Private Project

The Concertmaster

A prestigious orchestra led by renowned conductor Frank Schubert loses their concertmaster and soloist, Emma to an injury, just days before their highly anticipated concert.

With time ticking away, Frank seeks a replacement and discovers Walter, a humble florist harbouring a hidden talent for the violin. Walter is a genius player but his talent is buried under a traumatic past. His father pressured him to play flawlessly while disregarding his inability to play music by reading the notation. This resulted in Walter marginalising his musicality and remaining secluded from mainstream music despite being a musical prodigy.

Frank’s intense training fails to make Walter perform his solo parts, leaving Frank with no choice but to expel him from the orchestra. Emma who had mocked and humiliated Walter, recognises his raw talent and commits to bringing him out of his trauma as her reparation. She begins an unrelenting journey that is tricky and challenging as the more she tries the more Walter turns reclusive. Can Emma make Walter transcend his past and lead the orchestra as the concertmaster?

The Concertmaster explores the impact of childhood trauma due to parental pressure, advocates the inclusion of people suffering from musical disability into mainstream music, and delves into the healing power of love and music that transcends all challenges.

  • Manoj Mauryaa
    Director
  • Manoj Mauryaa
    Writer
  • WINFRIED VÖGELE
    Producer
  • ECKART REICHL
    Producer
  • SILVIA VÖGELE
    Producer
  • DINESH MISHRA
    Producer
  • Manoj Mauryaa
    Producer
  • ALEXANDER PLUQUETT
    Key Cast
    "Theodor Lichtner"
  • WINFRIED VÖGELE
    Key Cast
    "Frank Schubert"
  • JANA SOPHIE WEYER
    Key Cast
    "Emaa"
  • FELIPE LUDES
    Key Cast
    "Walter"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 35 minutes 39 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 14, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Berlin Liftoff Film Festival
    Berlin
    Germany
    February 11, 2024
    Winner Best Feature Film
Director Biography - Manoj Mauryaa

A filmmaker and a painter, Manoj was born in Benaras, India. He completed a Bachelor in Fine Arts and a Bachelor in Psychology from MGKV University, Benaras. He earned his Post Graduate in Advertising & Public Relations from the Indian Institute of Mass Communications, Delhi.

As a professional painter, he has many solo as well as group exhibitions to his credit. His paintings have been exhibited at various galleries and online art fairs such as Nehru Art Gallery, Mumbai; Creative Rising, New York; Year in Review, Miami; Nehru Art Gallery, Benaras; Lalit Kala Vibhag, Benaras; N.G.M.A, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai and Connaught Place, Delhi, to name a few.

As a filmmaker, he has written and directed several short films and documentary films which have been selected and screened at many prestigious national and international film festivals. His films incorporate a nonlinear approach to storylines and radical filmmaking techniques which manifest in the form of disruptive visual aesthetics which comes from the virtue of his being a painter. His first feature film is a German fiction titled ‘The Concertmaster’. His second feature film is titled ‘The Icecake’ which is shot at the height of 12500 feet above sea level in the Himalayan range of Spiti Valley in India. The film is a story of 12 motorcycle riders on a dangerous and adventurous journey. He is a vagabond traveller who loves filming stories across the globe. He made 5 documentary films during his 17000km travel on an experimental trip to 23 states of India for 55 days conducting 25000 personal interviews and 2.5 lakhs mass interviews. The documentary series titled "India@Tomorrow 8pm" is based on how India is evolving in the Twenty-first Century.

He has co-created theatrical plays as a creative consultant where he plans and designs story and performance amalgamating his painting aesthetics and creative influences. A few of his notable plays include Moirang Thoibi which is a Manipuri Folk Tale about the beautiful princess of Thoibi. The play is uniquely designed incorporating old Indian tribal art forms like Thang Ta, Kaibul Lamjao, Jagoi, Chhou into storytelling. The play was performed at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai, India. The play titled ‘Andha Yug’ (Blind Era) has Manoj performing live paintings in almost dark environs of theatre lighting besides planning the creative visualisation of the entire play. For the play titled ‘Ek Kanth Vishpai’, he created an interactive stage ambience using the gradients of lights similar to the colour gradation he uses on his canvas.

Along with making films, he brings social change through his creative influences. He has been working exclusively on the social inclusiveness of blind people in the streams of arts and aesthetics. He feels that every form of art should reach every single human on this planet irrespective of his physical or mental shortcomings. He feels the visually challenged population is not intellectually or aesthetically challenged and hence he reaches out to this population through his films and paintings. During his solo painting exhibition titled ‘Reborn’ at Nehru Art Gallery, Mumbai, he invited blind students from schools in Mumbai to enable them to ‘see’ the paintings. With his guided interactive sessions, the blind students could interpret the forms used in paintings and the rationale behind the colours. Later, the blind students were able to paint their thoughts on the canvas under his guidance. For more details about the social experiment with the blind students. He initiated a movement to create ‘Cinema for Blind’ for which he did detailed research at the National Institute of Blind, Mumbai where he studied the expectations and challenges of the visually challenged people from the Cinema.

Below is his brief filmography:
FEATURE FILMS:
1. The Concertmaster, 2023 (German)
2. The Icecake, 2023 (Hindi)
SHORT FILMS:
1. Recycle Mind, 2007
2. A Decision, 2008
3. I Love You, 2009
4. Flag Off, 2016
DOCUMENTARY FILMS:
India@Tomorrow 8pm is a series of 5 documentary films born out of extensive research through road trips across India on the changing lives and times of people in the Twenty-First century India.
The 5 documentary films are as follows:
1. Time & India
2. Life of India in the Twenty-first Century
3. Money & India
4. Cinema & India
5. What if there is no tomorrow?

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Director Statement

Can a language that is universally spoken as well as understood by every nation, race, and species that brings people, cultures and places together ever create disparities, despair, and destruction? Music that heals the soul can also hurt it. Walter is a musical prodigy whose musicality gets buried under the system that forces his skills to succumb to conventions. This triggered a revolt within him which neither blasted nor doused only kept on destroying his creativity, his skills, and his confidence. More dangerous than losing his innate talent is the ignorance about the destruction taking place within him.

The Concertmaster is a film about the sound of a silent revolt burning within us, often whose reason, as well as presence, is not known to us. This revolt cocoons the revolters deep into seclusion and pain. Only love can set one free from this revolt. The film celebrates the power of love that heals, inspires, and elevates a soul to perform unbelievable feats.

As a painter, western classical music influences my art as it takes me to the extreme depth of emotions. I am also influenced by European folk music as it gives me the freedom to explore my art. The Concertmaster is a cusp between the Baroque style of classicalism and post-minimalism aesthetics. One can expect a steady pulse of narrative embellished with complexities of high emotional turmoil. My art is never complete without humour which simplifies the complexities of my art within the hearts of my audience. Thus, the audience usurps my films feeling entertained and enlightened.

Besides my artistic nuances, The Concertmaster packs picturesque German countryside, the perfection and passion of musicians, the vision of a blind florist, tender love between two young hearts, and some scintillating music.