Daniel Sonabend. Anna Ray Harald Hagegard

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1 PRESS NOTES

2 Title: Directed by: Produced by: Production company: Original music: Piano to Zanskar Michal Sulima Jarek Kotomski Between Friends Ernst Reijseger Daniel Sonabend Featuring: Desmond O Keeffe Anna Ray Harald Hagegard TAGLINE: The story of a man, a mountain, and a piano. LOGLINE: Against all odds, a retired piano tuner from London attempts to deliver a 100-year old piano to a remote Himalayan school, situated in one of the most isolated settlements in the world. SHORT SYNOPSIS: Facing his future in retirement, sitting in deck chairs and eating lemon drizzle cake, 65-year-old piano tuner, Desmond O Keeffe, decides instead to take on the most challenging and perilous delivery of his four-decade career: transporting a 100-year-old, 80 kilo, Broadwood and Sons upright piano, from bustling London to the remote heart of the Indian Himalayas. Setting off from his Aladdin s Cave-like workshop in trendy Camden Town and enlisting the help of two young and eager apprentices, Desmond s ambitious destination is a primary school in Lingshed, Zanskar. At 14,000 feet above sea level, it is one of the most isolated settlements in the world. Aided by a team of local Sherpas, as well as a motley crew of yaks and ponies, Desmond and his trusty assistants are tested to the limit, physically and psychologically, as they cross sheer mountain passes of breath-taking beauty. If successful, the expedition will be the highest piano delivery in the world. More importantly, it will be the ultimate gesture of music s universal power: to inspire strength and bring joy.

3 LONG SYNOPSIS: When his 65th birthday approaches, Desmond O Keeffe, an eccentric piano tuner from London, decides to undertake the most difficult and perilous piano delivery of his career. The challenge entails travelling to the heart of the Indian Himalayas with a 100-year old upright piano, carried across high mountain passes using only yaks and ponies. Destination: a primary school in Lingshed, one of the most isolated settlements in the world, situated 14,000 feet above sea. If Desmond is successful, this would be the highest piano delivery in history, and the crown achievement of his 40-year long career. After a night of rushed preparations in his workshop, the piano is shipped to India and the journey begins. Desmond is joined by a duo of colourful apprentices: Harald, son of an opera singer a young, tall, androgynous Swede with a penchant for cylinder hats; and Anna, a talented young jazz singer and a budding environmental scientist. Upon reaching Leh, the capital of Ladakh, the trio spends four days taking the piano apart. Once the piano is ready for the journey, they embark on the final leg of their expedition, travelling first by car, then trekking across the mountains for two days. When Desmond finds out that yaks which have been hired to carry heavy piano parts are too small to handle them, events take an unexpected turn. Local villagers employed in their stead end up losing control of the wooden piano frame and falling with it down the mountain slope. The entire mission is in jeopardy. Desmond realises that, with human lives at stake, the price of fulfilling his dream may be too high. His determination is undermined by an acute sense of responsibility. The expedition encounters multiple difficulties, from animals sliding down steep mountain passes, to physical exhaustion and damage to the piano parts. The metal stringboard in particular seems beyond repair. Once they reach Lingshed, the protagonists are busy putting the piano together, experiencing local culture, interacting with children and preparing for the final concert, which takes place on the fifth day. Against all odds, Desmond succeeds. The school hall where the piano is kept is officially christened Sir Desmond Music Hall. After the concert, children spontaneously gather around the piano for a series of improvised performances, which attract the attention of an elderly high lama, who joins Harald at the piano. This is a unique moment. It s the very first time that a piano is heard in Zanskar, and all faces are alight with wonder and mirth. The journey has transformed everyone s lives forever. Before the credits roll, we see them two years later: Desmond invents a plastic-recycling scheme and brings it to Ladakh; Anna moves to Dharmsala to study environmental science; Harald trains to become a rescue helicopter pilot. Meanwhile, for the first time in history, piano lessons continue in the Himalayas.

4 DIRECTOR S STATEMENT: The story of Piano to Zanskar was born out of a chance meeting, which, in hindsight, set in motion a chain of equally fortuitous events. What began as a record of an attempt at a most unusual piano delivery, became over time a near-metaphorical journey, touching on a number of universal themes, most important of which being that of Change. For gradually, the road which Desmond follows - a great trans-himalayan highway in construction for decades, which slowly but firmly bites into the ancient landscape, changing its isolated inhabitants way of life forever - becomes a vivid symbol of it, altering and reshaping the course of Desmond s life, the lives of his two young helpers, and foreshadowing the inevitable transformation of Lingshed. The journey is punctuated by a series of serendipities, which themselves formulate another layer of the film s symbolism: from the piano miraculously surviving a fall down a steep mountain side, to finding a German school teacher, who by sheer chance is also a classically-trained pianist, awaiting at our destination; Fortune favours the brave, a proverb to which Desmond s story becomes a testament. Instead of resorting to traditional objective realism, I wished to grant the film a degree of poetic licence in order to better flesh out the story s peripheral themes. Through the use of music, voiceover and non-linear narrative structuring, it becomes something akin to a road-film haiku, reflecting its protagonist s eccentric, unreliable narrator-type persona, whilst shifting the story s focus subtly from its core plot towards the symbolic meaning of the journey itself. From Ernst Reijseger to Shankar Jaikishan, the film features an eclectic range of music, balancing humour with sensitivity, and achieving its natural rhythm by methodically switching between objective and subjective viewpoints throughout; alternating between events & dialogues as they happened, and reflective voiceover passages delivered by Desmond himself. Chris Marker s Sans Soleil, Werner Herzog s Fitzcarraldo and Wes Anderson s The Darjeeling Limited all served as inspiration, forming in my mind a sort of a triptych compass for the film s own unique style. Ultimately, Piano to Zanskar is a tale of an elderly man s dream and his singular determination to achieve it, only to discover the true significance and meaning of his quest through the course of the journey itself. It s a lyrical story which reminds us that music is a universal language, and that the power to inspire others and to challenge the impossible is always present in us, waiting to be discovered. Above all else, I wish for the story to inspire and bring joy, whilst subtly encouraging reflection upon its underscoring, deeper themes of change, age, happiness, altruism, harmony and determination, all of which comprise this film s true backbone. Michal Sulima

5 DIRECTOR S BIO: Michal Sulima is a self-taught filmmaker born in Poland. He began his professional career as a photographer in the commercial and fashion sectors but quickly moved on to pursue filmmaking. Michal graduated in Photography from University of the Arts London with a short film that shortlisted to the best of the show and made an official selection at the London Short Film Festival, among others. Since then, he has built a growing portfolio of short commercials and moved on to shoot and direct his first feature-length documentary, establishing himself as an up-and-coming cinematographer and filmmaker. ABOUT BETWEEN FRIENDS: Between Friends is a London-based agency which specialises in all aspects of creation, direction and production of still and moving image, ranging from art-house shorts and feature-length documentaries, to commercials and editorial photo-shoots. Recent projects include a feature-length documentary Piano to Zanskar, a music documentary Scriabin in the Himalayas, and collaborations with a broad range of artists and designers such as Aitor Throup, Tim Flach, Jason Bruges Studio and Hannah Martinis. ABOUT STARLINE ENTERTAINMENT: Starline Entertainment is an independent, London based company that specialises in the global sales, catalogue management, production, financing and marketing of commercially driven content across all media platforms. Offering a full range of product, including Feature Films, Documentaries, TV Movies, TV Drama, Classic Films, World Cinema, Arts, Kids and Animation, Starline enjoys firm ties directly with broadcasters and distributors worldwide, allowing a unique flexibility to divide rights and maximise revenue in the longer term. INTERNATIONAL SALES Starline Entertainment Piers Nightingale Tel: +44 (0) (0) pn@starlineentertainment.co.uk PRODUCTION Between Friends Jarek Kotomski Tel: +44 (0)