The ACFDC was pleased to present the film The Conductor (2021) by Austrian director Bernadette Wegenstein. The documentary took the audience into the heart of classical music and into the soul of one of its top, most beguiling artists, the internationally renowned conductor Marin Alsop.
The screening was followed by a discussion between the director Bernadette Wegenstein, the producer Annette Porter and the conductor herself, Marin Alsop. The Austrian Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Martin Weiss, gave welcoming words.
ABOUT THE FILM
THE CONDUCTOR
Directed by Bernadette Wegenstein
United States, 2021
90 min, in English
Born in New York, Marin Alsop first saw the legendary Leonard Bernstein when she was nine-years old. At that moment, she knew what she wanted to be in life: a conductor. Told that girls can’t do that, Marin struggled against enormous prejudices and institutional obstacles for decades to become one of the world’s most renowned classical music conductors. The Conductor follows Marin’s improbable rise and her single-minded pursuit to achieve her dream. Using music conducted by Alsop herself, the director has created an emotional documentary, with a score that compliments the high and low points of the conductor’s life, perfectly mirroring the character’s interior landscape.
ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS
MARIN ALSOP | Conductor
Photo © Teresa Wey
One of the foremost conductors of our time, Marin Alsop represents a powerful and inspiring voice. The first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the United States, South America, Austria and Britain, she is, as the New York Times put it, not only “a formidable musician and a powerful communicator” but also “a conductor with a vision.”
The 2019-20 season marked Alsop’s first as Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. This year, Alsop assumes the title of Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. This concludes her outstanding 14-year tenure as Music Director. The first and only conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship, Alsop has also been honored with the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award, and made history as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms.
BERNADETTE WEGENSTEIN | Director
Photo © Bernadette Wegenstein
Bernadette Wegenstein is an Austrian-born documentary filmmaker and academic living in the United States. Her work brings together her feminist thought and her interest in human-centric storytelling. She studied semiotics with Umberto Eco, received her phD in Linguistics, and went to Stanford University as a post-doc. She is currently a professor of media studies at The Johns Hopkins University, where she directs the Center of Advanced Media Study. She has directed four documentaries, including “The Conductor” and “The Good Breast”.
ANNETTE PORTER | Producer
Photo © Annette Porter
After twenty years advising companies on strategy and communications, Annette Porter followed her passion for photography into the world of documentary films. The result is a finely tuned instinct for persuasion through pictures. Annette has directed and produced work in arts and social justice, with critical acclaim in The Washington Post, BBC and NBC. As Director of the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund at John’s Hopkins University, Annette spearheads social entrepreneurship through film, awarding grants and galvanizing industry support for young filmmakers.