Larry Weinstein

Larry Weinstein

Nascimento : , Toronto, Canada

História

Larry Weinstein is one of Canada's most prolific and accomplished documentary filmmakers, and has been honoured with retrospectives around the world and broadcasts in more than 40 countries. The majority of his 30 award-winning films centre on music and the creative process while his other subjects range from the horrors of war to the pleasures of football. His films consistently push the boundaries of conventional documentary storytelling by employing tools from fiction films, dramatic reconstructions, historical cinematic stylings, and impressionistic visuals. In 2007, Larry received the Cannes MipDoc International Trailblazer Award with the citation, "Weinstein is a deserving awardee for his creativity, originality, and risk-taking, and for pushing the genre of documentary forward."

Perfil

Larry Weinstein

Filmes

Propaganda: A Arte de Vender Mentiras
Director
From ancient cave paintings to Twitter feeds and deep fakes, propaganda's rapid progression hasn't compromised its potency. Tracing its effective use by religious figures, politicians and marketers, director Larry Weinstein crafts a persuasive study of the mechanics behind propaganda. This fascinating investigation confronts us with timely questions: If we grow up surrounded by propaganda, how do we know what is true? What risks are inherited by a society tricked into their perceptions? Freedom of speech is critical to a democracy's survival, yet demagogues have consistently exploited that freedom to coerce willing supporters. Contemporary artists, including Kent Monkman, Shepard Fairey and Ai Weiwei, analyze their politically motivated work, creatively co-opting the conventions of disinformation that have permeated their respective cultures. As our platforms for spreading ideas continue to expand in a digital age, dangerous lies have never been better disguised.
The Impossible Swim
Writer
In July 2018, Maya Farrell attempted her second crossing of Lake Ontario, following in the footsteps of great Canadian female marathon swimmers Marilyn Bell and Vicki Keith. Featuring interviews with Bell and Keith, 'The Impossible Swim' explores the legacy, what it takes physically and mentally to be a marathon athlete, and the new rising regime.
The Impossible Swim
Director
In July 2018, Maya Farrell attempted her second crossing of Lake Ontario, following in the footsteps of great Canadian female marathon swimmers Marilyn Bell and Vicki Keith. Featuring interviews with Bell and Keith, 'The Impossible Swim' explores the legacy, what it takes physically and mentally to be a marathon athlete, and the new rising regime.
Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas
Director
An offbeat, irreverent musical documentary that tells the story of a group of Jewish songwriters, including Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker and Johnny Marks, who wrote the soundtrack to Christianity’s most musical holiday. It’s an amazing tale of immigrant outsiders who became irreplaceable players in pop culture’s mainstream – a generation of songwriters who found in Christmas the perfect holiday in which to imagine a better world, and for at least one day a year, make us believe.
Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star
Director
Leslie Caron, beloved star of Gigi and An American in Paris, is one of the last witnesses to the golden age of American cinema of the mid 20th century. Discovered by Gene Kelly when she was a teenager, she became one of the great talents in the worlds of film, dance, and theatre, still performing to this day! The film reveals a story told through the prism of a living legend who reveals secrets of her work and life- a world of contradictions, ambitions and dreams, lived by one of its most luminous personalities.
Chifre do Diabo
Producer
From Adolphe Sax’s workshop to the legendary times of jazz and bebop, conquering the classical music stages, forbidden by Nazis and Communists and banned by the Pope: in its 170-year history the saxophone has always been the most seductive as well as the most feared musical instrument. Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Larry Weinstein illuminates and mythologizes the story of the saxophone, its most legendary players and its allegedly longstanding curse about saxophonists falling prey to the instrument’s dark powers.
Chifre do Diabo
Director
From Adolphe Sax’s workshop to the legendary times of jazz and bebop, conquering the classical music stages, forbidden by Nazis and Communists and banned by the Pope: in its 170-year history the saxophone has always been the most seductive as well as the most feared musical instrument. Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Larry Weinstein illuminates and mythologizes the story of the saxophone, its most legendary players and its allegedly longstanding curse about saxophonists falling prey to the instrument’s dark powers.
Clara's Big Ride
Director
Chronicles an unprecedented 11,000 km bicycle journey across Canada by Olympic medalist and Bell Let’s Talk spokesperson Clara Hughes.
Our Man in Tehran
Director
Chronicles the true story behind Argo’s Hollywood embellishments by looking at the efforts of the venerable Ken Taylor, Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, who personally sheltered six American diplomats in the operation that became known as "the Canadian Caper."
Stories We Tell
Thanks
Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley investigates certain secrets related to her mother, interviewing a group of family members and friends whose reliability varies depending of their implication in the events, which are remembered in different ways; so a trail of questions remains to be answered, because memory is always changing and the discovery of truth often depends on who is telling the tale.
The 13th Man
Director
The Canadian Football League’s most passionate fan base and how it had its heart ripped out during the most infamous moment in CFL history.
Mulroney: The Opera
Director
A full length original tragic-comic opera with sends up a great political leader whose downfall was his colossal ego.
God's Wrath
Director
Fury, Anger, Rage, Wrath. No one does these better than God as depicted by the Bible. This short film is an homage to Divine Wrath – God getting up on the wrong side of bed.
Gunless
Producer
O filme “Gunless” traz-nos a história de uma comunidade tranquila e pacífica do Canadá, que é abalada pela chegada de um cowboy americano ferido, conhecido simplesmente como “The Kid Montana”, suspeito de assassinar sete homens. Um esclarecimento posterior revela que seu nome verdadeiro é Sean Rafferty, e ele admite ter matado, não sete, mas onze pessoas… O que será verdade?
Inside Hana's Suitcase
Director
A Theatrical Documentary Synopsis "Inside Hana's Suitcase", is the poignant story of two young children who grew up in pre-WWII Czechoslovakia and the terrible events that they endured just because they happened to be born Jewish. Based on the internationally acclaimed book "Hana's Suitcase" which has been translated into 40 languages
Inside Hana's Suitcase
Producer
A Theatrical Documentary Synopsis "Inside Hana's Suitcase", is the poignant story of two young children who grew up in pre-WWII Czechoslovakia and the terrible events that they endured just because they happened to be born Jewish. Based on the internationally acclaimed book "Hana's Suitcase" which has been translated into 40 languages
The Young Romantic
Associate Producer
A documentary portrait of Chinese pianist Yundi Li that captures the poetic intensity of this young virtuoso as he works with the great Maestro Seiji Ozawa to prepare for his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. This is interwoven with Yundi on tour in his home country, where we meet his family, gain insight into his upbringing and are exposed to the massive scale of piano culture in China.
Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira
Producer
Quando uma epidemia chamada cegueira branca aparece em uma cidade, a mulher de um médico é a única pessoa que ainda consegue ver. Ela vai para um abrigo com seu marido cego e encontra todos vivendo em condições precárias. Agora ela tem que guiar um grupo à liberdade.
Mozartballs
Director
MOZARTBALLS is a light-hearted tribute to Mozart and explores what he symbolizes in our age. The film features curious characters that embody the spirit of Mozart - from a retired Swiss school teacher obsessed by all things Mozart, to an ex-pop musician in Oklahoma who believes that her body is actually inhabited by Mozart's spirit; from a computer genius in California whose software has created a new Mozart cello concerto, to an Austrian astronaut who carried a score of "The Magic Flute" and delicious chocolate 'Mozartkugeln' into space. These are the individuals who inhabit MOZARTBALLS and through their strange and, at times, very moving stories, the viewer will be exposed to the liveliness, the magic and the obsession that Moart has become to so many music fans today. For them, Mozart defines the very essence of beauty in music, but he has become something more than that. Mozart is an icon, and for many he is still very much alive!
Burnt Toast
Director
An irreverent and hilarious spin on opera, domestic drama and the hallowed institutions of love and marriage, Burnt Toast is an hour-long television opera comprised of a series of eight comic operas each depicting a different stage of romantic love. The relationships depicted run the gamut: from the passionate to the fantasized, the bored and of course the dead relationship, each as recognizable as the last.
Beethoven's Hair
Director
Beethoven's Hair traces the unlikely journey of a lock of hair cut from Beethoven's corpse and unravels the mystery of his tortured life and death. The film begins in modern times, when a pair of Beethoven enthusiasts purchase the hair at a Sotheby's auction. The story then looks at the lock's previous owners and culminates in the science that reveals Beethoven's "medical secret". Set to a lush score of some of Beethoven's most glorious music, the film explores the world of forensic testing in sharp relief against the romance of 19th-century Vienna and the horrors of 20th-century Nazi Germany.
Toothpaste
Director
A humourous "domestic opera" about an upwardly mobile couple in their mid thirties who can't resolve an argument about the cap being left off the toothpaste.
Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen
Producer
Some of today's most original recording artists perform the work of famed composer Harold Arlen.
Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen
Director
Some of today's most original recording artists perform the work of famed composer Harold Arlen.
Ravel's Brain
Producer
RAVEL'S BRAIN is a musical/visual tone poem at once tragic and celebratory in its mood. The film portrays the inner being of a great artist who was rendered incapable of communicating with the outside world. For the last five years of his life, Maurice Ravel was the victim of his own lamentable circumstances. Afflicted by aphasia and apraxia, his brain produced music, but he was unable to write it down.
Ravel's Brain
Director
RAVEL'S BRAIN is a musical/visual tone poem at once tragic and celebratory in its mood. The film portrays the inner being of a great artist who was rendered incapable of communicating with the outside world. For the last five years of his life, Maurice Ravel was the victim of his own lamentable circumstances. Afflicted by aphasia and apraxia, his brain produced music, but he was unable to write it down.
Sarabande
Associate Producer
The film explores the relationships that a limousine driver, a doctor, and a real estate agent have amongst each other and with Yo-Yo Ma as he travels to Canada to perform Bach's Cello Suites.
The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin
Director
Documentary - Filmed at the Musikvereinssaal in Vienna, Austria, this 1986 performance took place at a benefit concert to raise funds for the restoration of the world-famous concert hall. Renowned conductor Leonard Bernstein leads the Wiener Philharmoniker through Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich's rarely performed Sixth Symphony and his joyous Ninth Symphony. Bonus features include Bernstein discussing his unique take on each of these masterful pieces. - Valery Gergiev, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Flora Litvinova
Solidarity Song: The Hanns Eisler Story
Director
Filmmaker Larry Weinstein traces the life and work of composer Hanns Eisler, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.
September Songs – The Music of Kurt Weill
Director
Filmmaker Larry Weinstein stages a wide range of performances in tribute to the compositions of Kurt Weill.
O Gênio e Excêntrico Glenn Gould em 32 Curtas
Producer
O filme mostra em 32 fragmentos (a rigor, pequenos filmes) a produção e a complexa personalidade do pianista Glenn Gould (1932-1982), com depoimentos e detalhes da vida daquele que era considerado um herói canadense.
For The Whales
Director
Writers, artists, and musicians celebrate the whale.
Ravel
Producer
Brilliant portrait of the composer's elusive life with a huge array of his greatest works. "This sumptuously beautiful documentary... combines rare film of the composer, interviews with people who knew him, and spectacular performances of his music... Rich production values, exhaustive examination, adoring in its representations of his work." - The Montreal Gazette
Ravel
Writer
Brilliant portrait of the composer's elusive life with a huge array of his greatest works. "This sumptuously beautiful documentary... combines rare film of the composer, interviews with people who knew him, and spectacular performances of his music... Rich production values, exhaustive examination, adoring in its representations of his work." - The Montreal Gazette
Ravel
Director
Brilliant portrait of the composer's elusive life with a huge array of his greatest works. "This sumptuously beautiful documentary... combines rare film of the composer, interviews with people who knew him, and spectacular performances of his music... Rich production values, exhaustive examination, adoring in its representations of his work." - The Montreal Gazette
Making Overtures: The Story of a Community Orchestra
Director
Making Overtures: The Story of a Community Orchestra is a 1985 Canadian short documentary film directed by Larry Weinstein. A small-town orchestra and choir are the focus of this loving and humorous portrait. The film unveils the musician's passion for performance, their imaginative fund-raising methods and collective will to survive. This film includes a colorful cast of characters ranging from students to seniors, from business executives to hog farmers. Holding it all together is the outrageously flamboyant conductor who inspires everyone with his endless enthusiasm. Making Overtures reveals how an entire community us enriched by its orchestra. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.