9/10: Love Before the Fall
The myths of Orpheus and Charon are interwoven with the entirely sung magical-realist story of four friends dining in an Italian bistro who are fated to perish the next morning in the attack on the Twin Towers. At meal’s end, through magical realism, the restaurant’s mysterious strolling violinist is revealed to be Charon, hand extended, awaiting payment. Complying, each reconciles with death, and departs to the sounds of the next morning’s busy signals and the calls of first responders.
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Daron Aric HagenDirectorOrson Rehearsed
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Daron Aric HagenComposerOrson Rehearsed
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Daron Aric HagenWriterOrson Rehearsed
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Daron Aric HagenEditorOrson Rehearsed
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Daron Aric HagenProducerOrson Rehearsed
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Adrienne ShepherdProducer
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Rudy MarcozziProducerOrson Rehearsed
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Robert FrankenberryKey Cast"Cory"Orson Rehearsed
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Roger ZahabKey Cast"Charon"Orson Rehearsed
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Gilda LyonsKey Cast"Trina"
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CeCe Jude HastreiterKey Cast"Bibi"
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Carlos Jaquez GonzalezKey Cast"Tony"
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Barbara GreckiKey Cast"Lulu"
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Cameron DammannKey Cast"Orfeo"
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Tyler OnoSound Design
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Haruka MotohashiColoristThe Terminal, American Meals, Back Home, About Jia
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Talal JabariDirector of PhotographyFull Signal, Nail and the Uprising, zEnemies of the South
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Project Type:Experimental, Feature, Other
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Genres:Opera, Operafilm, Auteur, Musical, Cinemaopera
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Runtime:58 minutes
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Completion Date:August 25, 2023
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Production Budget:50,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Paris Film AwardsParis
France
2023
Winner: Best Indie Feature Film; Best Actress; Gold Award: Original Score -
Mindfield Film Festival Los AngelesLos Angeles
United States
2023
Winner, Best of Fest, Best Feature Film, Best Director (Diamond Award) -
Mindfield Film Festival AlbuquerqueAlbuquerque
United States
2023
Winner--Best Actress (Diamond Award); Best Editing (Platinum Award); Best Feature Film & Best Director (Gold Award); Best Ensemble Cast (Silver Award); Best Original Score (Bronze Award) -
Toronto Independent Film Festival of CIFTToronto
Canada
2023
Best Original Score in a Long Feature -
Golden Lion International Film Festival (GLIFF)Kolkata
India
2023
Best Experimental Feature Film -
Swedish International Film FestivalHamngatan
Sweden
Best Original Score -
Cannes World Film FestivalCannes
France
Winner, Best Ensemble Cast -
Dubai International Film CarnivalDubai
United Arab Emirates
Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Film Score -
New York Movie AwardsNew York, NY
United States
Winner-Best Picture; Best Musical Score -
AltFF Alternative Film FestivalToronto
Canada
Winner, Best Cast & Best Director -
Berlin Shorts AwardBerlin
Germany
Semi-Finalist, Best Music Score -
Tokyo International Cinema AwardsTokyo
Japan
Official Selection — — Best Feature, Best Composer -
Playback International Film FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
Nominee, Best Music & Best Symbolic Film -
Athens International Monthly Film FestivalAthens
Greece
Honorable Mention, Best Original Score -
Los Angeles Film AwardsLos Angeles
United States
Special Jury Award, Best Score -
Chicago Indie Film AwardsChicago
United States
Best Composer -
Chicago Filmmaker AwardsChicago
United States
Semi-Finalist, Best Original Score -
Vancouver Independent Moviemaker AwardsVancouver
Canada
August 2023
Semi-Finalist, Best Composing -
Milan Gold AwardsMilan
Italy
Best Original Score -
Los Angeles Cinematography AwardsLos Angeles
United States
Finalist, Best Director -
London International Film FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
Official Selection — Best Music Score -
Voices Rising Film FestivalNew York
United States
Honorable Mention, Best Feature Film & Best Film Score -
Los Angeles Motion Picture FestivalLos Angeles
United States
Winner, Orson Welles Best Picture Gold Festival Award; Winner, Best Picture Grand Jury Festival Award; Winner, Orson Welles Award for Best Music Score Platinum Festival Award -
Bright International Film FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
Winner, Best Musical Score -
California Indies
16th Edition/October 2023
Winner, Best Composer -
LA Indies FestLos Angeles
United States
November 2023
Winner, Best Composer -
Chicago Indie Film AwardsChicago
United States
Winner, Best Composer -
Santa Monica International Filmmaker AwardsSanta Monica
United States
Semi-Finalist — Best Short, Best Directing (Short), Best Actress in a Short -
Sacramento Independent Film FestivalSacramento
United States
Semi-Finalist — Best Ensemble Cast, Best Feature, Best Musical Score -
Culver City Film FestivalCulver City
United States
December 5, 2023
Official Selection
“A composer born to write operas” (Chicago Tribune) possessed of an “infinitely fertile imagination” (Fanfare Magazine) whose music is “dazzling, unsettling, exuberant, and heroic” (The New Yorker), Hagen is a creative polymath, active internationally also as a stage and film director, librettist, conductor, collaborative pianist, essayist, and the author of the “ruthlessly honest and beautifully written” memoir, Duet With the Past.
His works include 14 staged operas, 6 symphonies, 14 concertos, over 50 chamber and choral works, over 500 widely performed art songs, and two internationally laureled “operafilms” for which he has served as auteur composer/screenwriter/director/film editor. His Everyone, Everywhere a large-scale cantata premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2023, was commissioned to honor the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the New York Philharmonic tapped him for its 150th, Yaddo for its 100th, ASCAP for its 75th, and the Curtis Institute of Music for its 75th. He has been commissioned by the Seattle Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and written concertos and roles for Gary Graffman, Nathan Gunn, Jeffrey Khaner, Jaime Laredo, Kate Lindsey, and Sharon Robinson, among others.
He has conducted the premiere recordings of his operas, released two discs of his songs as a collaborative pianist, and stage directed his operas. A respected and prolific educator, he has taught at the Curtis Institute, Bard College, the City College of New York, the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and the Princeton Atelier, among others. Hagen has served as grants adjudicator; score competition and commissioning panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Opera America, Copland House, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Meet the Composer, private Foundations, festivals, and chaired panels and adjudication bodies as a Lifetime Member of the Corporation of Yaddo, president of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, as a Trustee of the Douglas Moore Fund for American Opera, and as a member of the boards of Joy in Singing and Composers Recordings Incorporated. Past Artistic Director of the Seasons Music Festival, he is Co-Chair of Composition at the Wintergreen Music Festival and Founding Artistic Director of the New Mercury Collective. He is also a member of the Distinguished Mentors Council of Composers Now and the Board of Advisors for Lyric Fest,
A Guggenheim Fellow, Hagen is the recipient of the Kennedy Center Friedheim Prize, two Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residencies, the Barlow Endowment, Bearns, and ASCAP-Nissim Prizes and two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He attended Curtis and Juilliard. Widely recorded, his music is published by Peermusic Classical, and he is represented by Encompass Arts. He lives in Rhinebeck, NY with his wife Gilda Lyons and their sons. <January 2024>
Together, we've created something new here that combines the emotional punch of cutting-edge live operatic performance with magical realism and the psychological verisimilitude of gritty, intimate, indie-auteur filmmaking. Connecting emotionally is everything; the rest is just a distraction.