BERNSTEIN’S WALL
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Followed by a live discussion with director Douglas Tirola
The legendary maestro Leonard Bernstein—celebrity conductor, composer, and political activist—is thrillingly captured in this archival documentary portrait by Douglas Tirola (DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD). With Bernstein’s 1989 Christmas Day concert in Berlin as a frame, Tirola crafts Bernstein’s remarkable career entirely from television interviews, news footage, home movies, audio clips, and personal letters.
“Makes the case that [Bernstein’s] charge to artists to lead the way in culture is timeless, and more vital than ever… the idea that music, and art more generally, can be an elevating and engaging experience for everyone, and that it has great potential as a uniting force in a divided world.”
– Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times
“GALVANIZING. Captures how Leonard Bernstein became the superstar of American high culture… Bernstein, who when he was young resembled a dreamy-eyed Hebraic Rock Hudson, evolved, in his classical stardom, into a towering figure with the bearing of an eagle and the worldly thousand-yard sensual stare of someone posing for a place on Mount Rushmore… What the documentary captures, profoundly, is that Leonard Bernstein was a fierce hedonist who worked hard to live the life he wanted.”
– Owen Gleiberman, Variety
The legendary maestro Leonard Bernstein—celebrity conductor, composer, and political activist—is thrillingly captured in this archival documentary portrait by Douglas Tirola (DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD). With Bernstein’s 1989 Christmas Day concert in Berlin as a frame, Tirola crafts Bernstein’s remarkable career entirely from television interviews, news footage, home movies, audio clips, and personal letters.
“Makes the case that [Bernstein’s] charge to artists to lead the way in culture is timeless, and more vital than ever… the idea that music, and art more generally, can be an elevating and engaging experience for everyone, and that it has great potential as a uniting force in a divided world.”
– Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times
“GALVANIZING. Captures how Leonard Bernstein became the superstar of American high culture… Bernstein, who when he was young resembled a dreamy-eyed Hebraic Rock Hudson, evolved, in his classical stardom, into a towering figure with the bearing of an eagle and the worldly thousand-yard sensual stare of someone posing for a place on Mount Rushmore… What the documentary captures, profoundly, is that Leonard Bernstein was a fierce hedonist who worked hard to live the life he wanted.”
– Owen Gleiberman, Variety
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Where is it happening?
79 Beach Rd, Vineyard Haven, MA, United States, Massachusetts 02568
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherMartha's Vineyard Film Society
