Academy Award-nominated, nine-time Emmy Award-winning Matthew Heineman discusses his latest documentary American Symphony with Oscar-winning James Marsh (2008, Man On Fire).
Synopses: Early in 2022, multi-instrumentalist Jon Batiste finds himself the most celebrated artist of the year with eleven Grammy nominations including Album of the Year. In the midst of that triumph, Jon is immersed in his most ambitious challenge yet: composing ‘American Symphony,’ an original symphony that thrillingly reimagines the classical traditions of the form, bringing together an expansive and inclusive diaspora of music for a performance at storied Carnegie Hall. This extraordinary trajectory is upended, however, when Batiste’s life partner – best-selling author Suleika Jaouad – learns that her long dormant cancer has returned. Matthew Heineman delivers a portrait of two inimitable artists at a crossroad and a profound meditation on art, love, and the creative process.
“They’re both so vulnerable in the film, one for creative reasons and one for life and death issues,” Marsh observes to Heinemann early in their conversation. “Both of them are in these very difficult, pressurized circumstances in very different kind of ways. And it becomes this loving portrait of a really interesting relationship that does have complications…It’s an extraordinary profile of love, if you like, in a way. I’m not sure that’s what you started out to do, but that’s certainly what I took from it.”
“To be honest, that was sort of my dream, to make this love story,” Heineman responds. “I was so intrigued by both of them, as individuals and as a couple. They’re extremely unique in every way…and I think to see these two amazing individuals navigate these highs and lows of life was incredible. I didn’t know if I could pull it off, partly because I wasn’t sure whether I’d have her buy-in. And then also we shot 1500 hours of footage and…it was the hardest edit I’ve ever done. I normally shoot a lot, but there’s literally a thousand films in that footage.”
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