Pipe Dreams at Hot Docs
by Staff
(April 2, 2019 – Toronto, ON) If you were at Hot Docs a couple of years ago and were lucky enough to catch the remarkable exploration of the almost forgotten profession of shoe shiners in a documentary titled simply Shiners, then you already know Montreal’s Stacey Tenenbaum is a terrific producer-director. She’s back this year with something called Pipe Dreams and it has all the hallmarks of her work. She has an eye for something just a little bit quirky and then executes the project with the highest of quality.
Pipe Dreams is an inside look into the weird and wonderful world of competitive organ playing. Yup. It exists and it’s definitely a wold wide thing. From the quietest tinkling of a bell to the rumble of a locomotive…you will hear the organ like you’ve never heard it before.
Written, produced, directed by Tenenbaum, Pipe Dreams follows five young organists as they compete in Canada’s prestigious Canadian International Organ Competition (CIOC) in Montreal. Yuan Shen is the daughter of China’s most famous organist, and coming in 2nd is not an option, New Zealand’s Thomas Gaynor is hoping to be the first organist to win a hat trick, Alcee Chriss III is an African American organist from Texas who will draw on his gospel and jazz roots, Nick Cappozoli, an organist from Pittsburgh renowned for his reliability and perfect technique will make some risks, and the new kid on the block is 19-year-old Sebastian Heindl – a child prodigy who hails from the same town as his idol and namesake Johann Sebastian Bach – is the youngest person to ever compete in the CIOC.
The film is attracting the right kind of attention. Northern Banner Releasing has already nabbed Canadian Rights ahead of Hot Docs opening and ro*co films international has picked up all rights outside North America. The 2019 Hot Docs Festival will run April 25 to May 5, 2019 and tickets are available online now.
