Saturday, May 22, 2010

They compare us to Simon and Garfunkel in this interview...sweet!

"Mountainfilm in Telluride waxes eloquent on the subject of silence with the inclusion of "Soundtracker" in this year's lineup. The documentary, the intersection of science and poetry, was written and directed by Nick Sherman.
The Sounds of Silence were first immortalized in lyrics that propelled folk duo Simon and Garfunckel to fame back in 1964. Forty-six years later the sounds of silence are celebrated once again in "Soundtracker," as Sherman pursues sound recordist Gordon Hempton pursuing the few remaining quiet corners of the Earth, where deer cross a quiet country road and tall grass waves in the wind. In a way, the two media events are related: both the hit single and the documentary are responses to an assault, the first on an American president; the second, on our senses. Both tributes argue for an awakening."

To read the whole thing and listen to the podcast interview, visit...

http://www.tellurideinside.com/2010/05/nick-shermans-soundtracker-featured-at-mountainfilm-in-telluride.html

Friday, May 14, 2010

Highlights from Hot Docs Press

Last week was an exciting but hectic one in Toronto where I was joined by the subject of my film, Gordon Hempton, my editor J. Davis, and my cinematographer, Martin DiCicco. We played the film at the Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival and screened three times over 10 days. It was fun to scan the web each morning to discover new reviews for the film appearing in the press and blogosphere. Here are some of the highlights. If you want to read the full versions, follow the links at http://soundtrackerthemovie.com/ST/Press.html

IndieWIRE
“The beautifully shot film follows Hempton for a month as he obsessively tries to capture a specific sound recording in nature...”

NOW (Toronto Newspaper) 4 out of 5 stars! “An enthralling look at the world's disappearing "quiet places"

“Sherman invites us to contemplate the world’s disappearing “quiet places” lost to human encroachment.”

MillionGossips.com
“Director, Nicholas Sherman faced the difficult task of making a movie about sound. He needed to allow the time for the audience to take in all the layers of Hempton’s discovered soundscapes without sacrificing the image or his own artistic expression. And just like the delicate balance between the song of a bird and a passing whistle-blowing train – the symphony we follow Hempton in hopes to find – Sherman finds the perfect sweet spot.”

Allan Tong - Blog
“Credit director Sherman for putting us in Hempton's shoes and forcing an audience watching a series of images to hear the world like Hempton does. There are no dead spots in this film. Sherman fills the frame with beautiful landscapes and haunting sounds. A film worth hearing as much as seeing.”

Dark of the Matinee - Blog
“The film finds a wonderful balance of sweeping wide shots, subtle detail photography...and even moments of letting the screen go black. It all comes together beautifully and gets the audience to start hearing the world the way that Hempton does.”

Saturday, May 1, 2010

4 out of 5 stars from Toronto's "Now" Magazine

http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/story.cfm?content=174812

Soundtracker
An enthralling look at the world's disappearing "quiet places"
By Norman Wilner

Director Nick Sherman accompanies sound recordist Gordon Hempton on a trip across America to capture the sounds of a vanishing natural landscape – deer crossing a quiet country road, tall grass waving in the wind.

As he works, Sherman invites us to contemplate the world’s disappearing “quiet places” lost to human encroachment.

Like all great obsessives, Hempton has his buttons – at one point, he’s moved to tears by the loneliness of a remote pair of trees – but he’s terrific at his job, and it’s enthralling to watch him spend days trying to capture the perfect intersection of a passing train and a mockingbird’s song.
May 1, 2010 at 05:19 AM