Private Project

Song of Solomon

Two comically absurd dentists are embroiled in an ugly, yet banal partnership lawsuit. Meet SOLOMON BURKE - an earnest attorney representing one of the dentists, who struggles to get to the truth. But every question he poses is met with sarcasm, derision and deflection, as language is weaponized into a blunt trauma instrument, driving Solomon into a state of madness and despair. In the process, the viewer is left to decide where the tenuous border between reality and fantasy lies.

It is evening. Solomon sits in his apartment, a lost solitary soul. This may well be his last night on earth. A luminous angel, ABISHA, literally appears out of thin air, and sets out to reawaken his blighted spirit. But there is also a catch: Abisha has been tasked with killing Solomon, as a ritual sacrifice. When she realizes that Solomon is her kindred, beloved spirit, she must choose whether to carry out the slaughter, as divinely commanded, or to defy the supreme order, and instead rejoice in the unholy bliss of physical love and forbidden fruit. An experimental, surreal and erotic reimagining and combining of the 'Song of Songs' and 'Binding of Isaac' bible stories.

Shot entirely in Brooklyn, NY with an all NY cast, the post-production work was done in Berlin, Germany. The cast includes industry regulars Margaret Reed (credits include Seinfeld, The Golden Girls and The Americans) and Rick Zahn (credits include Twelve, House of Cards and 30 Rock), and is helmed in the title role by Indie talent William Jousset, winner of the best supporting actor award at the 2019 Chelsea film festival (for The Amytal Therapy).

  • Nelson Farber
    Director
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4638085/
  • Nelson Farber
    Writer
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4638085/
  • Nelson Farber
    Producer
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4638085/
  • Christine Daum-Farber
    Producer
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4869637/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • William Jousset
    Key Cast
    "Solomon Burke"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5275027/
  • Charlott Arnoux
    Key Cast
    "Abisha"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5725818/
  • Margaret Reed
    Key Cast
    "Mary Cooke"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0715571/
  • Rick Zahn
    Key Cast
    "Dr. Gabriel Ghorobani"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1344221/
  • Judy Maier
    Key Cast
    "Brenda Kaufman"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2071897/
  • Steve Maiselson
    Key Cast
    "Dr Milan Santinini"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1416253/
  • Christine Daum-Farber
    Cinematographer
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4869637/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • Jasmin Hoffhaus
    Editor
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7474369/
  • Maria GoJa
    Original Score
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7509593/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • Maria GoJa
    Music Performed by
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7509593/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • G. Ray
    Music Performed by
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature, Short, Web / New Media, Other
  • Genres:
    Fantasy, Dramady, Experimental
  • Runtime:
    36 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 3, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • New York Lift-Off Film Festival
    New York City/On-line
    United States
    July, 2020 - online
    Premiere
Director Biography - Nelson Farber

Nelson Farber is a writer, director, producer, television journalist and actor. His content regularly appears on Germany’s top culture and science television slots, including Aspekte/ZDF, Kulturzeit/3sat and Nano/3sat.

With a B.A. from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts and Law Degree from the American University, Washington College of Law, Washington, DC, he later went on to study filmmaking at The New School and School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and theater and acting in Berlin. He is an alum the prestigious Documentary Campus Masterschool, Class of 2010.

Nelson is a co-founder of ‘Directors Collective’ in New York City – an ongoing collaborative exchange between filmmakers that includes workshops with directors and actors. He can be seen regularly behind the microphone at ‘The Bear’ storytelling performances in Berlin, where he recently won the audience award for the story ‘My First Crime Spree,’ which recounts his indiscretions as a five year old, qualifying him to appear at The Bear’s Eve of the Champs, held in June, 2020. He has acted in lead roles in a number of festival films, as well as performed live in experimental and immersive theater projects and workshops.

Nelson’s early film Final Position about a chess player’s last game recently was selected for the 2020 edition of The Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, and he is pleased to be premiering his medium length narrative Song of Solomon – an unconventional telling of a day in the life of a lawyer, that blends dramady and magical realism.

Nelson is most interested in stories in which people struggle against fixed perceptions and demands of others to forge their own identities. His approach is practical and concrete when required, but he naturally gravitates towards content that is genre-bending and a bit outré.

For more information, please visit Nelson’s webpage, sixthboroughproductions.net and IMDB Pro page, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4638085/ .

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

ARTISTIC STATEMENT (by Nelson Farber)

Song of Solomon collides two universes. One is a world of malevolence, pettiness, bitterness, brutality, banality and greed. The other is that of beauty, color, flavor, fragrance, sensuality, sexuality and mysticism.

I practiced law for many years in New York City, and was able to draw on a vast reservoir of character types – and above all my own internal and external conflicts. Some of the lines are even cruel jewels extracted from real cases. The cramped, windowless hell where the legal proceeding unfolds is an actual Brooklyn deposition room that has hosted thousands of lawsuits.

Thus, the first segment of the film, involving the case, has a strong realistic pinch, even as it whirlpools into absurdism. The second part – in which our protagonist, the lawyer SOLOMON, is visited by an angel, ABISHA, and in which his routine New York bedroom morphs into an Edenic paradise, embraces magical realism. There is much more that I can say about the narrative, styles and clash of styles, and central conflicts, but would prefer to let the film speak for itself.

We shot entirely in Brooklyn, NY with an all NYC-area cast and abundant independent filmmaking mayhem. The behind-the-scenes story of the pomegranate splitting scene is almost worthy of a film unto itself.

The post-production work was all done in Berlin, Germany, and involved several wonderful collaborations, most notably editing by Jasmin Hoffhaus and beautiful original musical score by Maria GoJa.

The ensemble cast consists of industry stalwarts Margaret Reed (Seinfeld, The Golden Girls and The Americans) and Rick Zahn (Twelve, House of Cards and 30 Rock), smart-as-a-whip Judy Maier, comic maestro Steve Maiselson, brilliant film and theater actress Charlotte Arnoux, and is helmed in the title role by Indie super-talent William Jousset.