Screened as part of NZIFF 2015

Around the World in 50 Concerts 2014

Om de wereld in 50 concerten

Directed by Heddy Honigmann Arts & Music

Dutch director Heddy Honigmann’s beautiful documentary follows Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to Russia, Argentina and Soweto, subtly exploring the depth of feeling music stirs in both players and listeners.

Sep 04

Lido Hamilton

Sep 06

Lido Hamilton

The Netherlands In Dutch, English, Russian and Spanish with English subtitles
94 minutes Blu-ray

Director

Producers

Carmen Cobos
,
Kees Rijninks

Photography

Goert Giltay

Editor

Danniel Danniel

With

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
,
Mariss Jansons
,
Marcelo Ponce
,
Alice Makgorane
,
Portia Makgorane
,
Michael Masote
,
Sergej Bogdanov

Festivals

Amsterdam Documentary 2014
,
Hot Docs 2015

The enduring expressive power of the Western orchestral repertoire is keenly observed in this wonderfully idiosyncratic documentary by Peruvian-born Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honigmann (Underground Orchestra, Crazy). One of Europe’s longest-running and most esteemed orchestras, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2013 by playing 50 concerts over six continents. The film takes in three of the more daunting ports of call: Buenos Aires, Soweto and St Petersburg.

It’s impossible to imagine a more appreciative observer of the venture than Honigmann. Her alertness to what drives musicians to dedicate their lives to performing is matched by a subtle understanding of the consolations that music can offer to any of us. And both are rendered all the more potent by her abiding sensitivity to exile, whether it be felt by a young flautist in his hotel room missing a son’s birthday halfway across the world; or by an elderly Russian who finds in Mahler’s Symphony No 8 a conduit to the vanished world of his mother who once heard it conducted by the composer himself.

“Here Honigmann sensitively interpolates generous helpings of the orchestra’s recordings to envelopingly persuasive effect. The most powerful episode of all is, paradoxically, the one closest to ‘home’: a nocturnal al fresco rendition of a sentimental Amsterdam ditty using the city’s streets and canals as grand backdrop, capable of bringing tears not only to Dutch eyes.” — Neil Young, Hollywood Reporter