By Denise Dunbar | ddunbar@alextimes.com
Some things are worth waiting for. The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s performance on Saturday night, a collaboration with the Alexandria Film Festival during which the symphony performed music by American composers to accompany six AFF-commissioned films, was such an event.
Two years in the making and postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, this is likely the start of an ongoing partnership between two of Alexandria’s pre-eminent arts organizations.
As ASO Maestro James Ross said in introducing the performance, “The challenge to the filmmakers was, ‘What do they see when they hear these six great pieces of American music?’”
The answer was, “Beautiful things.”
We are all used to hearing a score while watching a movie. Sometimes the music simply hovers in the background creating mood or building tension, while other times the soundtrack takes center stage. But hearing the music played live while watching films that were created with the express intent of matching the music frame by note provided a memorable emotional wallop.
All six short films were well-crafted, and all six are available to watch today through Nov. 25 as part of the 2021 Alexandria Film Festival with pre-recorded versions of the same compositions.
Two of the film/music couplings stood out and at times left the audience gasping with admiration: film “Beat the Machine” by Shannon Washington, which was paired with Aaron Copland’s composition “John Henry,” and film “Kite” by Michael Fallavollita that ascended with Jennifer Higdon’s “Blue Cathedral.”
Washington used dance to help the audience not just see but feel the lives of John Henry and other Black historical figures. Amazing dance moves caused the film to change course in precision with shifts in the music, while other worldly lighting gave the scenes a heavenly dimension that helped take audiences on a rapid journey from present day, through history and back.
The post-concert question and answer session was another treat, as all six filmmakers joined Ross and AFF Executive Director Patti North on stage to discuss the films. Washington said that “Beat the Machine” was “an adventure through history using dance. … John Henry was folklore, but he was also an actual person.”
The backstory behind Fallavollita’s “Kite” was also fascinating. Originally a 30-minute short movie called “Tale of the Kite,” Fallavollita reworked the film to 10 minutes to pair with “Blue Cathedral.” Because Fallavollita had worked on the film several times over an 11-year period, the same actor played the current-day pilot, who is seen wandering in the desert after his plane crashes, and the 10-year-old version of the pilot who is shown in flashbacks.
The film, and concert, ended with the pilot, who may or may not be dead, flying his childhood kite with his grandfather when the string runs out and the music jolts to a stop.
“I was blown away by what we saw here tonight,” Fallavollita said during the Q&A session. “Tonight was the first time I’ve seen my movie with a musical score. It’s hard for your own movie to touch you, but Jim [Ross] did that.”
The concert kicked off with ASO playing Aaron Copland’s “Our Town” with the film “Alexandria: Our Town” by Andrea Kalin showing behind the orchestra on a screen that probably needed to be about twice as large. Due to the layout and vastness of the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center on the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College, the audience was seated farther away than they normally would be in a movie theater.
Kalin’s film featured footage old and new of all areas of Alexandria. While most of the scenes depicted were serene – Old Town cobblestones, children going to school, families in the park – others revealed social unrest and protests. The film showed the removal of the Appomattox Civil War statue that used to stand at the intersection of Prince and South Washington streets, then vehicles passing over the former site of the statue.
Next up was the animated short “Among the Clouds” by Alexi Scheiber that was set to the tune of “Clouds” from “Roman Sketches” by Charles Griffes. Scheiber’s film shows birds and nature in vibrant hues, contrasted with black and white scenes of urban congestion and pollution. A tag at the end said the film was “dedicated to clean air and water.”
In the Q&A, Scheiber said her film was a celebration of nature, and she focused on the cardinal for the Homegrown series since it’s the state bird of Virginia.
Jane Pittman’s “An American Scene: Black Lives Matter,” which was paired with “Manhattan Skyline” from “The American Scene: The East” by William Grant Still, featured beautiful old footage of Black American cultural life. People were dressed up for dinners and concerts, working and attending church and plays. The footage shifted to Martin Luther King, Jr., protests and the destruction from riots following MLK’s assassination, then to signs in windows that read “Black owned business,” before ending with graffiti that said, “It’s OK to be Black.”
Tim McLoraine’s “Housatonic at Stockbridge,” paired to music of the same name by Charles Ives from Ives’ “Three Places in New England,” was an appealing kaleidoscope of images. Natural scenes, including reflections of sky and nature, people on a raft and swimming in a river, are accompanied by serene music that then builds to a crescendo of machines, cars, traffic and city life obliterating nature, before the chaos gives way to calm tones and vistas.
Ross managed to tie everything together by interspersing Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” – the movements of which were themselves paired with still photos – between the films. Ross said in answer to a question during the post-concert session that he sequenced the films after “Alexandria: Our Town” mainly by utilizing common tones from each film’s accompanying musical piece and the different movements of “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
It worked wonderfully, resulting in a memorable evening that was both challenging and rewarding as audience members strained to take in every element of the multi-sensory feast.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2021 ALEXANDRIA FILM FESTIVAL
The Alexandria Film Festival kicks off tonight and is offered virtually on the Eventive platform.
Viewers can watch the films any time within the two-week period from Nov. 11 through midnight on Thanksgiving Day. Showcase tickets are $12 while an all-festival pass is $75. Showcases – blocks of films organized around a theme – include numerous Q&A sessions with film directors, producers, actors and composers. Tickets and All Fest Passes may be purchased at AlexFilmFest.com.
The festival features the Burke & Herbert Bank Family Showcase, which includes films by and about young people. Two “Salute to Service Members” showcases are offered free of charge to active and retired service members to celebrate the Veterans Day weekend falling during the festival.
