David Byrne
David Byrne is well known as the musician who co-founded the group Talking Heads (1976 - 88) in New York. On record and in concert, the band was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike; more importantly, however, they have proven to be extremely influential. Talking Heads took popular music in new directions, both in terms of sound and lyrics, and also introduced an innovative visual approach to the genre. In 2002 Talking Heads were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2003, Talking Heads released a lovely boxed set which includes a DVD of all the band's videos. In 2005 a Brick was released with the complete studio catalog on dualdisc with previously unreleased audio and video material.
During his time with the group, Byrne was involved with several other projects:
- The Catherine Wheel, an evening-length ballet score for choreographer Twyla Tharp
- Music videos, director
- My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, a collaborative record with Brian Eno incorporating "found" voices such as radio preachers, talk show guests and Arabic singers (re-release with additional tracks in March 2006)
- the Knee Plays, a brass band-and-spoken word score for a theater piece, the Knee Plays, directed by Robert Wilson. A re-mastered CD with bonus tracks (with bonus DVD) was released in 2007.
- Stop Making Sense (1984), directed by Jonathan Demme, winner of Golden Globes, best documentary
- True Stories, 1986 feature film directed by Byrne
- The Last Emperor, 1987, DB collaborates on score for Bertolucci film, wins Oscar.
- Luaka Bop, Byrne's record label, was founded in 1988
- The Forest, 1989, an orchestral score with mostly wordless vocals for theater piece dir by Robert Wilson
- Ilé Aiyé: The House of Life, 1989, a documentary on African religion in Brazil
More records and projects followed:
- Rei Momo, collaboration with 15 of the best Latin musicians in New York
- Uh-Oh, 1992, funk and Latin grooves were combined together
- Between The Teeth, a concert film of that tour
- David Byrne, 1994, a stripped-down record
- Feelings, 1997, collaboration with other bands and artists
- The Visible Man, 1998, a record of re-mixed versions of songs from Feelings
- Sessions at West 54th Street, 1999, a weekly one-hour music show which Byrne hosted
- In Spite Of Wishing And Wanting, 1999 a collaborationwith the Belgian Dance Company Ultima Vez
- Look Into The Eyeball, 2001. Subsequently Byrne toured with a six-piece string section.
- Lazy, 2002 David's collaboration with the DJ group X Press 2 was released in the UK. The song went to number 2 on the UK charts within its first week of release & number 1 on the US dance charts, along with topping the charts in Syria and Turkey.
- Lead us Not into Temptation: Music from the film Young Adam, 2002, a score for the David MacKenzie film for which David gathered together a comprehensive group of musicians from Scottish bands: Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, and Appendix Out, among others. David also worked with director Stephen Frears composing the song "Glass Concrete and Stone" for his film Dirty Pretty Things.
- Grown Backwards, 2004 album release and tour
- Here Lies Love, a project about Imelda Marcos with musical contributions from Fatboy Slim
- Big Love: Hymnal - music scored for the 2nd season of the HBO series "Big Love", with other recent compositions - 2008 CD release
- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today - 2008 collaborative album with Brian Eno
David Hillman Curtis, Director
DAVID HILLMAN CURTIS is a filmmaker, designer and author. He was born in La Jolla, California in 1961 and grew up in San Francisco. He lives and works in Brooklyn.
Having spent ten years establishing himself and his company, hillmancurtis, inc, as one of the world's top web design agencies, David made a decision in 2004 to move away from pursuing web design projects and turn his attention to filmmaking.
David's film work includes the acclaimed documentary series "Artist Series," as well as numerous narrative short films. His short BRIDGE premiered at the 2009 Gen Art Film Festival as one of seven shorts programmed; SPINAL TAP won the Webby award for best dramatic film in 2007; while EMBRACE was a finalist in the same category in 2008. David's commercial work includes spots for Rolling Stone, Adobe, Sprint, Blackberry, BMW, and most recently, IBM. In the fall of 2008 David teamed with Byrne to film RIDE, RISE, ROAR, his feature length documentary debut.
Will Schluter, Producer
WILL SCHLUTER is an independent screenwriter, director, and producer. In 2005, Will co-founded Ravel Films with partner Jason F. Brown. Currently operating as a bi-coastal film development and production company, Ravel's films have screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, among many others, and have been honored with the Chris Columbus Film Production Award, the Carl Lerner Award for Film with Social Significance, and the Clive Davis Award for Music in Film. Under the Ravel banner, Will produced and directed the 35mm short film, Middletown, which stars Loren Dean (Gattaca, Enemy of the State).
As an independent producer, Will's debut feature, Frank the Rat, premiered at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival; his web series "The Fantastic Two" - produced in conjunction with Ironbound Films and director Seth Grossman (The Elephant King) - was sponsored by McDonalds and Honda and ran for 14 consecutive weeks; and his work with David Hillman Curtis has included commercial spots for BAM, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, and IBM.
Ben Wolf, Director of Photography
BEN WOLF is a cinematographer, director, and partner in Brooklyn-based Topiary Productions, Inc. Ben has shot over 50 projects, including feature films, documentaries, commercials, and music videos. He is interested in cross-pollination between these conventionally separate categories, and in bringing the latest digital technology to the tradition of cinematic storytelling. Ben is currently developing the feature film Closed Circuit, which he hopes will serve as his feature film directing debut.
Annie-B Parson, Choreographer
ANNIE-B PARSON founded Big Dance Theater with Paul Lazar in 1991. She has created 14 pieces for the company, touring the work both nationally and internationally to such venues as Walker Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, The Spoleto Festival USA, On the Boards, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and UCLA, Live! , as well as international festivals and venues in the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany. In New York City, her work has been presented at Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, Classic Stage Company, and the Guggenheim Works & Process Series. She was honored with a BESSIE in 2002 for her body of work with the company. She recieved NYFA Fellowships in 2000 and 2005 and was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007. Ms. Parson was a member of Sincha Hong’s company, Laughing Stone, from 1984 - 1994, performing at LaMama and The Joyce Theater in New York City and on tour throughout Asia and Europe. In 2001 she collaborated with six other choreographers, including Robert LaFosse, Chet Walker and Richard Move, for The Seven Deadly Sins Project at Jacob's Pillow. In 2005 she curated Sourcing Stravinsky for Dance Theater Workshop. She was awarded company residencies at The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard in 1996, 1998 and 2002, was a mentor for the Joyce Theater choreographer’s development series in October 1999. She has taught in the Master's directing program at Julliard and for the Bessie Schoenberg Master Class in Choreography. She was a YCC choreographer at The American Dance Festival in 1995 where she worked with composer Richard Einhorn to create City of Brides, which was presented at City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival in 2004. Since 1993 she has been an instructor of choreography at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing. Her choreography for TV and film includes Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia.
Noémie Lafrance, Choreographer
Noémie Lafrance, Artistic Director, of Quebec, Canada, pursued a professional training at Les Ateliers de Danse Moderne de Montreal and at The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. As the artistic director of Sens Production and site-specific choreographer, she has created and produced large-scale movement based work for the public space staging the urban architecture with live performances. Her work Descent received 2 Bessie Awards for the choreography and the score in 2002 and was listed as one of the 10 best performances of 2002 in The New York Times and Time Out New York. Ms. Lafrance was one of the inaugural recipients of Lambent Fellowship Award from the Tides Foundation for "displaying artistic excellence" and adding a "fresh voice to the art world of Metropolitan New York." Lafrance was called "a site-specific wizard" in the 25 choreographers to watch in the January 2004 issue of Dance Magazine and in the best performances in 2006. She was featured in Readers Digest's Selection in 2005 and in the New York Times Magazine and in TIME Magazine's "innovators" section in 2006. Ms. Lafrance also appeared on Radio Canada Television and Radio, NPR, Arts & Entertainment Channel, CBC news, BCATV etc…
Her acclaimed piece Descent was performed in a twelve story stairwell designed by legendary architect Stanford White in lower Manhattan to a total audience of more than 5000 people in 2002 and 2003. Noir, performed in parking garage was presented in May 2004 as a part of the prestigious Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial and was co-produce by Danspace Project. Ms. Lafrance was commissioned by the Neuberger Museum of Art to create Unseen: Landscapes, inspired by April Gornik's paintings and performed by the MFA students at Purchase College SUNY in fall 2004. She was also invited to create The Invisible Sins of Fort Adams for Island Moving Co. as part of the Open for Dancing Festival in Newport, RI in September 2004 and 2005. Her work Migrations, a commissioned by the Whitney Museum at Altria, was performed in May 2005 as part of a series of performance on 42nd Street. Agora, was produced by Sens Production in September 2005 and its second version, Agora II, was performed in September of 2006, inside the abandoned McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn. The event reopened the abandoned site to the public, was seen by more than 15,000 people and performed more than 30 times. She was commissioned by the Fisher Center for the Arts at Bard College to create a new work that will use the architecture of the Frank Gehry designed building.
Noémie Lafrance has worked on films, videos and TV commercials including the award winning music video "1234" for the artist Feist. She has collaborated with artist Doug Aitken on "Sleepwalking", a film installation commissioned by MOMA in winter 2007. She was recently approached by Cirque du Soleil to be considered as a conceptual creator.
Noémie Lafrance's work was recognized and funded by the major public and private organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York State Council for the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural affairs, The Canada Council for the Arts, The Quebec Government House in New York, The Canadian Consulate General and Ministry of Cultural Affairs, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Rodney White Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The Leon Levy Foundation, The Arnhold Foundation, The Altria Group, and many private supporters.
Mark degli Antoni, Keyboards
His selection of scores for film and television include Cherish (Tim Blake, Jason Priestly, Robin Tunney) and Marie & Bruce (Bob Balaban, Mathew Broderick, Julianne Moore), Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired and the 2011 Academy Award nominee Killing in the Name. He is a founding member of the internationally renowned band Soul Coughing. He has also collaborated with musical artists from wide-ranging musical styles including David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, Low, John Scofield and John Zorn, among others. Additionally, Mark has provided designed sound for visual artists including William Wegman, Richard Prince, Julia Scher, Christian Marclay, Spalding Gray, Nam Joon Pike and Werner Herzog.
Lily Baldwin, Dancer
www.LilyBaldwin.com | www.SeaMeadowTheMovie.Com
Lily is a filmmaker, choreographer and dancer based in New York City. Her films place dance at the nucleus of the film's narrative. They are scored by an array of musical artists that include pop mashups as well as featuring select designers. These genre-benders merge conventions, seeking to reinvent the anatomy of storytelling. Lily's performance work has been shown at various New York venues and galleries including the Times Square opening for Festival Performa 09 in collaboration with Arto Lindsay and Bureau V. She has performed with a range of choreographers including The Trisha Brown Dance Company, Doug Varone, Netta Yerushalmy and The Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Her award winning short Sleeping with Frank is presently screening worldwide.
Music Videos: Blood Orange "Sutphin Boulevard", The Forms "Fire To The Ground", Joan Osborne "Work on Me" and "Secret Room" (Premiere at Lincoln Center's Songbook Series 2011). Commercial: Bloomingdales, Coca-Cola, Daffy's