Her Magnum Opus
A circle of friends gather to celebrate their mentor and learn that what lasts is those you leave behind.
-
Marta RenziDirectorBesties, Her Children Mourn, 890 Broadway, Wildwood, etc.
-
Marta RenziWriterWildwood, 890 Broadway, Plow Plant Reap, Her Children Mourn,
-
Paul GalandoProducerBesties
-
Jonathan DemmeProducerSilence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, The Agronomist, etc.
-
Aileen PassloffKey Cast
-
Charles Caster-DudzickCinematography890 Broadway, Honeymoon, Aqua-booty
-
Cari Ann Shim ShamCinematographyBesties
-
Caleb TownsendSoundRicky and the Flash, Miles Ahead, How Far She Went, Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids
-
Heather GrossSoundWolf of Wall Street, Quantico, Queen of Katwe, Spotlight
-
Robert VergaraStillsRicky & The Flash, The Manchurian Candidate, Heart of Gold, Her Children Mourn
-
Lev "Ljova" ZhurbinMusic
-
Lorenzo WolffMusic
-
Kitty BrazeltonMusic
-
Project Type:Experimental, Feature
-
Genres:Drama, Dance, Aging
-
Runtime:1 hour
-
Completion Date:May 15, 2017
-
Production Budget:30,000 USD
-
Country of Origin:United States, United States
-
Country of Filming:United States, United States
-
Language:English
-
Shooting Format:HD Video
-
Aspect Ratio:16:9
-
Film Color:Color
-
First-time Filmmaker:No
-
Student Project:No
-
Port Townsend Film FestivalPort Townsend, WA
United States
September 15, 2017
Premiere -
YoFi Film FestYonkers, NY
United States
November 5, 2017
Westchester Premiere -
Upstate FilmsRhinebeck, New York
United States
October 29, 2017
Northeast Premiere -
Rivertown FilmsNyack, NY
United States
December 13, 2017 -
Borrego Springs Film FestivalBorrego Springs, CA
United States
January 20, 2018
California premiere -
SF Indie FestSan Francisco, California
United States
February 1, 2018 -
Jacob Burns Film CenterPleasantville, New York
United States
April 3, 2018 -
Vero Beach Film & Wine FestivalVero Beach, Florida
United States
June 9, 2018
Florida Premiere -
ReelHeART Screenplay and Film FestivalToronto, Ontario
Canada
July 5, 2018
Canadian premiere
Best Dance or Music Related Film -
Dance on Camera FestivalNew York, NY
United States
July 21, 2018 -
ADF Movers by MoversDurham, North Carolina
United States
July 14, 2018 -
RED International Dance Film FestivalEina
Norway
August 12, 2018
Scandinavian Premiere -
Anthology Film ArchivesNew York, NY
United States
September 25, 2018
NYWIFT screening -
Herstory Cinephilia SocietyNashville, TN
United States
November 17, 2018
Official Selection -
Blow Up Arthouse Film FestivalChicago, IL
United States
November 11, 2018
Official Selection -
Rollout Dance Film Festival
Macao
December 31, 2018
Official Selection -
Warsaw Dance CenterWarsaw
Poland
March 21, 2019
Polish Premiere -
[C] Screen SpringCerdanyola
Spain
April 26, 2019
Spanish Premiere -
Sunrise Film FestivalRiver John, Nova Scotia
Canada
May 30, 2019
Nomination: Best Drama -
Nyack Film FestivalNyack, NY
United States
August 15, 2019
Official Selection -
VOB Film FestivalCarmel, NY
United States
August 24, 2019
Official Selection -
Festival AngaelicaDuluth, MN
United States
October 10, 2019
Official Selection -
Cult Critic Movie AwardsKolkata
India
Outstanding Achievement Award -
Dance Camera WestLos Angeles, CA
United States
January 12, 2020 -
Trail Dance Virtual Film FestivalOnline
-
Miami Screendance FestivalMiami, FL
United States
January 10, 2021 -
KatEye International Film FestivalKolkata
India
Online -
New Wave Short Film FestivalMunich
Germany
June 5, 2021
Online
Best Feature Film -
Golden HarvestTokyo
Japan
February 5, 2022
Japanese premiere
Finalist -
Toronto Indie Film FestivalToronto
Canada
December 1, 2021
Best Female Director -
Rome Prisma AwardsRome
Italy
Official Selection -
Japan International Film FestivalTokyo (online)
Japan
May 22, 2022
Official Selection -
Toronto Indie Filmmmakers FestToronto (online)
Canada
March 27, 2022
Best Female Filmmaker -
Berlin International Art Film FestivalBerlin (online)
Germany -
New York Tri-State International Film FestivalAlbany, NY / online
United States
September 30, 2022
Official selection -
Ciudad del Este International Film FestivalCiudad del Este
Paraguay
September 17, 2022
Latin American Premiere
Official Selection -
8&HalFilm FestivalRome
Italy
October 7, 2022
Official Selection -
Hollywood on the Tiber Film AwardsRome
Italy
October 15, 2022
Official Selection -
Arrow International Film Festivalonline
January 27, 2023
Best Experimental -
Bare Bones Music & Film FestivalMuskogee, OK
United States
April 26, 2023
Oklahoma Premiere
Official Selection -
Manifest Dance Film FestivalPondicherry
India
July 27, 2023
Indian Premiere
Official Selection -
Star Film Festivalonline
March 1, 2024
Official Selection -
All That Moves International Film FestivalSaoPaolo
Brazil
March 15, 2025
Best Performance in a Narrative Feature
Distribution Information
-
Marta RenziCountry: United States
Marta Renzi has directed, choreographed and edited more than 20 short films which have won awards in over 100 festivals both nationally and internationally. In many cases, festival curators have included Renzi's short videodances in their programming for 2-5 years consecutively, evidence of the work's ongoing appeal to festival audiences.
Renzi is a seven-time recipient of choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. She has received numerous choreographic commissions from dance companies and university dance departments to create live work such as Book of Breath and for dance film work such as Plow Plant Reap which is an official selection of the 2016 Dance on Camera Festival, co-presented by DFA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Marta Renzi & The Project Co. takes every opportunity to perform outdoors for free in venues such as Central Park Summerstage and Jacob’s Pillow. In 1992 Renzi received a New York Dance and Performance Award (a “Bessie”) and in 1995 was the first recipient of a Dancing in the Streets award as “a fearless explorer of unconventional sites.” Her site specific choreography led to a half-hour videodance commission from the WGBH New Television Workshop in 1981, followed by another in 1989 for KCTA’s Alive From Off Center, entitled MOUNTAINVIEW, made in collaboration with maverick filmmaker John Sayles.
In the past, Renzi’s work has received funding from the Jerome Foundation, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, Met Life and Con Edison, among others. She was invited to serve on NEFA’s conference called “Building Community Through Culture”. Renzi was awarded a 2013 Bogliasco Fellowship at the Liguria Center for Arts & Humanities, and was funded by a RAW Community Supported Arts grant in 2014. She has served on the Artists Board of NYFA, and for a decade on the Board of Directors of Dance Films Association.
For more information: http://martarenzi.blogspot.com
Full filmography: http://aboutmartarenzi.blogspot.com/2006/12/
about-marta-renzi.html
Everyone is connected. That connection can be expressed in movement, without words. Everyone can dance. In fact, we already are.
With Her Magnum Opus director Marta Renzi asks of her audience a quietly revolutionary act: keep company with a large and fluid gathering of folks, let go of narrative expectations and fall into the rhythms of movement, mood and music while carried along by the currents of time and the seasons.
Award-winning director Jonathan Demme had already been a long-time fan of neighbor Renzi’s dance film shorts. Perhaps what drew him to nurture Renzi’s vision in post-production of this, her first feature, was his sense that “this is a new way of entertaining”.
Joanna Ney, curator of Dance on Camera at the Film Society of Lincoln Center calls it “Altmanesque”, singling out the variety of music that leads the action - into the forest, onto the beach, and back again and again to the little house that is the heart of the group.
The gray-haired force of nature who is the hub of this community, as portrayed by Aileen Passloff with earthy passion, led independent filmmaker John Sayles to call Opus “a Grace Paley short story told in movement.”
Shot on a shoestring over the course of 4 seasons on an extraordinary property in Renzi’s backyard along the Hudson River, Opus features a host of cinematographers, including Kal Toth, Cari Ann Shim Sham, Charles Caster-Dudzick and Paul Galando, whose hyphenated contributions also include producer-performer-father. Galando and his daughter Gigi, long-time Renzi collaborator Deborah Tacon and her daughter Maya, Renzi’s own two grown sons Amos and Lorenzo Wolff - and baby Aya born (off-screen!) to Tina Vasquez - improvise their visits to the cottage with the ebb and flow of an extended family, erasing the borders between real life and fantasy.
Although the ensemble also includes performers with memorable careers in major modern dance companies such as Bill T Jones / Arnie Zane (Arthur Avilés) and Martha Graham (Blakeley White-McGuire) their movement is understated, tuned to a very human scale that avoids bravura or pretension. Other performers include those with experience on Broadway (Max Kumangai, Amos Wolff) and on tv and film (Jim Desmond).
The score, a constant presence in Her Magnum Opus, comes from a wide range of sources - professional and amateur, classical and folk, with original music composed by Ljova threaded throughout. From Romanian singer Maria Tanase, to music by Tchaikovsky and Dvorak, the cottage in the woods might be inhabited by Baba Yaga - except for the distinctly American flavor of David Pulkingham’s acoustic version of Working on the Railroad, or Lorenzo Wolff’s rocking Flowers. About the sound design, created with Caleb Townsend in the studios of Oscar-winner Skip Lievsay, Renzi says: "After a decade of making DIY films, this kind of painstaking, world-making sound editing is a complete revelation."
Renzi also notes, “the wooden toys that come alive in Opus reflect my love of art that is home-made, hand-made: something crafted anonymously that calls to us across generations, and cultures.”
Just as, she hopes, will Her Magnum Opus.
www.hermagnumopus.com