, New Zealand
  • Semana de Cine Aleman in Cinemateca Nacional Mexico City, Mexico
  • Austrian Cultural Forum in Washington DC, USA
  • Flickers - Rhode Iceland International Film Festival, USA
  • Jecheon International Music & Film Festival, South Korea

PianoMania has been awarded several times in the course of his festival participation and celebrated by both critics and viewers.

In May 2010 PianoMania was honored with the Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary at the 53rd International Film Festival in San Francisco. In January 2010 PianoMania received the Audience Award at the 36th International Film weekend end of Würzburg in the documentary category. At the 20th Cinema Festival in Lünen PianoMania won the main prize - the " Lüdia " - as an audience award. In addition PianoMania received the award for "Best Artistic Montage " on the diagonal in Graz and was awarded at the Locarno Film Festival as the best film in the "Critics Week".

Pianomania was further nominated for the 22th European Film Awards by the European Film Academy (EFA ).

The first award of the Austrian Film Prize 2011 nomination followed in the category of Best Documentary. In the same year PianoMania won the German Film Award in the category Best Sound.

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