(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Crescendo, a German film about a Palestinian/Israeli youth orchestra put together by a German conductor to play at a peace conference, is screening online via the Triplex in Great Barrington, Mass. Well-known Berkshirite Stephen Glantz is one of the film’s co-writers.

 

Loosely inspired by Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, award-winning filmmaker Dror Zahavi directs this gripping drama as a constantly growing “crescendo,” the tension and conflicts rising until the last frame. European Film Award-winner Peter Simonischek (“Toni Erdmann”) stars next to a highly talented collection of up-and-coming actors including Daniel Donskoy (“Victoria”) and Sabrina Amali (“4 Blocks”).

 

In the dramatic film, world-famous conductor Eduard Sporck (Peter Simonischek, Toni Erdmann) accepts the job to create an Israeli-Palestinian youth orchestra. He is quickly drawn into a tempest of sheer unsolvable problems. Having grown up in a state of war, suppression or constant risk of terrorist attacks, the young musicians from both sides are far from able to form a team. Lined up behind the two best violinists – the emancipated Palestinian Layla and the handsome Israeli Ron – they form two parties who deeply mistrust each other, on and off-stage alike.

Will Sporck succeed in making the young people forget their hatred, at least for the three weeks until the concert? With the first glimmer of hope, however, the political opponents of the orchestra show them how strong they are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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