A Sony Pictures Classics Release
Tim Roth and Clive Owen star in François Girard's (The Red Violin) sweeping historical drama, about a man searching for his childhood best friend – a violin prodigy orphaned in the Holocaust – who vanished decades before on the night of his first public performance.
"Can a film be both heartbreaking and heart-healing at the same time? The Song of Names is a triumphant combination of history, artistry, and deep pathos.
Some few stories help us comprehend the enormity of the losses, the astonishing resilience and the creative passion that marked a people’s darkest time. Song of Names is such a story, tracing a haunting melody that carries us far beyond words to a soul stirring climax.
In an age of forgetfulness and coarse cruelty, when the slogans of hate reappear throughout the globe, The Song of Names is a gripping and vital contribution: a reminder of all that was lost, all that remained, and all that remains to be done. A film of broken friendship that devastates then uplifts, and finally, gives us back our faith."
– Rabbi David Wolpe is the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.
Named one of the 500 Most Influential People in Los Angeles in 2016 and again in 2017, Most Influential Rabbi in America by Newsweek and one of the 50 Most Influential Jews in the World by The Jerusalem Post, David Wolpe is the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple. Rabbi Wolpe previously taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Hunter College, and UCLA. A columnist for Time.com, he has been published and profiled in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post’s On Faith website, The Huffington Post, and the New York Jewish Week. He has been featured on The Today Show, Face the Nation, ABC This Morning, and CBS This Morning. In addition, Rabbi Wolpe has appeared prominently in series on PBS, A&E, History Channel, and Discovery Channel. Rabbi Wolpe is the author of eight books, including the national bestseller Making Loss Matter: Creating Meaning in Difficult Times. His new book is titled David, the Divided Heart. It was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards, and has been optioned for a movie by Warner Bros.
As the first Gulf War was ending in 1991, Norman Lebrecht, a British commentator on classical music, was about to fly from Liverpool to Los Angeles. “There was a war on another continent, and it gave me an overwhelming sense of fragility,” he says. “I had an idea about lives being unsettled by larger historic events. And the particular idea I had was: What if a man is so close to another person that they have an almost symbiotic connection—and that person suddenly disappears? How do you continue your life with only half a functioning self? You can lose a part of yourself and spend your whole life looking for it.” As he continued to think about this idea over the coming years, it developed into his first novel, The Song of Names. The two halves of one soul that Lebrecht created in the novel were Martin, son of a modest music publisher, Gilbert Simmonds, and a Polish Jewish violin prodigy, Dovidl Rapoport, that Martin’s father invites to live in their home. “The day before Dovidl came along, if you asked Martin what he was, he would have said ‘ordinary,’” says Lebrecht. “When Dovidl arrives, Martin’s ordinariness ceases. When Dovidl disappears, Martin suffers two losses: the loss of his father, which he blames on Dovidl, and the loss of whatever lit Martin up from the inside and made him feel not ordinary. All this lives within Martin as slow-burning anger, the hope against hope that something will be resolved and that when it’s resolved, there will be rage.”
For Lebrecht, The Song of Names is about coping with loss. “It’s something that happens to all of us in our lives,” he says. “Do we then allow loss to paralyze us? Do we allow loss to leave us living half lives or half-hearted lives? Or are we able to, in some way or another, adjust to loss, and find a way to overcome that thing, however terrible it is?”
As THE SONG OF NAMES is set within the world of music and musicians, producer Robert Lantos saw François Girard (THE RED VIOLIN, THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD) as an ideal director. “This film lives or dies on the emotional impact of its music,” says Lantos. “I thought it wouldn’t be enough to have a terrific film director who just left the music to the composer. It had to be someone who is as familiar with the language of classical music as he is with the language of cinema, so he could work with a composer from a place of knowledge and conviction. And that led me to François. He directs opera, theatre, and Cirque du Soleil shows. I doubt there are many other filmmakers in the world who are as comfortable and familiar with classical music as he is.”
Despite his passion for music, Girard didn’t want the film’s emphasis to be on music and the artistic temperament, as he felt it had been in Lebrecht’s novel: “Music is a very important vehicle in tackling this story, but to me this is not a film about music,” he says. “This is an intimate story of two brothers, in which the undercurrents of the Holocaust and the memory of those that disappeared, gradually emerges. I made sure at all times that the music was always serving that, and never the reverse.”
Six actors play the principal roles of Martin and Dovidl, in different stages of their lives: as boys, adolescents, and middle-aged adults (Tim Roth and Clive Owen). “We’re following characters from 9 to 55, which turns out to be my age and pretty much Clive and Tim’s age,” says Girard. “The first period in the script goes from age 9 to about 21. You can't have the same actor play 9 and 21. You need a child and then a young man. And then, when you connect with the characters 35 years later, you need yet another pair of actors.” Finding the right mix was a big challenge for Girard and casting directors Kirsty Kinnear, Susie Figgis, and Pam Dixon. “If you have Tim Roth and Clive Owen, you have to find the middle Tim and Clive and then the young ones,” says Girard. “Whenever we moved a piece, the whole puzzle would shift. It took us more than a year to make sure we were making the right casting choices.” The casting of these roles was pivotal, because the impact of Martin’s quest to find Dovidl rests on the depth of the relationship forged between the boys in their early years as evoked in the film. “I did everything possible to invest in that relationship with love,” says Girard. “Love would be the key word. That way, the disappearance of Dovidl would be that much more charged.”
Luke Doyle, who plays Dovidl from age 9 to 13, is a violin prodigy himself, but unlike the other members of the cast, he was cast for his experience as a virtuoso violinist, and had no prior experience as an actor. “If a young person is already in touch with his emotions performing music, you can expect that he will be able to express his emotions with acting,” says Girard. The director eventually found a musical process for communicating with Doyle, which sometimes meant literally conducting him: “I’d give him a tempo, give him a flow, much like a conductor does with musicians, using my body and my arms to keep the rhythms of the text flowing through a scene. And Luke, being the brilliant young artist he is, reacted to that really well.”
Luke Doyle found young Dovidl to be a fascinating character to play. “There are not too many people out there who are like Dovidl,” he says. “He never does anything boring, and that always makes him the center of attention. His arrogance and confidence is quite gravitational. At the same time he can sometimes be quite selfish, and doesn’t really care about others.” Doyle also perceives hidden vulnerability in Dovidl: “In the first few scenes, it feels as if Martin is the one who can’t control his emotions, but as the story progresses and the two get to know each other, the tables turn and you begin to realize that it’s actually Dovidl who can’t control his emotions, and for good reason.”
Misha Handley plays young Martin, who at first sees Dovidl as an unwanted invader in his house. “When Dovidl comes into his room and they are alone for the first time, Martin tries to establish dominance, but Dovidl just naturally takes up the space,” says Handley. “He is clearly better than Martin at most things. The two despise each other after that first contact, especially on Martin’s side, but after certain events, the bond forms, and they become incredibly close, like blood brothers.” Handley recognized that underneath Martin’s exterior, there are more complicated feelings brewing. “You take another look and you realize there is this darkness in the background. Martin loves Dovidl, but at the same time there’s this hatred, there’s this jealousy.”
When we meet Dovidl at 17, as Jonah Hauer-King begins to play him, he has lived in the UK for quite a few years and he’s assimilating with his surroundings and his new family. “He has begun the journey, consciously or subconsciously, away from his Polish-Jewish identity,” says Hauer-King. “ It’s a time of great change because a lot of his identity was connected to his parents and to his family and the mystery surrounding what happened to them.” By this point in the story a very specific dynamic has been formed in Dovidl and Martin’s relationship. “Dovidl is talented, flamboyant, precocious, self-centered, and ambitious, and Martin is the one who tries to keep him grounded and act as a rock. They are both playing roles within that brotherhood. Dovidl doesn’t articulate it much, but I think he has a huge love and respect for Martin for putting up with him, as he can be quite difficult to be around.”
Gerran Howell, who takes over the role of Martin at 17, believes Martin is content to play his deferential role. Dovidl is the genius and Martin is the admirer,” says Howell. “Martin sees himself as quite a boring person with not much of an outlook or freedom in his life. When Dovidl came along, he turned everything on its head. He was everything Martin wanted to be. They kind of fill each other’s things that they’re missing. But when Dovidl disappears, Martin is left to pick up the pieces and wonder what he’s meant to do next.”
At the point we first encounter the adult Martin (Tim Roth), he is coasting through an essentially dull and passionless life. “Martin is living in a crumbling house with his wife, with not much money in the bank,” says Roth. “His foster brother Dovidl, who was his best friend, vanished on him 35 years before. All of that comes tumbling back when he catches wind that Dovidl might still be around. That charges up his life again, and he goes looking for him.” From that moment on, Martin’s quest to find Dovidl becomes the force driving the film’s narrative. “When Martin sees the first clue, his passion is awakened,” says Girard. “It transforms him from a state of drifting around to being driven by a mission.”
In the novel, both Dovidl and Martin’s families are Jewish, but Roth suggested that Martin not be Jewish. “For people on the outside, it’s a hidden world,” says Roth. “If Martin is Jewish, he would already know where to look, in a sense. So I think it gives me more to explore.” Screenwriter Jeffrey Caine liked Roth’s idea. “It adds another strand to the film,” says Caine. “It gives Martin another cause for resentment. Not only is this kid now his father's golden boy, they also have to live a kosher life.”
During the decades since the two men had last seen each other, Dovidl has changed drastically from the young man Martin once knew. “There is a huge gap in the story,” says Clive Owen, who plays the adult version of Dovidl. “There is a world, a life that’s happened that we don’t see, that we never see because his life has changed so dramatically. Their coming together is hugely important because Martin has spent his entire life wondering why this guy just disappeared without a word when they were very close and had done so much together. Dovidl made a decision 35 years ago to create a new life and now he has to face up to the past.”
Catherine McCormack portrays Martin’s wife Helen. “Helen is very much in love with Martin, as he is with her,” says McCormack. “But Martin’s obsession with understanding and finding out where his friend went has taken over his life. He really needs to find the answers and for Helen that’s very difficult because she has a secret herself in relation to Dovidl. But, beyond that, it’s causing problems in their marriage because she feels like there’s a third person, a presence that is not physically there, but is always a part of their everyday language. And she’s tired of it. She feels she’s in a marriage with three people.”
Martin’s quest for Dovidl begins when, while judging a competition, he recognizes a unique stylistic flourish used by a young violinist, Peter Stemp (Max Macmillan), that could only have been taught to the boy by Dovidl. While the novel could reveal in words what Martin was thinking, screenwriter Jeffrey Caine did not feel there was a way to convey this vital piece of information to a film audience. Instead, Caine invented a physical action: Stemp slowly applies rosin to his bow (something no concert violinist would do on stage) and delicately kisses the block of rosin. As we eventually learn, the cake of rosin had a profound meaning for Dovidl, as it was a parting gift from his father, the last time he saw him. While it’s unstated in the film, this reverent gesture is something Dovidl would have constantly witnessed growing up in an Orthodox home, where holy objects like the siddur (prayer book), mezuzah on doorpost, tallis (prayer shawl), are traditionally kissed as a symbol of loyalty to Judaism and God. This simple gesture with the rosin ties Dovidl simultaneously to his father, family, and Jewish identity.
Years after Dovidl’s disappearance, young Peter Stemp takes Martin to meet Billy (Richard Bremmer), the street violinist from whom he picked up Dovidl’s gesture. Billy tells Martin that Dovidl told him in 1951 that he was going home to “play for the ashes.” These words mean nothing to Billy, but are enough to convince Martin that Dovidl left London for Poland. Martin flies to Warsaw and seeks out Weschler, a once-dashing virtuoso violinist whom Martin and Dovidl had known when they were young. Martin finds the now decrepit Weschler, listless and unresponsive, in a lunatic asylum. While Martin is unable to get Weschler to remember him, a nurse informs Martin that Weschler is visited once a year by a woman.
Martin tracks down the woman, Anna Wozniak (Magdalena Cielecka), who was Dovidl’s lover during his brief stay in Poland. Anna tells Martin that Dovidl twice played a special song on his violin, which he never allowed her to hear: once for Weschler in the asylum, and another time on the field where the Treblinka Death Camp once stood. Dovidl referred to his Treblinka performance as “playing for the ashes.” Anna takes Martin to Treblinka, where there is now a memorial garden, filled with hundreds of stone slabs. Afterwards, Anna tells Martin where Dovidl went after he left Poland.
THE SONG OF NAMES was the first feature film to receive permission to shoot on the Treblinka memorial. Eight hundred thousand or more people were killed on that site in a period of nine months. “I’ve spent my adult life avoiding going to extermination camps,” says Lantos, the son of Holocaust survivors. “I don’t think most people would want to go to hell on earth. I didn’t want to and I never would have if I weren’t making this film, but the alternative would have been to build it somewhere in a field, and I really didn’t want to do that. I thought it was essential that we film there.”
At the center of Treblinka is a large irregular shaped rock, engraved with two words, in several languages: “Never Again.” Says Lantos: “For me, those two words encapsulate the most important reason a film like this needs to be made.” Everyone involved in the film shared this conviction. “One problem in society now is the general amnesia,” says Girard. “Fifty percent of people under thirty don’t even know what the word Holocaust means, and those who do know what the word means, you can be certain wouldn’t be able to explain much. So it’s definitely a mission for this film to keep that memory alive, to keep those events meaningful and resonant.” Screenwriter Caine, whose parents died in the Holocaust, says: “I deplore genocide wherever it occurs and to whomever it occurs. I’m with the Armenians, the Tutsis, the people Pol Pot murdered in Cambodia, and whoever might be genetically or racially cleansed tomorrow. Whatever words people use to describe it, this is a process that’s ongoing in the human mind, and this film isn’t going to eradicate it. But the more aware we all are of that thing in human beings that makes them act like this, the better. We have to know about it in order to recognize what the dangers are for the human race.”
Before shooting, François Girard visited the Treblinka Memorial, along with actress Magdalena Cielecka and production designer François Seguin. “It was a very emotional experience,” says Girard. “We entered and for two hours we didn’t say a single word. There was nothing to say.” The experience affected Girard deeply and caused him to make an important change in the scene.
“In the script the characters were talking as they walked there, and this no longer seemed right. I went back and worked with Jeffrey Caine so that Martin and Anna would remain silent.”
The core of the film’s story is the titular “Song of Names,” a recitation of the names of all who perished at Treblinka, set to music. It is through this song, chanted in a London synagogue by an Orthodox Rebbe (Daniel Mutlu), that Dovidl finally hears what befell his family at Treblinka. It’s significant that the names are not simply recited, but are sung like a prayer. “Music is a language, and it is probably the most powerful of all languages because it goes across borders with no need for translations,” says Girard. “It talks to the heart with no intermediaries, and it says things that words can’t say, because it’s a place where we meet and that no other medium can provide.” Soon after learning the fate of his family through “The Song of Names,” Dovidl, who had once renounced his religion, goes to the opposite extreme and dedicates his life to Orthodox Judaism. He also pledges to write a violin version of “The Song of Names.”
The practice of remembrance through sung prayers is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition back to ancient times. The specific idea of “The Song of Names” on which the film is based was conceived by author Norman Lebrecht. “The Song of Names” and the violin theme heard in the movie is an original work by composer Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) based on traditional modes. Drawing on his own experience from growing up in the synagogue, Shore spent two years studying the cantorial tradition using early recorded audio but particularly recordings from the 1950s, when the song is first heard in the film. Shore received particular guidance in recapturing the Jewish liturgical tradition by famed conductor/educator Judith Clurman and Bruce Ruben, who is Cantor of the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue. Girard maintains that Shore’s contribution went beyond music. “Howard was a contributor to the script, because there are a lot of ideas that I developed and discussed with him, which were ultimately implemented into the script,” says Girard. “For instance, the final concert, where you have a converging of Dovidl’s three performances of ‘The Song of Names’—with Weschler, at Treblinka, and on stage—as well as first hearing the Rebbe sing it, that was something I brought to the script and Howard embraced.”
By the time that Dovidl plays “The Song of Names” at the end, he has long shed the idea of performing for fame and fortune. “By that moment, it’s not so much about Dovidl demonstrating virtuosity, it’s more of a spiritual evocation,” says Girard. “His music has become a vehicle of something bigger. There’s no fame, no money, no individuality, no ego involved. It’s all about honoring the memory of those who had disappeared.” All the same, Dovidl’s great gifts have not left him. “‘The Song of Names’ is a virtuoso piece,” says Shore, “to be played by a master musician.”
All the violin parts in the performance of “The Song of Names,” as well as young Dovidl’s virtuoso performances of such pieces as Henryk Wieniawski’s “Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 15” (audition) and Niccolò Paganini’s Caprice #9 and #24 (with Jozef in the bomb shelter) are performed by internationally acclaimed violinist Ray Chen. “Ray worked very closely with me,” says Shore. “He delved into ‘The Song of Names’ with his heart and soul and created something that was really timeless.” Daniel Mutlu, Senior Cantor at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue, sang the part of the Rebbe live on camera. “That scene could only be recorded live on set says Shore. Daniel had to perform it and feel the pain.” Shore’s soundtrack for the film weaves melodic elements of “The Song of Names” from the film’s opening minutes until the song’s reprise in the end credits. “I try to create a complete work when I write for a film,” he says.
Unlike Luke Doyle, Clive Owen and Jonah Hauer-King had no prior training with the violin, and had to go through extensive training with British violinist Oliver Nelson to make them appear convincingly like violin masters. “We put hours and hours and hours of work in,” says Owen. “It was tough work because I was trying to do something that somebody would spend thirty years honing and getting as good as it should be. And I just had a couple of months. But François promised me that whatever happened he would make me look brilliant on the violin. So I trusted him and I put as much work in as I possibly could and then with great help from Ollie, he seemed to be happy.” Hauer-King says that the particular training he received was project specific. “I’m very good at playing one song, and nothing else,” he says. “But it was a really great challenge and I enjoyed it.”
Principal photography for THE SONG OF NAMES took place over nine weeks in late 2018, starting with five days in London, followed by seven weeks of location and studio work in Budapest, Hungary, and a final week of location work in Montreal. Budapest can pass for many cities, but it has very distinctive Austro-Hungarian architecture that needed to be adapted by the Production Designer François Seguin (BROOKLYN) and his team to stand in for English locations. There were several occasions where quite substantial set builds were also required, notably the sand-bagged entrance to a World War II air raid shelter. The concert hall used for both the 1951 and 1986 scenes was the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, an Art Nouveau concert hall in Budapest located within Hungary’s most prestigious music school.
Although THE SONG OF NAMES is profoundly connected to the memory of those who perished during the Holocaust, there is actually very little direct portrayal of those events. “One reason I agreed to direct this film is that it deals with the Holocaust without looking at it straight in the eye,” says Girard. “I don’t think I could have done that. Watching THE SONG OF NAMES is like taking a walk on a volcano that is apparently quiet with its gardens and paths, but deep under there’s red lava that’s burning. We’re looking at the Holocaust from the small end of the telescope, at characters who suffered the consequences of it, and through their eyes and through their lives, we evoke the tragedy.”
The story of THE SONG OF NAMES illustrates how the brutal forces of war and genocide can leave indelible marks on those who manage to survive those scourges. Still, while the story passes through unimaginable darkness, it doesn’t end on a note of utter hopelessness. “There is a message in this story, that the things we lose, we don’t always lose,” says Lebrecht. “Things that we think are lost forever are deeply embedded inside us, and if we have the tenacity to go and look for them, we can start to understand loss as not total. We are able to build on what is left behind and move on.”
TIM ROTH (Martin) made his studio feature debut in ROB ROY, opposite Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange, a performance that earned him a Golden Globe® nomination and an Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama.
Roth currently stars in the series “Tin Star,” as Jim Worth, an ex-undercover UK cop turned police chief of a small town in the Canadian Rockies. Season three will premiere in 2020. He previously starred in the series “Lie To Me,” as Dr. Cal Lightman, a researcher who pioneered the field of deception detection, skilled at reading the human face, body and voice to uncover the truth in criminal and private investigations.
He gained worldwide attention for his roles in the Quentin Tarantino films RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION. He teamed with Tarantino a third time in THE HATEFUL EIGHT.
Roth spent his youth aspiring to become a fine artist, and studied sculpture at Camberall Art College before he went on to study drama in London. Working steadily in theatre, he received great notices portraying Gregor Samsa in a production of an adaptation of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis.” He made his TV debut with the lead role in the award-winning telefilm “Made in Britain,” followed by Mike Leigh’s MEANTIME. Roth starred in over fifteen film and television projects including Stephen Frears’ THE HIT (Evening Standard Award for “Best Newcomer”); Peter Greenaway’s THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER; Tom Stoppard’s ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD; and Robert Altman’s VINCENT & THEO, in which he portrayed Vincent Van Gogh.
His other film credits include: Tim Burton’s PLANET OF THE APES; THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY; Nora Ephron’s LUCKY NUMBERS; Giuseppe Tornatore’s LEGEND OF 1900; Werner Herzog’s INVINCIBLE; JUMPIN’ AT THE BONEYARD; BODIES, REST & MOTION; MURDER IN HEARTLAND; Nicolas Roeg’s HEART OF DARKNESS; FOUR ROOMS; James Gray’s LITTLE ODESSA; Angela Pope’s CAPTIVES; GRIDLOCK’D; Woody Allen’s EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU; HOODLUM; DECEIVER; John Sayles’s SILVER CITY; EVEN MONEY; Wim Wenders’s DON’T COME KNOCKING; Walter Salles’s DARK WATER; Michael Haneke’s FUNNY GAMES; Francis Ford Coppola’s YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH; THE INCREDIBLE HULK; ARBITRAGE; BROKEN (British Independent Film Award for Best Actor); THE LIABILITY; GRACE OF MONACO; SELMA (as George Wallace); CHRONIC (Independent Spirit nomination for Best Male Lead); and 600 MILES. He can currently be seen in LUCE, opposite Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer.
Roth made his directorial debut in 1999 with the award-winning THE WAR ZONE, starring Ray Winstone, Colin Farrell, and Tilda Swinton, based on the novel by Alexander Stuart. The film premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews and was also presented at Cannes, Berlin (C.I.C.A.E. Award), Toronto Film Festivals, prior to its theatrical release that year. The film received numerous nominations and prizes, including: Best New British Feature at the Edinburgh Film Festival; Best British film at the British Independent Film Awards; and the European Film Award for Best Discovery.
Roth’s other TV credits include: the three-part miniseries “Klondike,” from Executive Producer Ridley Scott; the three-part drama “10 Rillington Place,” where he played notorious serial killer John Christie; and the International Emmy nominated TV movie “Reg.”
He made his return to the stage in 2004, for the first time since early in his career in London, in the Actors Studio Drama School Theater’s production of Sam Shepard’s “The God of Hell.”
Roth was born in London, and currently resides in Los Angeles.
CLIVE OWEN (Dovidl) won a Golden Globe® and an Academy Award® nomination for his portrayal of “Larry” in Mike Nichols’ CLOSER (2005), opposite Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Natalie Portman.
Born in Keresley, Coventry, in the UK, Owen first came onto the scene in several British and American telefilms. In 1991, he starred in the hit UK television series “Chancer,” followed by “Second Sight,” which aired on PBS’s “Mystery!”
Owen made his film debut in Beeban Kidron’s VROOM in 1988, followed by Stephen Poliakoff’s CLOSE MY EYES; BENT; GREENFINGERS; Mike Hodges’ CROUPIER; and Robert Altman’s GOSFORD PARK.
Owen’s other films include: BEYOND BORDERS; Mike Hodges’s I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD; KING ARTHUR; Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s SIN CITY (“The Big Fat Kill”); DERAILED; Spike Lee’s INSIDE MAN; Alfonso Cuaron’s CHILDREN OF MEN; SHOOT ‘EM UP; ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE (as Sir Walter Raleigh); DUPLICITY; THE INTERNATIONAL; THE INTRUDERS, THE BOYS ARE BACK; TRUST; THE KILLER ELITE; James Marsh’s SHADOW DANCER; BLOOD TIES; Fred Schepisi’s WORDS AND PICTURES; ANON; OPHELIA; and upcoming, THE INFORMER and GEMINI MAN, opposite Will Smith.
He recently starred in Steven Soderbergh’s “The Knick,” for Cinemax, which he also executive produced. His portrayal of Dr. Thatchery earned him a 2015 Golden Globe® Best Actor nomination. In 2011, he made his American TV debut in HBO’s Emmy nominated “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” starring opposite Nicole Kidman and directed by Phil Kaufman. His performance earned him Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe® nominations.
Owen is also an acclaimed stage actor with roles includding his portrayal of “Romeo” at the Young Vic, starring in Sean Mathias’ staging of Noel Coward’s “Design For Living,” and playing the lead role in Patrick Marber’s original production of “Closer” at the Royal National Theater in 1997. In the fall of 2001, he starred in London in Peter Nichols’s “A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.” In 2015, he made his Broadway debut in the revival of Harold Pinter’s “Old Times.” He later returned to Broadway in the 2017 production of David Henry Hwang’s “M. Butterfly.” He is currently appearing at the Noel Coward Theatre in London in the starring role in Tennessee Williams’s “The Night of the Iguana,” his first time appearing in the West End in almost twenty years.
Owen starred as The Driver in the series of BMW internet short features entitled “The Hire,” each directed by John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai, Guy Ritchie, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
CATHERINE McCORMACK (Helen) trained at the Oxford School of Drama before going on to a highly successful stage and screen career.
McCormack gained international attention for her second film role, as Murran MacClannough, wife of Mel Gibson’s William Wallace in the multi-Academy Award® winning BRAVEHEART (1995). Her subsequent films include: NORTH STAR; THE LAND GIRLS; DANGEROUS BEAUTY; DANCING AT LUGHNASA; THIS YEAR’S LOVE; SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE; Kathryn Bigelow’s THE WEIGHT OF WATER; John Boorman’s THE TAILOR OF PANAMA; SPY GAME, opposite Robert Redford and Brad Pitt; 28 WEEKS LATER; THE FOLD; Woody Allen’s MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT; THE JOURNEY; and PROMISE AT DAWN. She will soon be seen in Adrian Shergold’s horror thriller, CORDELIA, with Michael Gambon.
Her television roles include: Lady Carmichael in “Sherlock”; Veronica, Countess of Lucan in “Lucan”; Theresa Leary in the US boxing drama, “Lights Out”; and “Temple,” opposite Mark Strong.
McCormack’s stage roles include: Mary Carney in Jez Butterworth’s Tony-winning “The Ferryman,” which was directed by Sam Mendes and transferred from the West End to Broadway; Mrs. Robinson in “The Graduate” (West Yorkshire Playhouse); “Dancing at Lughnasa” (Lyric Theatre); Goneril in “King Lear,” opposite Frank Langella’s Lear (BAM); Juana Inés de la Cruz in “The Heresy of Love” (Royal Shakespeare Company); “Top Girls” (Trafalgar Theatre); “A Lie of the Mind” (Donmar Warehouse); Nora in “A Doll’s House” (Peter Hall’s production at Theatre Royal, Bath), and the National Theatre productions of “All My Sons,” “Free,” “Dinner,” and “Honour.”
JONAH HAUER-KING (Dovidl, 17-23) began his career at the Lyric Belfast, in Simon Stephen’s “Punk Rock.” He then went to Cambridge University, but juggled acting roles on stage and screen while there. He made his West End debut playing Kenneth Branagh’s son in “The Entertainer,” a performance which was filmed in 2016.
His first feature was a lead role in Danny Huston’s THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH (2017, World Premiere, Edinburgh International Film Festival), followed by roles in ASHES IN THE SNOW, opposite Bel Powley; OLD BOYS; POSTCARDS FROM LONDON (also performed and wrote songs on the soundtrack); and A DOG’S WAY HOME, with Ashley Judd and Edward James Olmos.
Hauer-King starred in two BBC miniseries: “Howard’s End” with Hayley Atwell and Mathew Macfadyen, and “Little Women,” with Emily Watson, Angela Lansbury, and Michael Gambon.
This year, he will be seen in Blumhouse’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN STATEN ISLAND opposite Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, and the BBC’s major new World War II series, “World On Fire.”
Hauer-King was born and raised in London. He is a dual citizen of the UK and the United States.
GERRAN HOWELL (Martin, 17-21) recently played Kid Sampson in the Hulu mini-series adaptation of Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22,” opposite George Clooney, Kyle Chandler and Hugh Laurie. He made his U.S. television debut in 2017 when he was cast in the lead role of Jack (a.k.a. The Tin Man) on the NBC fantasy series “Emerald City,” based on the Oz book series by L. Frank Baum. He then played painter Karl-Heinz Wiegels, opposite Antonio Banderas (Pablo Picasso), in the series “Genius.”
His other film roles include John Boorman’s QUEEN & COUNTRY, opposite David Thewlis; and CRUSADE IN JEANS, starring Emily Watson. Upcoming for Howell is a role in Sam Mendes’s 1917, opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, and Richard Madden.
Howell is a Welsh actor who began his career at 15, playing the lead role of Vladimir Dracula on the BBC scripted series “Young Dracula.” In 2007, “Young Dracula” won a Royal Television Society Award and the Welsh BAFTA for Best Children’s Program. The series was also nominated for several other awards during its five-season run, including the BAFTA for Best Children’s Drama in 2008 and a BAFTA Children’s Award in 2012.
After the series ended, Howell studied at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Following graduation, he appeared in the British series “Some Girls,” “Casualty,” “Drifters,” and in all three seasons of “The Sparticle Mystery.”
Howell’s stage roles include: “Bedwas Boy Mandela,” “Shoot/Get/Treasure/Repeat,” and “War and Peace.”
He resides in London, England.
LUKE DOYLE (Dovidl, 9-13) is a 12-year-old violinist who makes his film acting debut in THE SONG OF NAMES. He is currently the youngest member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales.
Born in South Wales, Doyle began playing the violin at age 8, and two years later gained a government scholarship to attend the renowned Wells Cathedral School. He studies violin with Catherine Lord.
Doyle has always enjoyed acting, and has taken lead roles in school productions since studying at Wells. When the casting department for THE SONG OF NAMES undertook a national search for a prodigious young violinist, Doyle was recommended by a parent at Wells Cathedral School, who was aware of his multiple talents as a performer.
Outside music, Luke’s has a keen interest in history (particularly World War II) and theology.
MISHA HANDLEY’s (Martin, 9-13) first film experience was in the 2012 movie WOMAN IN BLACK as the 4-year-old son of Daniel Radcliffe.
In the same year he was cast as another 4-year-old in “Parade’s End,” a BBC series set in Edwardian England and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall as his parents. Tom Stoppard adapted the novel by Ford Maddox Ford and the large cast contained many of the UK’s best known actors.
In 2019, Handley played Alexander in a stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s classic film “Fanny and Alexander” at London’s Old Vic Theatre.
Polish actress MAGDALENA CIELECKA (Anna) received many prestigious Polish and international awards for her film debut, TEMPTATION, in 1995. Cielecka’s subsequent films include: S@MOTNOSĆ W SIECI (“Loneliness on the Net”); ZAKOCHANI (“In Love”); EGOIŚCI (“Egoists”); THE LURE; UNITED STATES OF LOVE; A HEART OF LOVE; STARS; BREAKING THE LIMITS; DARK, ALMOST NIGHT; and THE DAY OF CHOCOLATE. In 2008, she attended the Berlin Film Festival and Academy Award ceremony for her role in Andrzej Wajda’s KATYŃ.
Cielecka was born in Myszków, Poland, and graduated from the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Cracow in 1995. As a student, she made her debut in Cracow’s Stary Teatr, where she continued to work during her years in Cracow. In 1999, she received the Zelwerowicz Award for Best Actress of the Season for three of her roles: the title role in “Ivona, Princess of Burgundia,” Candy in “Unidentified Human Remains,” and Judith in “Father Mark.”
She has performed in Warsaw theatres since 1998, most notably in Teatr Rozmaitości in plays directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna and Krzysztof Warlikowski. She received the Feliks Warszawski Award for her portrayal of Ariel in “Burza,” an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” She has been part of the Nowy Teatr team since 2008 and also appears in the National Theatre in Warsaw, Imka, and Polonia Theatres.
Cielecka has also acted in many television series, including “Without Secrets,” “Hotel 52,” “Time of Honor,” “Prokurator,” “The Pact,” “Belfer,” “Belle Epoque,” “Chylka. Zaginiecie,” and “Pisarze, Serial na krótko.”
MARINA HAMBRO (Young Helen) makes her feature film debut in THE SONG OF NAMES.
Hambro studied photography, media studies and theatre studies at Hurtwood House, in Surry, England, a school famed for its performing arts and media curriculum. She was active in the Hurtwood Acting Company, and was awarded the school’s highest scholarship, which made it possible for Hambro to pursue her acting training in New York City.
In New York, Hambro appeared in a variety of off-Broadway plays including “Gruesome Playground Injuries” and “The Other Side.” She also acted in dozens of short films, including “Round Two” and “Terminal.”
Since returning to London, Hambro played the lead role opposite Jane Cussons in the horror short, “When the Howls Find Us,” which was accepted into the official selection of the Aesthetica Film Festival.
FRANÇOIS GIRARD (Director) gained notoriety as much for his filmmaking as for his staging of operas and theater plays.
In 1993, his feature film THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD would go on to garner international success including four top Genie Awards. Five years later he directed THE RED VIOLIN, featuring Samuel L. Jackson, which received an Academy Award for best original score and enshrined Girard as an important player on the international movie scene. The film also won eight Genie Awards and nine Jutra Awards. SILK, which he later directed, was adapted from Alessandro Baricco’s best-selling book, and was released worldwide in 2007. The cast includes Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, Alfred Molina, Miki Nakatani and Koji Yakusho. SILK received four Jutra Awards. His film BOYCHOIR, released in 2015, features Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates and Eddie Izzard among others. Most recently, HOCHELAGA, LAND OF SOULS, was presented at the Toronto Film Festival, and represented Canada in the race for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards®. It was released in September 2017 and was greatly acclaimed by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.
Girard’s 1994 concert film “Peter Gabriel’s Secret World,” became a best-selling film and earned him a Grammy Award. A few years later he directed one of the six episodes of the internationally acclaimed series “Yo-Yo Ma Inspired By Bach.”
In 1997, François Girard made his opera directorial debut with “Oedipus Rex/Symphony of Psalms” by Stravinsky and Cocteau, which received numerous awards and was named by The Guardian as “the best theatrical show of the year.” His other opera works include “Lost Objects,” for the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Wagner’s “Siegfried”; “The Flight of Lindbergh/Seven Deadly Sins” by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht; as well as Kaija Saariaho's “Émilie.” Girard’s most recent opera work was “Parsifal,” which earned him and the Metropolitan Opera Company a remarkable critical success.
For the stage, Girard also directed Alessandro Barrico’s “Novecento”, Kafka’s “Trial” and Yasushi Inoue’s “Hunting Gun,” and most recently, a new production of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.”
Girard is a three-time winner of the much-coveted Herald Angel Award for Best Production at the Edinburgh Festival.
In recent years, Cirque du Soleil’s commissioned Girard to write and direct “Zed,” their first permanent show in Tokyo; and “Zarkana,” which opened at Radio City Music Hall, played at the Kremlin Theatre and has become a resident show in Las Vegas.
To date, François Girard’s accomplishments have earned him over one hundred international awards and public acclaim the world over.
THE SONG OF NAMES is ROBERT LANTOS’s (Producer) first collaboration with director François Girard.
Lantos was Chairman and CEO of Canada’s leading film and television company, Alliance Communications Corporation, from its inception until 1998, when he sold his controlling interest. He then formed his production company Serendipity Point Films, where he produces films he is personally passionate about.
His first film, IN PRAISE OF OLDER WOMEN, opened the Toronto Film Festival in 1978 and his 1985 film JOSHUA THEN AND NOW, screened In Competition at Cannes and opened Toronto. Since then Lantos has produced over forty feature films, including BARNEY’S VERSION, for which Paul Giamatti received a Golden Globe for Best Actor.
Lantos has established longstanding creative relationships with some of the world’s preeminent directors, notably David Cronenberg, István Szabó, and Atom Egoyan. Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES earned Oscar®, Golden Globe® and BAFTA Nominations, opened the London International Film Festival and San Sebastian Film Festival and screened as a Gala at the Toronto Film Festival; CRASH, winner of a Special Jury Prize in Cannes and eXistenZ, winner of The Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
Lantos’s collaborations with István Szabó include: BEING JULIA, which earned Annette Bening an Oscar® nomination, the Golden Globe® Award and the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress; and SUNSHINE, which received three Golden Globe® nominations, including Best Picture, three European Film Awards and the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture.
His notable collaborations with Atom Egoyan include THE SWEET HEREAFTER, which won the Cannes Grand Prix, was nominated for two Oscars® and won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture; WHERE THE TRUTH LIES, which was screened in competition in Cannes; ARARAT, Official Selection in Cannes, Opening Night at Toronto, and won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture; Cannes Prize Winner EXOTICA; and REMEMBER, in competition, Venice Film Festival and Gala at the Toronto Film Festival.
Lantos’s other producing credits include Alonso Ruiz Palacios’s MUSEO, winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival; JOHNNY MNEMONIC, an international box office hit starring Keanu Reeves; Bruce Beresford’s BLACK ROBE. Opening Night Gala at the Toronto Film Festival, Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture; Denys Arcand’s STARDOM, Closing Night Cannes; Opening Night Gala at Toronto; Norman Jewison’s THE STATEMENT, National Board of Review Winner; Jeremy Podeswa’s FUGITIVE PIECES, Rome Festival Best Actor Award, Opening Night Gala at Toronto; and Don McKellar’s THROUGH BLACK SPRUCE.
Lantos is a member of the Order of Canada, and a recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. He holds honorary Doctorates from McGill University and the University of Haifa.
LYSE LAFONTAINE (Producer) is one of Canada’s most highly regarded producers.
A veteran of both film and television production, she has worked with some of the most respected names in the Canadian entertainment industry, including Jean-Claude Lauzon on the award winning film LÉOLO that she produced in 1992. The film played in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Golden Spike (Best Picture) at Valladolid.
In addition to Canada, Lafontaine has coproduced movies along with other producers from France, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States, among other countries.
A SUNDAY IN KIGALI (2006), a love story occurring during the Rwanda genocide, was directed by Robert Favreau and based on the novel by Gil Courtemanche. It was presented at more than 35 international festivals and won many prizes, including the Genie for Best Adaptation, the Jutra for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Original Score, Best Costumes, Best Make-Up, the Best Actress award at the Marrakech International Film Festival, the Best North-American Film award at the Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival, among many others.
MOMMY IS AT THE HAIRDRESSER’S (2008), about a young girl’s coming of age in the 60s, was written by Isabelle Hébert and directed by Léa Pool. It was presented in many countries and won the Jutra Award for the film getting the most recognition outside Quebec. The film won Audience Awards at both the Soleure Film Festival in Switzerland and the Goeteborg International Film Festival in Sweden.
In 2009, Lafontaine was co-producer with producer Robert Lantos and co-producer Domenico Procacci, of BARNEY’S VERSION, an adaptation of the acclaimed Mordecai Richler novel, directed by Richard J. Lewis and starring Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver, and Scott Speedman.
Lafontaine produced Xavier Dolan’s film LAURENCE ANYWAYS (2012) starring Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément, Nathalie Baye and Monia Chokri. The film was chosen for “Un Certain Regard” at Cannes, and won the Best Actress Award. In 2012, it won Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Film Festival.
In 2013, Lafontaine was Associate Producer of TOM AT THE FARM, a psychological thriller directed by Xavier Dolan, based on the play by Michel Marc Bouchard. It was screened in the main competition section at the 70th Venice International Film Festival and also at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival in the Special Presentation section. It won the FIPRESCI Prize at Venice and was shortlisted for Best Picture at the second Canadian Screen Awards.
In 2014, she produced Léa Pool’s THE PASSION OF AUGUSTINE, as well as the director’s more recent WORST CASE, WE GET MARRIED (2017), based on the novel by Sophie Bienvenu. She then produced Xavier Dolan’s THE DEATH AND LIFE OF JOHN F. DONOVAN (2018) and Louis Bélanger’s VIVRE À 100 MILLES À L’HEURE.
NICK HIRSCHKORN (Producer) is the sole owner of Feel Films and co-owner of Oscar winning effects house Milk VFX. Milk’s credits include “Doctor Who,” SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN and DREDD. In 2016, Milk won the VFX Oscar® for EX MACHINA.
After producing numerous award-winning commercials and music videos, Hirschkorn moved into feature films in 2004 with the children’s film 5 CHILDREN & IT, starring Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard and Freddie Highmore. The film was selected as a Gala Film at the Toronto Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Dubai Film Festival. The film won the BAFTA for Best New British Composer.
Nick went on to produce and finance the TV movie “Skellig,” starring Tim Roth, Kelly Macdonald and John Simm, which opened the Rome Film Festival and pioneered the fusion of TV and independent film financing with Sky TV.
More recently, Feel Films produced “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell,” a 7- part drama for the BBC, adapted from the bestselling book by Susanna Clarke. “Jonathan Strange” won multiple awards including two Bafta Craft awards for VFX and Production Design and Bafta nominations for Costume and Make Up & Hair. The show won an RTS Craft Award for Production Design and was nominated in the VFX category. Deadline Hollywood and the Radio Times placed “Jonathan Strange” in their Top 10 TV Shows of 2015.
Born in London in 1944, JEFFREY CAINE (Screenwriter) was educated at the Universities of Sussex and Leeds, where he obtained degrees in Philosophy and English. He taught English in schools and colleges for three years before becoming a professional writer. Married in 1969 and widowed in 1995, he has two daughters and three grandchildren.
After writing mainly for British television between 1986 and 1992, he has since concentrated on screenplays, working with directors Richard Attenborough and Ridley Scott, among others.
His produced screenplays include GOLDENEYE (1995); INSIDE I’M DANCING (a.k.a. RORY O’SHEA WAS HERE) (2004); THE CONSTANT GARDENER (2005); and EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS (2014).
INSIDE I’M DANCING won an IFTA Script Award in 2004; THE CONSTANT GARDENER was nominated for Academy® and BAFTA Awards.
Caine’s most recent work is BELOVED FRIENDS, a period romantic comedy based on the courtship and early married life of John Quincy Adams and Louisa Johnson.
NORMAN LEBRECHT’s (Original Novel) is a British commentator on music and cultural affairs. He was a columnist for the Daily Telegraph from 1994 to 2002 and assistant editor of London's Evening Standard from 2002 to 2009. He also had two shows on BBC Radio 3: “lebrecht live” and “The Lebrecht Interview.”
His first novel, The Song of Names, won a Whitbread Award in 2002, an annual prize honoring authors based in Britain and Ireland. Whitbread Awards are given for high literary merit but are also dedicated to works whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience.
He is the author of twelve works of non-fiction and three novels. His bestsellers The Maestro Myth, Why Mahler, and The Life and Death of Classical Music have been translated into seventeen languages. His latest, Genius and Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World 1847-1947, will be published in October 2019.
Lebrecht’s has a very popular website — SlippeDisc.com.
Lebrecht lives in central London and is currently writing another novel.
HOWARD SHORE’s (Composer) music is performed in concert halls around the world by the most prestigious orchestras and is heard in cinemas across the globe.
Shore’s musical interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imaginative world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT, as portrayed in the films directed by Peter Jackson, have enthralled people of all generations for years. This work stands as his most acclaimed composition to date awarding him with three Academy Awards®, four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes®, as well as numerous critics and festival awards.
He is an officer of the Order of Canada, an Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la France and the recipient of Canada’s Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures honored Shore with an award for Career Achievement for Music Composition and the City of Vienna bestowed him with the Max Steiner Award. Shore has received numerous other awards for his career achievements.
Shore was one of the original creators of “Saturday Night Live” and served as music director from 1975-1980. At the same time, he began collaborating with David Cronenberg and has since scored fifteen of the director’s films, including THE FLY, CRASH, and NAKED LUNCH. He was awarded Canadian Screen Awards for MAPS TO THE STARS for score and COSMOPOLIS for both score and song. His original scores to A DANGEROUS METHOD, EASTERN PROMISES and DEAD RINGERS were each honored with a Genie Award. Shore continues to distinguish himself with a wide range of projects, including five films with Martin Scorsese: HUGO, THE DEPARTED, THE AVIATOR (for which he won his third Golden Globe® Award), GANGS OF NEW YORK, and AFTER HOURS. His other credits include ED WOOD, SE7EN, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, PHILADELPHIA, MRS. DOUBTFIRE, and the score for Tom McCarthy’s Academy Award®-winning film SPOTLIGHT.
His opera, “The Fly” (2008), which premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and at Los Angeles Opera, recently completed a successful run in Germany at Theatre Trier. His other works include: “Fanfare,” for the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia (2008); the piano concerto “Ruin and Memory” (2010), for Lang Lang; the cello concerto “Mythic Gardens” (2012), featuring Sophie Shao; the song cycle “A Palace Upon the Ruins” (2014), featuring mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano; “Sea to Sea” (2017), featuring Measha Brueggergosman, a song for orchestra, soloist, and choir, in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary of confederation; the song cycle “L’Aube” (2017), performed by Susan Platts and commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; “Latin Mass” (2018), for the Hof Church in Lucerne, Switzerland; and “The Forest” (2019), a guitar concerto composed for Miloš Karadaglić and conducted by Alexander Shelley, for the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
French-Canadian FRANCOIS SÉGUIN (Production Designer) previously collaborated with director François Giraud on RED VIOLIN, SILK, and HOCHELAGA, LAND OF SOULS.
Based in Montreal, Séguin has designed feature films, television series and live theatrical stage productions all around the world. He has won five Genie Awards for Achievement in Art Direction from the Canadian Academy of Film and Television, and has been nominated twice more.
Séguin has also worked on the Cirque du Soleil show, “Zed,” in Japan. He designed Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas show “Michael Jackson: One,” and travelled to China to design Dragon’s production of “The Han Show.” Séguin’s feature film credits include: John Crowley’s Best Picture-nominated film BROOKLYN, starring Domhnall Gleeson, Saoirse Ronan and Jim Broadbent; Paul McGuigan’s LUCKY NUMBER, SLEVIN and PUSH; Billy Ray’s SHATTERED GLASS; Harald Zwart’s THE KARATE KID and THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES; and Denys Arcand’s JESUS OF MONTREAL and THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS.
Séguin also designed the acclaimed Showtime television series “The Borgias,” for director Neil Jordan, which earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Art Direction.
DAVID FRANCO (Director of Photography) has worked as the cinematographer on more than 45 productions. He previously teamed with François Girard on BOYCHOIR, starring Dustin Hoffman.
His feature film credits include: Demian Lichtenstein’s 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND, starring Kevin Costner; Jonathan Lynn’s THE WHOLE NINE YARDS, with Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry; Mannon Briand’s LA TURBULENCE DES FLUIDES; Christian Duguay’s THE ASSIGNMENT, starring Ben Kingsley and Donald Sutherland; and David Wellingtons’ LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT and A MAN IN UNIFORM, which was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival in the Director’s Fortnight and won Best Cinematography Award at the 38th Festival of Valladolid. Recently, Franco shot Franco’s TV credits include the pilots for “Get Shorty,” “Minority Report,” “The Bridge,” and “Desperate Housewives.” His work in high-end television episodic includes HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” “Westworld,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and “Vinyl,” as well as “Stranger Things,” “Ray Donovan,” “Power,” “Z: The Beginning of Everything,” and “Little America.”
He won the Emmy Award for his work on HBO’s original movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” He has received ASC Award nominations for “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” “Intensity,” “Falling for You,” “Million Dollar Babies,” and twice for “Boardwalk Empire.”
Born in France, Franco was raised in Zaire where his father worked as a theatre director. After completing his schooling, Franco moved to Montreal to study communications at the University of Quebec, specializing in photography, planning to work as a war photographer. Instead he started his own production company to produce and shoot music videos, and segued into the feature film and television industry. Franco currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Over a thirty plus year career, MICHEL ARCAND (Editor) has emerged as one of the world’s leading film editors. Arcand’s work has taken him to France, Hollywood, throughout Europe, all over Canada and the UK.
Arcand has both worked on major studio films, such as THE SIXTH DAY and TOMORROW NEVER DIES, and significant French Quebec movies that display the rich voice of such talented filmmakers as Jean Claude Lauzon (UN ZOO LA NUIT, LÉOLO), Léa Pool, and Charles Binamé, among others.
Michel has been nominated ten times and was awarded three Genies by the Academy of Canadian Film and Television for Best Achievement in Editing, the latest for his work on THE ROCKET (A.K.A. MAURICE RICHARD), as well as DGC & Jutra nominations for Outstanding Achievement in Picture Editing.
ANNE DIXON’s (Costume Designer) design career spans over thirty years both on stage and on screen including a myriad of genres and periods, seen internationally in theatre, opera, film and television. Dixon has collaborated with such acclaimed directors as Viggo Mortensen, François Girard, Niki Caro, Jeremy Podeswa, Sudz Sutherland, Mick Jackson, Angelica Huston, Paul Mazursky, Kathy Bates, Jeremiah Chechik, and Veronica Tennant.
Her film credits include FALLING, BORN TO BE BLUE, LAVENDER TO FUGITIVE PIECES, SAINT RALPH and INTERSTATE 60, among others. Her credits range from television (“Anne with an E”, “Lost Girl”, “XIII”, “Guns”) to dance (“Karen Kain--Dancing in the Moment,” “The Firebird”) skating (“Battle of the Blades”) to opera (“Don Giovanni Unmasked”).
Dixon is a graduate in Art & Design from The University of the Arts London, England. Her many accolades include: the Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award; the Tom Patterson Award, a CSA Award nomination for Best Costume Design for “Anne with an E,” and a Genie Award for SAINT RALPH. She is a member of the Costume Designer’s Guild in LA, and is published in Canadian Who’s Who and Great Women of the 21st Century.
