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Classical Arts Film Festival: Film Block Two

Film Block Two of The Classical Arts Film Festival exhibits two films: CARVING THE DIVINE,
PLAYING WITH FIRE - Jeannette Sorrell And The Mysteries of Conducting

CARVING THE DIVINE
Running Time: 53min. 21sec.
The documentary Carving the Divine offers a rare and intimate look into the life and artistic process of modern-day Busshi practitioners of a 1400 year lineage of woodcarving thats at the heart of Japanese, Mahayana Buddhism.
The story opens as Master Koun Seki, the former apprentice of renowned Busshi, Kourin Saito, interviews a candidate applying to be Master Sekis new apprentice. Quickly though, we discover this apprenticeship and the Bshis life in general to be far more austere, and far less glamorous, than we (or the Candidate) wouldve likely imagined. Once Master Seki makes his selection, were taken on a trip through a guild culture unlike anything existing today in The West: From the growing pains of a novice apprentice, to the entire guild working together as one body to create breathtaking works of art, to the monkish practice of the famed, Grand Master Saito himself, alone on his quest to leave nothing but great works behind.

Directed by Yujiro Seki
Country of origin: Japan

PLAYING WITH FIRE - Jeannette Sorrell And The Mysteries of Conducting
Running Time: 70min
Jeannette Sorrell, told by the Juilliard School and the Cleveland Orchestra that no one will hire a woman conductor, forms her own Baroque orchestra, Apollos Fire, to immediate acclaim. This is the first film that shows how a conductor converts the dots on a printed score into musical phrases she can hear, and how the musicians almost miraculously transform her expressive gestures into an exciting performance.

Directed by Allan Miller
Country of Origin: United States