7:15 pm | $12/$10 for members | 51 min | Documentary | Q&A: Artist Roger Baker, filmmaker John Hazard and wire walker Philippe Petit will hold a dialogue with the audience after the performance of BAKER DOES BEETHOVEN and LIFE ON THE LINE.
The film, by Hudson Valley cinematographer John Hazard, is the story of local artist Roger Baker and the process by which he carved, with several different sized mowers as his “brushes”, the image of Ludwig von Beethoven into a 25 acre field beneath the Shawangunk mountains outside Ellenville, NY. Baker has, in years past, carved into fields the images of Jimi Hendrix, Albert Einstein, Elvis Presley, the Purple Heart and the Statue of Liberty.
Roger Baker, who has a colorful verbal style, describes his work and philosophy as the audience experiences the building of his creation on his “living canvas.” Filmmaker John Hazard documented the highly unique creation using classic cinema verité technique as well as drone photography that allows the audience to see the work at various stages of completion from an elevation of 1000 feet.
The soundtrack of BAKER DOES BEETHOVEN not only includes commentary and musings by Baker, but also the contributions of several outstanding musicians who bring to life the music of Beethoven on the very field in which his image is carved. Performing on site are cellist Anik Oulianine, pianist, Kevin Garcia, saxophonist Eric Aweh, pianist Akiko Sasake, and harpist Victoria Drake. In a strikingly emotional sequence, Drake and Baker plan the exact time and location for the harpist to play Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” during the very moments that the moon rises above the Shawangunk Mountains.
The last minute decision to honor Phiippe Petit with a screening of LIFE ON THE LINE is because of the sheer coincidence that August 7th is the 46th anniversary of his epic walk between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. The audience will be there with Philippe to share the memory of that day.