Private Project

The Deserted Garden

This short is based upon exquisite music and chilling letters by composer Florence B. Price, the first Black woman to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra. In 1943, Price expressed her powerful pleas to the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra begging him to listen to her works -- despite what she herself references as two handicaps: those of race and gender. What was his response?

  • Judith Lynn Stillman
    Director
    I Cherish Women, Essential Business, A Woman's Place is in the House, Phoenix from the Ashes. When the Music Stopped.
  • Judith Lynn Stillman
    Writer
  • Judith Lynn Stillman
    Producer
  • Becky Bass
    Key Cast
    "Florence B. Price"
    I Cherish Women, A Woman's Place is in the House
  • Judith Lynn Stillman
    Key Cast
    "Pianist"
  • Charles Dimmick
    Key Cast
    "Violinist"
  • Project Type:
    Music Video, Short, Web / New Media
  • Genres:
    Quarantine film, Music Video, Short
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 24, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    300 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Judith Lynn Stillman

Judith Lynn Stillman received Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School. She is an award-winning pianist, composer and filmmaker. Named Honored Artist of The American Prize in piano and composition, Stillman's music and films have been featured worldwide. She is the duet partner for Wynton Marsalis on Sony Music for their Billboard Top Ten recording. Along with the Metropolitan Opera's star baritone, Will Liverman, Stillman's quarantine opera, which she composed and created during the COVID pandemic lockdown, won First Prize in the OperaVision International Competition.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Florence B. Price was a marginalized, repressed, and overlooked pioneering Black women composer. Her works have been rediscovered recently and she is finally gaining much-deserved recognition for the first time in nearly 80 years. It was an honor and a privilege to work alongside the talented Caribbean actor, Becky Bass, to recreate and inhabit Florence Price's powerful persona, using Price's own words to tell her compelling story, accompanied by her extraordinary music. I served as the pianist, writer, musical/artistic director and filmmaker for this quarantine project, created remotely during the COVID pandemic lockdown.