terence blanchard Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Emmys may be for television programming, but often the nonfiction categories include some great documentary films that would be just as much at home in a theater; some have even had theatrical exposure at festivals before selling distribution rights to TV. When the Primetime Emmy nominations were announced this week, I noticed a couple of familiar documentary titles, most notably Spike Lee's amazing documentary about New Orleans, When the Levees Broke -- one of my top ten film picks from 2006. The four-hour HBO film has been nominated not only for best nonfiction filmmaking, but five other awards in the nonfiction categories: direction, cinematography, picture editing, sound editing and sound mixing. I'm sorry not to see the Terence Blanchard score nominated -- the documentary had a rich, haunting soundtrack -- but pleased the movie is being honored overall.

AJ Schnack, whose blog All these wonderful things is a go-to place for news and analysis about documentaries, has posted a list of nominations for just the nonfiction Emmy categories, if you don't want to wade through the long lists on the Emmy website. He also pointed out several other documentaries that played film fests and are nominated for Emmys: Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple and A Lion in the House. I noticed that Thin, which premiered at Sundance in 2006 before playing on HBO, is up for a direction award for Lauren Greenfield. Finally, since we're discussing movie-related programming here, it's only fair to note that the "AFI's 100 Years ...100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies" special is up for some of these awards, but I'm hoping the documentaries win in those categories.

Here I sit, nestled in Utah, a short drive from Provo Canyon and Sundance. I had never realized that some of my family relocated just south of the soon-to-be-filled-with-film town, and in no time, I wondered if I could get together enough airmiles so make the trip again in a few weeks. Unfortunately, that isn't looking likely, and it's particularly painful between the Slamdance release of the latest Allan Moyle film, and the music that will sing from Sundance.

Special music events will include "Sundance Celebrates Music and Film" and "Film2Music," but that is only the tip of the melodic iceburg. On January 24, there will be a large roundtable discussion between composers and directors on the creative process of film scoring. The composers who will be present -- Terence Blanchard, who has scored a number of pieces for Spike Lee's films, Peter Golub, whose scored films starring everyone from Nicky Katt to Forest Whitaker, Dave Robbins, who scored Dead Man Walking, Anton Sanko, Suzanne Vega's guitarist who has composed music for quirky films from Party Girl to Scotland, PA, and finally, Adam Hollander, who seems to be a new composer. (If anyone had information about him, please it share in the comments!) The directors in the panel will be -- Mike Cahill, new director of King of California, Tom DiCillo, who brought us the likes of Brad Pitt's Johnny Suede, Andrew Wagner, who wrote and directed The Talent Given Us, which seems to have starred his whole family, and finally the biggest name of the directorial list -- Justin Theroux. Yes, the Inland Empire star has directed a film called Dedication, which will premiere at Sundance.

If you want a little less talk, and a little more music, Sundance's Music Cafe will continue with an interesting lineup -- Jill Sobule, Donovan, Ron Sexsmith, Pete's brother, Simon Townshend and according to The Hollywood Reporter... Julia Sweeney?! So, if you get your tuckus to Sundance, and find you need a break between films, you can always sing along about kissing a girl, or about Sunshine Superman.