This is a bit uncomfortable for me. Like most people I have a healthy allergy to self promotion. But this documentary we made about resurrecting my great grandfather’s long lost opera is apparently starting to get traction. So I have some stuff to share.
What people are saying…
Today’s edition of The Chicago Reader includes a long profile piece that has my mother blushing:
“…The Way to Andina is an upbeat experience. Parsa shows great affection for the people who supported the opera’s creation, including the singers, the conductor, and the public relations specialist who helped him promote it. His use of illustrations to visualize the opera’s research and transcription (inspired, he says, by Errol Morris’s documentaries) is witty and engaging. And the movie communicates the excitement of recovering history and of putting on a show.”
Third Coast Review writes about the mission to put on the opera:
“Parsa is clearly in over his head, and he’s charmingly not afraid to admit it. His endearing self-deprecation is probably what convinces singers, stagehands and an orchestra to pitch in on the production, and it’ll keep you cheering him on as well. Though clearly made on a budget (the film and the opera), Parsa’s generations-in-the-making mission is an underdog story with depth and sincerity, deserving of a bravo moment or two of its own.”
Remezcla calls the film a “must see”:
“Chronicling this ambitious tribute, this documentary may be the most touching gift a young great-grandson could come up with.”
So, can you make it to a screening?
The first local one here in Chicago is this Sunday, as part of Chicago International Movies & Music Festival’s Spring Fling. Buy tickets here.
Onward!
Arlen
P.S. – If you have other ideas about where to screen the film, just send me an email and we’ll make it happen 🙂