For Immediate Release | March 17, 2020
Contact: Patti North, Executive Director, Alexandria Film Festival, pattinorth@gmail.com | 703-549-5250
George Hanson, Executive Director, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra ghanson@alexsym.org | 703-548-0885
Deadline Extended to Friday, April 24
Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and Alexandria Film Festival
Form First-Ever Partnership
Call for Concepts Issued to Filmmakers for
“Homegrown: American Stories in Music and Film”
ALEXANDRIA | The Alexandria Film Festival and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra will undertake a historic partnership in 2020, for the first time leveraging its combined expertise to produce a unique blend of orchestral music and original film. The ASO and AFF will commission five new films to be screened “live to picture” with American orchestral pieces performed by the symphony at its November 7 and 8 concerts, and then screened during the 14th annual film festival November 12–15.
ASO and AFF have jointly issued a “Call for Concepts” inviting filmmakers to apply. The filmmakers will be selected by Alexandria Film Festival leadership, in collaboration with Alexandria Symphony leadership, and may include students and emerging talent, as well as established filmmakers. Each filmmaker selected will receive a $1,000 commission, performance credits in the event program and website, and will retain all rights to their work.
The orchestral works to be presented are by five American composers, each played in tandem with a 3–5 minute film. ASO music director James Ross (who envisioned this project) says, “Much of this music comes from the middle decades of the 20th century when American composers began to successfully depict our country’s unique flavor in sound. These pieces can be seen (or heard) as a kind of big metaphor for the tenderness and danger that our country and world presently faces.”
Margaret Wohler, AFF board chair appreciates this unique opportunity for filmmakers to participate in a cross-genre art form. “Live music was common in the silent film era, and we are all familiar with grand orchestral soundtracks as a quintessential part of the film-going experience. With this project AFF and ASO are resurrecting the excitement of live music performed together with film, while cutting a new edge in the presentation of both.”
Interested filmmakers can find more information at: AlexFilmFest.com/Homegrown
About the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra
Northern Virginia’s premiere fully professional orchestra, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1943 and has established a reputation for thematic and cross-genre programming that features a mix of classical and contemporary music. The ASO’s move in 2002 to the critically acclaimed Schlesinger Center established its reach and reputation as one of the region’s leading arts institutions. The symphony has distinguished itself through powerful performances marked by poetry, vision, and a sense of adventure.
About the Alexandria Film Festival
The Alexandria Film Festival was founded in 2007, and annually features more than 50 high-quality short and feature-length independent films over a four-day weekend, in advance of their arrivals at commercial theaters, streaming services, or television. It also brings filmmakers, including directors, actors, producers and other filmmaking professionals from around the world, to the historic port city of Alexandria, Virginia to interact and engage with an enthusiastic audience of more than 1,200 film buffs, thought leaders, and arts and culture mavens.
The AFF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported by a grant from the Alexandria Commission for the Arts and numerous corporate sponsors including Brandywine Living at Alexandria, Burke and Herbert Bank, The Foundry at Carlyle, Hilton Hotels, Connection Newspapers, Alexandria Hyundai, Ted’s Montana Grill, San Antonio Grill, Glory Days Grill, Wilson Grand Communications, West End Business Association, and Alexandria Living Magazine, Visit Alexandria, Alexandria Times, and Alphagraphics. AlexFilmFest.com.
For more information, visit AlexFilmFest.com/Homegrown.
