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It was going to be my last day by the kiln at Joy Brown’s Studio where the artist is getting a mural ready to be transported, and permanently exhibited in Japan, thousands of miles west of Kent, Connecticut. It was a perfect time to establish Beaman Pond, and the hills surrounding the compound of structures where Joy, her boyfriend Jimmy, and a group of dedicated artists fire the fourteen-meter-long kiln every year, a ritual rooted in the ancient Japanese tradition of Anagama.

Do You Know Who Designed the Lincoln Memorial Statue? A New Documentary About an Often Forgotten Sculptor Aims to Fix That Daniel Chester French's work is embedded into the civic landscape of the United States, says the film's director Eduardo Montes-Bradley. by Sarah Cascone You may not know the name Daniel Chester French, but you absolutely know his work. The American Renaissance sculptor designed Abraham Lincoln, the larger-than-life seated statue at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., as well as other monuments across the U.S. French was one of the leading lights of the American Renaissance(1876 to 1917), which his career neatly bookends. His first mature commission, the Minute Man memorial in Concord, Massachusetts, came in 1875; Abraham Lincoln, perhaps his last major work, in 1920. In his day, French was championed by the writer Ralph Waldo Emerson and studied in Florence on his way to nationwide fame. Now, his forgotten legacy has been unearthed in a new documentary by filmmaker Eduardo Montes-Bradley. But Daniel Chester French: American Sculptor also highlights other figures whose contributions to the nation’s monuments were never properly recognized—the Italian artisans who brought artists’ designs to life in marble, and the models who posed for the sculptures, such Hettie Anderson, an African American woman whose face is immortalized in major civic works by French and many of his contemporaries.

First released at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival. Now awaiting distribution in Canada and the US. Página-12 ‘ Buenos Aires | Pablo Tabernero es el “alemán”. Mejor dicho, judío alemán. Fue el director de fotografía de algunas de las más importantes películas del cine argentino. Trabajó junto a directores como Carlos Hugo Christensen, Hugo del Carril, Luis Saslavsky y Mario Soffici. Rastrear su cine es más o menos posible. Pero indagar en su vida es la sorpresa mayor. Lo hizo Eduardo Montes-Bradley, documentalista de vida itinerante, hoy radicado en Estados Unidos y de infancia ligada a la ciudad de Rosario. “El Rosario en el que me crié era el de los corralones de Ferrarese Hermanos, en Callao entre 3 de Febrero y Mendoza. Ahí vivían todos mis abuelos, mis tíos abuelos, y sus familias. En los corralones se guardaban los materiales para la construcción del Palacio Fuentes y de La Bola de Nieve. El constructor, Enrique Ferrarese, era mi bisabuelo. Yo aprendí a caminar entre los tablones de los andamios con los que se construyó el Palacio. Así que cada vez que voy a Rosario, me acerco a la puerta, que es copia de una puerta florentina muy bella, donde está la cabeza de mi abuelo para acariciarlo”, refiere Montes-Bradley. Y agrega: “Él construyó también la casa donde nació el Che”.

STOCKBRIDGE — “Finally!” That was Donna Hassler’s exclamation as the first film about sculptor Daniel Chester French of Lincoln Memorial fame goes into production, written, directed and produced by veteran documentarian Eduardo Montes-Bradley. “It is surprising that there has been no previous documentary,” said Hassler, executive director of the Chesterwood historic house, museum and sculpture garden, which she called “a sleeping giant that needed to be reimagined and reawakened.” “My important role here has been to raise the visibility and profile of French and Chesterwood through various traveling exhibitions, articles and a definitive biography,” she said. “A film was one of those things waiting in the wings. Now, we’re the key adviser on the production, and there are many resources here. Chesterwood, headed by Hassler for 13 years, was French’s May-October home and studio from 1897 until his death there in 1931. There, he sculpted the Lincoln Memorial in plaster. The 6-foot-high sculpture of the seated Lincoln statue was the model used to create the marble version in the nation's capital and it remains a major attraction of the museum’s collection. Montes-Bradley, with more than 40 titles to his credit, wondered whether the throngs flocking to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., were aware of the statue’s origin.

The Other Madisons has been included in the Official Selection at the upcoming Martha Vineyards African-American Film Festival. August 5-13, 2022 We like to take this opportunity to congratulate our friend Bettye Kearse for her efforts in making the story of her family, which is in great measure the story of America, available to a worldwide audience. The film, was written and directed by Eduardo Montes-Bradley.

On Location in November 2nd Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson will be in front of the camera for Black Fiddlers. The plans were made almost a year ago. However, COVID, Rhiannon’s commitments, Justin’s professional and domestic obligations, and my traveling from location to location to complete the research for the documentary film Black Fiddlers, made it almost impossible to block dates for an interview with Rhiannon and Justin until now. And that is very good news. Black Fiddlers has been slowly becoming one of my most ambitious documentary projects that I have been involved with over the years. The rabbit hole has never been more intricate, more demanding. What started with a request by David McCormick and the Early Music Access Project to produce a film about Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved fiddling offspring’s with Sally Hemmings fleetingly developed into a documentary about the evolution of an African tradition in America. It was here, in the New World, that the violin was repurposed to assist in reshaping the legacy of Black fiddlers who brough with them the string playing traditions originated in Africa-west before Amati’s masterful design of the Italian violin. That legacy knew of hundreds of protagonists across the United States. We could try to organize them by region, by state, by family groups, but the irremediable fact that this was a community effort by the African diaspora, will soon subvert the original premise storming the documentary by assault. By the time we realized the film was not about the mixed-race children of Thomas Jefferson in Monticello, we were already committed to deliver a more inclusive picture of the evolution of Black fiddlers in America. When in 1973 folklorist Kip Lornell rediscovered cousins Joe and Odell Thomson (fiddler and banjo respectively), the nation learned that they could very well have been the last Black fiddlers in the land, except for the fact that there were some out there willing to t baton (or the bow) and carry on with the tradition. The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a string band performing group was there to reclaim the cultural heritage and they went on to make history. It was a just tribute to Joe Thomson’s conviction that what he had learned from his father and his father from his, was legacy that went back “all the way back to the 1700s, all the way back to Africa.” On November 1, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson, founding members of The Carolina Chocolate Drops will be there -on camera- to tell the story of Joe and Odell, just as the cousins from Meban, NC. told them of their trials and tribulations almost twenty-five years ago. Looking forward to November, and sincerely grateful to our champions for their relentless support.

I'm delighted to be working with Executive Producer Johannah Lyons Castleman on Life According to Ludwig, a documentary film about Ludwig Kuttner. Principal photography started last Wednesday at Estouteville Farm near Esmont, Virginia, and we shall continue filming -in and around Charlottesville- during the next six weeks. However, we're not yet ruling out a trip to Berlin, Munich, and Prague to complete the portrayal of a life that began in Bavaria on the eve of War World II. Over the last few weeks, in preparation for the project, I had the opportunity to get to know Ludwig at a personal level, sharing meals, jokes, and stories, a fruitful dialogue that continues in person and via texting in a back and forth on the wee hours of the night. I'm eager to learn more about Ludwig and about his commitment to improving city life, and the Arts in Charlottesville.

No Class A festival comes even close to the feeling of being in community, surrounded by young filmmakers trying to break into a rewards and distribution system that is constantly challenging their goals. I had my share of fancy festivals in the French Riviera, the Basque country and elsewhere where the stakes are so high that winning or losing often translate into unprecedented levels of anxiety. And perhaps that’s the way it should be, after all Cannes is Cannes, and San Sebastian, well… San Sebastian is San Sebastian. However, in recent years I discovered a taste for small-town festivals where the camaraderie of fellow artist, and the warmth of local communities, represent an irresistible offering to my narcissistic self. These events are often organized by committed volunteers willing to go the extra mile to make us feel at home. The Mystic Film Festival in Mystic, Connecticut is one of these jewels which this year included “Alice: At Home With Alice Parker” in the Official Selection. I love Mystic, I think it is one of those very special places where I could live other than where I live right now. In fact, Mystic is sort of a scaled version of Charlottesville by the sea minus the University of Virginia. So, when I was told that our film was competing this year, I wasted no time and immediately invited Alice Parker to join me for the screening. Along with Alice (95), came her two friends and faithful companions Kay Holt and Marilyn Pryor, also members of Melodious Accord, the organization dedicated to sustaining and promoting Alice’s extraordinary legacy. They drove two hours from western Massachusetts, and I covered a greater distance driving close to ten hours from Charlottesville to meet them on at Olde Mystic Village for a second breakfast or first lunch, just before the screening of “Alice: At Home With Alice Parker”. The sold-out screening was a success, and Alice and I faced the audience together during the following Q&A session where other filmmakers had also the opportunity to respond and interact with the local community. Alice, Kay and Marilyn drove back home after the event and were not able to attend the ceremony where our film was awarded with the Grand Jury Prize to Best Documentary. But they were, because the film was there, and wherever the film goes Alice comes along and will always be present. Our most sincere gratitude to everyone involved, top filmmakers and volunteers, and specially to Shareen Anderson,Founder and Executive Director of the Mystic Film Festival. See you all next year!

“Wyatt is one of a handful of American music historians and record collectors, who, through their own devotion and- in some cases- single-minded obsession, have rescued a near forgotten piece of American history and, in a sense, saved a part of ourselves from extinction.” -Jonathan Perry, The Boston Globe “Finding Marshall Wyatt” could easily be the title of my next documentary film. The man is no easy prey, and no wonder why. He is one of the most versed music historians when it comes to old time fiddling, string band music, blues, and a lot more. Back in 1994 he founded Old Hat Enterprises to promote awareness of American vernacular music and to research its history. Marshal has conducted field work and maintains archives of sound recordings in various formats. His collection of 78 rpm records of the prewar era is simply formidable. Other fortunes in his possession include oral history interviews, vintage photographs, catalogs, books, discographies, and musical ephemera. And when I wrote “the man is no easy prey” I meant just that. Getting on hold of Marshal is challenge. The floormat on his front door reads “Go Away”, and he most definitely will not return phone calls unless he knows that one is as serious and committed as he has been to his research. The good news is that we are, and that Marshall did open the door for us as many times as it was required to get his testimony on film for Black Fiddlers, a documentary film that – as far as I understand today – would not have been a half of what it is today without his collaboration and precious archives.

Charlottesville - In about then days from today I will be sitting with John Jeramiah Sullivan in his home in Wilmington, NC. The purpose of the interview is to document for Black Fiddlers, his impressions on early American music. In a recent profile of Rhiannon Giddens publish on the New York Magazine, Mr. Sullivan partially reveals his re-discovery of Francis “Frank” Johnson, the first Black composer to be published in the United States. I landed on the article only to realize that his commitment to. and passion for band-string music, early fiddlers, and other forms of early Black culture in America was remarkable. If all goes well, I might even get a closer look at his collection of photographs recently featured in “Another Article” by MOMA Magazine. In the previously mentioned profile of Rhiannon Giddens, Sullivan mentions ethnomusicologist Kip Lornell who, in the mid 1970s, was associated with “Born for Hard Luck” an extraordinary documentary film portrayal of “Peg Leg Sam”. I contacted Mr. Lornell and he also has agreed to meet and share with us his vast experience on the field, and as a music scholar. We are currently working to schedule that interview as well into the production schedule for Black Fiddlers. With the collaboration of John Sullivan and Kip Lornell, added to those of Rhiannon Giddens, Benjamin Hunter, Jacqueline Djedje and others already committed, Black Fiddlers rises to a new production level that will allow us to reach a much larger audience, while paying an honest and broader tribute to African American fiddlers of the past.