The first part of filmmaker Paul Smaczny’s documentary on Daniel Barenboim’s explorations of music and its power to cross cultural boundaries.
Over the course of his long career, Daniel Barenboim has participated in numerous fascinating cultural and political discourses: between East and West, Arabs and Israelis, Wagnerians and Holocaust survivors. In this three-part documentary, we accompany Barenboim on his exploration of the social meaning of music. Filmed conversations with celebrated colleagues like Pierre Boulez, Joschka Fischer, and Richard von Weizsäcker provide depth and context for interviews with the great artist himself. We also see Barenboim in the act as he becomes a UN Messenger of Peace, works with the West-Eastern-Divan-Orchestra, and conducts the Cairo Symphony Orchestra for the very first time.
Part one of the documentary, Music and Politics, explores what Barenboim has achieved in bridging the seemingly-insurmountable divisions forged by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As UN Messenger of Peace, Daniel Barenboim leads a spectacular concert in Gaza in May 2011, working with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra.
Photo: Daniel Barenboim with musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala in Gaza, Palestine © ACCENTUS Music
