Seven years ago, in his debut documentary "Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037," director Ben Niles uniquely explored the creation of the titular instrument from pulling together the raw materials to rolling it out on a concert stage. And with his sophomore effort "Some Kind Of Spark," Niles takes a look at the classical world again, this time focusing on the young talent who are aspiring to go as far as their skills take them. The filmmaker's latest documentary takes a look at Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program, which focuses on inner-city youth. It gives those in the classes the kind of attention and musical education many would likely never have the opportunity to receive otherwise, and "Some Kind Of Spark" explores how it changes and impacts the students' lives. "Some Kind Of Spark" will make its World Premiere at Doc NYC on Sunday, November 16th. Watch below.
- 11/4/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
This past weekend at the Camden International Film Festival, Mike Attie and Meghan O'Hara's pitch for their Vietnam War reenactor film "In Country," came out as the Points North Pitch winner. The pair's film was up against seven other projects, including Ben Niles' "Some Kind of Spark," which won Indiewire and Ciff's Project of the Week contest this September. After expanding the Pitch contest to documentary filmmakers from across the U.S. (previously, the Pitch was only open to projects from New England-based filmmakers), Points North Producer Sean Flynn said the number of applicants doubled. Attie, in fact, is from Seattle, and O'Hara is based in San Francisco. While there are quite a few other pitch contests (Toronto's Hot Docs Forum hosts a pitch contest; Britdoc and the Sundance Institute Documentary Program host the roaming issue doc pitch program Good Pitch), Camden's Points North Pitch Contest may...
- 10/2/2012
- by Bryce J. Renninger
- Indiewire
Thanks to your votes, the musical youth documentary "Some Kind of Spark" won this past weekend’s special Camden International Film Festival Project of the Week contest! Congratulations to “Some Kind of Spark" director Ben Niles. The filmmaker will receive a digital distribution consultation from SnagFilms and the film is now officially a candidate for Project of the Month, the winner of which will receive a consultation from the Tribeca Film Institute. “Some Kind of Spark,” is a feature-length documentary that follows at risk inner-city kids through the Music Advancement Program at The Juilliard School. Independently produced and directed by Plow Productions—the only production company to have been granted unfettered access to the program—the film is an intimate look behind the scenes, from auditions to recitals, at home and in school—as the students are exposed to, and inspired by, the profound impact of music. Shot...
- 9/4/2012
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Plow Prods.
A vanishing style of manufacturing is chronicled in exhaustive detail in this film by Ben Niles detailing the hand-crafted construction of a Steinway piano over the course of a year. If its feature-length running time inevitably results in some degree of repetition, Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 is nonetheless a fascinating documentary that more than just piano lovers can enjoy. It recently received its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
The Steinway & Sons factory, located in Astoria, Queens, makes a decidedly high-end product, commanding prices for its instruments starting at $25,000. That's because this 150-year-old institution produces a mere 2,000 or so pianos a year, compared with the about 100 a day produced by competitors.
The film follows the course of one such instrument, No. L1037, from the search for its wood in the forests of Alaska to its eventual display at Manhattan's Steinway Hall. The numbers tell the story: Each piano is made up of about 12,000 parts, as assembled by a team of 450 craftsmen working by hand. These blue-collar workers, bearing such distinctive job titles as "belly maker," "grand finisher" and "final tone inspector," represent a range of ethnicities.
This manufacturing process results in pianos that are idiosyncratically distinctive, a trait testified to in the film by such musical luminaries as Helene Grimaud, Lang Lang, Hank Jones and Harry Connick Jr.
The film's soundtrack naturally includes numerous piano selections as played by these and other notable musicians.
A vanishing style of manufacturing is chronicled in exhaustive detail in this film by Ben Niles detailing the hand-crafted construction of a Steinway piano over the course of a year. If its feature-length running time inevitably results in some degree of repetition, Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 is nonetheless a fascinating documentary that more than just piano lovers can enjoy. It recently received its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's Film Forum.
The Steinway & Sons factory, located in Astoria, Queens, makes a decidedly high-end product, commanding prices for its instruments starting at $25,000. That's because this 150-year-old institution produces a mere 2,000 or so pianos a year, compared with the about 100 a day produced by competitors.
The film follows the course of one such instrument, No. L1037, from the search for its wood in the forests of Alaska to its eventual display at Manhattan's Steinway Hall. The numbers tell the story: Each piano is made up of about 12,000 parts, as assembled by a team of 450 craftsmen working by hand. These blue-collar workers, bearing such distinctive job titles as "belly maker," "grand finisher" and "final tone inspector," represent a range of ethnicities.
This manufacturing process results in pianos that are idiosyncratically distinctive, a trait testified to in the film by such musical luminaries as Helene Grimaud, Lang Lang, Hank Jones and Harry Connick Jr.
The film's soundtrack naturally includes numerous piano selections as played by these and other notable musicians.
- 12/10/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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