Treeless Mountain Wins Natuzzi Prize

*** This Just In ***

Director So-yong Kim was announced as the winner of the Natuzzi International Award for Best Feature Film on the closing night of the 2009 BigPond Adelaide Film Festival.

For her film, Treeless Mountain, Kim won a cash prize of $25,000, beating out 12 competitors for the award, which is the first of its kind in Australia.

The seven-person jury, comprising key figures in the international film and art scene, was led by Jury President Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator of the Department of Film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Read more here at Filmink...

Back to Jim's Website...

Sacred Harp Singing

Some time ago I become aware of a documentary about Sacred Harp singing called, Awake, My Soul. You can see the trailer below...


Here's what Matt Hinton, the director has to say about his documentary and the tradition of Sacred Harp singing:

"Awake, My Soul is a feature documentary that explores the history, music, and traditions of Sacred Harp singing, the oldest surviving American music. While often linked only to its history, (e.g. the songs were used in the recent historical films Cold Mountain and Gangs of New York) this haunting music has survived over 200 years tucked away from sight in the rural deep south, where in old wooden country churches, devoted singers break open The Sacred Harp, a shape note hymnal first published in Georgia in 1844.

"These singers have inherited The Sacred Harp and its traditions from those who came before them and preserved these fierce yet beautiful songs, many of which are much older than the hymnal itself. These singers have inherited The Sacred Harp and its traditions from those who came before them and preserved these fierce yet beautiful songs ... songs of both beauty and sorrow, of life and of death, songs that cause feet to stomp and tears to flow, often at the same time.

"They are ancient sounds, which are at times disorienting to the modern ear, and yet they are sung with such passion and force that it becomes obvious that these songs are very much alive. Awake My Soul is a film that captures both the history and the vitality of a music that is utterly unlike any music most viewers are likely to have heard."

Go to the Awake, My Soul website and listen to several full sound files of this remarkable music as you read more about the film, the singers, and the Sacred Harp tradition.

What is it about the sound of this music that moves me so much?

As someone who has had little time for organised religion, and its trappings, why am I so stirred by these songs and the collective sound of massed voices singing together? Whether it is shaped note singing, or the songs of the black American gospel tradition, I am constantly surprised by my reaction to the power of this music. So surprised, in fact, that if I ever have an opportunity to experience the music first hand, I am almost scared of what I might do, once I am totally immersed in the environment from which is springs.

Here is a YouTube clip showing a Sacred Harp group in Bloomington, Indiana singing Idumea...



This is one documentary I'd love to see on Australian television.

Back to Jim's Website...