The Music-Cinema Project

MUSIC-CINEMA is a new series of short films inspired by pieces of great classical music. Each Music-Cinema film tells a story set to a musical soundtrack from the classical repertoire, without any dialogue. The aim of Music-Cinema is to bring classical music to new audiences by highlighting the dramatic and imaginative power of great music, through the universal language of cinema.

The project was conceived by filmmaker HILAN WARSHAW, who is producing and directing the films through his production company, Overtone Films LLC. In addition to his film work, Warshaw has a background as a classical musician and arts educator.

The first two films in the series were IN THE STATION (music by Claude Debussy) and THE LABORER (music by Modest Mussorgsky). The third film, ORPHEUS (music by Christoph Willibald Gluck), is currently in post-production. The fourth film, SURPRISE (music by Josef Haydn) will be filmed in August 2010.

Overtone Films aims to complete a program's length of short films by autumn 2011, to be presented in venues in New York and beyond. A parallel goal is to develop educational activities in collaboration with participating schools, using the films to enhance students' enjoyment and understanding of classical music.

To watch a clip from THE LABORER, paste this link into your browser:
http://vimeo.com/9112580

The Music-Cinema Project depends on contributions from individuals and organizations. Thank you very much for your support!

HILAN WARSHAW's video editing credits include documentaries about the arts for PBS and ARTE, and videos for organizations including Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress. He is also an experienced teaching artist, lecturer and author of articles about film and music. He holds a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. An experienced violinist and conductor, he studied orchestral conducting at Mannes College of Music and the Aspen Music School.