Max Richter's Sleep

Max Richter is one of the most compelling composers of our time. He pairs the notes and frequencies hard-to-reach and quiet corners of our heart,making him a filmmaker’s dream to work with. From the start, it was clear that ‘Sleep’ and its immersive live performance isan enormous and deeply personal piece of work for Max and his creative and life partner, filmmaker Yulia Mahr. They envisioned a mystical experience where audiences would access an imaginative and reflective space in a communal setting. This interior space sets the stage for a performance where the musicians become bystanders and the audience members create their own stories.My excitement translated into how to overcome the challenges inherent to the project. Could I preserve the integrity of the vulnerable and intimate experience Yulia designed for the events? Cameras are disruptive,and the act of documenting could interrupt the audience experience.How would the visual and narrative pace of film preserve and uphold Max’s meditative and experimental composition? Would I be able to capture this immersive experience, unconfined by duration and translate it into a cinematic one?These questions guided my approach and created an opportunity to turn my lifetime of experience documenting music performance on its head. I expanded on the rules of capturing what was and explored the liminal space Max and Yulia opened the door to. Unique to “Sleep”, the audience is not an anonymous recipient of the music; they are active and individual collaborators. We respectfully notified the audience ahead of time that the event in Los Angeles would be filmed, and invited those interested in sharing their experience to participate. I elevated their experience, creating vignettes beyond the performance to show what it was to them, and what it could be to others. As we edited footage from the eight-hour performance and all of its 204 movements, musical zeniths began to reveal themselves. They enchanted me and the editors, becoming cues for the storytelling.In addition to these two nights of performance and time with Max and Yulia in their home, Yulia shared two decades of exquisite Super 8mm family archive filmed by her,cinema vérité footage of Max composing and performing, and footage from earlier Sleep performances she creative directed and at times filmed. Yulia gave all of her footage with no limitations on what to use or how to use it. This gesture of trust and generosity enabled me to show all of the sacrifice I know is required for such an ambitious project.The reflective place Max and Yulia selflessly created for others was,ironically, rarely available to them. One of the more satisfying aspects of making this film was providing an opportunity and a space for them to reflect upon their partnership and experience of making this work. I’m honored to have captured a small part of their legacy to share with the world.