SAM GREEN SAM GREEN | The Measure of All Things SAM GREEN | The Measure of All Things SAM GREEN | The Measure of All Things SAM GREEN | The Measure of All Things SAM GREEN | A THOUSAND THOUGHTS w/ Kronos Quartet SAM GREEN | A THOUSAND THOUGHTS w/ Kronos Quartet SAM GREEN | A THOUSAND THOUGHTS w/ Kronos Quartet SAM GREEN | The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller SAM GREEN | The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller
“32 Sounds Is the Greatest Documentary You’ve Ever Heard…Sam Green’s free-form look at how sound shapes our perceptions of the world and triggers sense memories will completely change the way you listen — to art, the movies and life” – Rolling Stone
“A unique and ephemeral experience…heady and spine-tingling…the filmed narrative is engaging and richly visual.” – The New York Times
“Full to bursting with humor, emotion and curiosity, “32 Sounds” is a uniquely mind-expanding plunge into a dimension of the human experience so many of us take for granted, a rare and rewarding sonic journey with the potential to enrich our lives…puts the entire act of listening in context, such that I doubt I will ever hear things quite the same way again.” – Variety
“An audible experience to behold and found myself fully transfixed by what Sam and JD Samson created…I did lose count and track of what we were listening to from there on, just as Sam predicted we would. This documentary is well worth plugging into.” – Script Magazine
“An immersive poem of a documentary, an ode to sound, and provides a better understanding of the many sounds we encounter: including the sound of silence…The binaural experience of the headphones heightens the score in brilliant ways.” – Hammer to Nail
“Felt like bathing in aural sensation.” – Vox
“Intelligent as it is hugely entertaining!” – Utah Review
“Moves steadily between the head and the heart, illustrating the associations that are made through certain sounds and the inflections that emerge from our subconscious and putting the intangible within reach as sound waves come to invoke waves of emotion. – Movable Feast
“A magical amalgamation.”— L.A. Times
“It was something extraordinary. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in a “movie” theater ever. It was one of the best theatrical experiences of the year. I desperately want to see it again…and I want to drag everyone I know to see it. Go while you can- go while lightning is still in the bottle- go see the magic made real and movies once again become a communal and live experience.”— Unseen Films
“…interdisciplinary work that breaks the documentary mold…” — The Globe and Mail (Canada)
“Let me cut to the chase: The experience is an audiovisual marvel.” – Willamette Week

Sam Green

Sam Green received his Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of California Berkeley, where he studied documentary with acclaimed filmmaker Marlon Riggs.

His most recent projects are the “live documentaries” Utopia in Four Movements (2010), The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller in collaboration with Yo La Tengo, which premiered May 1, 2012, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival, The Measure of All Things in collaboration with Brendan Canty, Todd Griffin, and Catherine McRae. These works are performed live, with Green narrating and musicians performing the soundtrack and all continue to tour throughout 2016-17. Green’s 2004 feature-length film, the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Weather Underground, tells the story of a group of radical young women and men who tried to violently overthrow the United States government during the late 1960s and 70s. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was broadcast on PBS, included in the Whitney Biennial, and has screened widely around the world.

Green’s previous long documentary, The Rainbow Man/John 3:16, follows the bizarre rise and fall of a man who became famous during the 1970s by appearing at thousands of televised sporting events wearing a rainbow wig. The film premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival and has screened at festivals worldwide. “More than an exploration of life, The Rainbow Man is a parable about alienation, the media, and the meaninglessness that often defines American life.” – Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival Green’s short documentaries include lot 63, grave c, Pie Fight ’69 (directed with Christian Bruno), N-Judah 5:30, and The Fabulous Stains: Behind the Movie (directed with Sarah Jacobson).

shows

32 Sounds
A Film by Sam Green
With Live Music by JD Samson
Produced by ArKtype, The Department of Motion Pictures and Nora Wilkinson
World Premiere: January 2022

32 Sounds is an immersive “live cinema” documentary by filmmaker Sam Green that explores the elemental phenomenon of sound. The film weaves together 32 audio experiences, crafting a cinematic poem as a meditation on the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us. 32 Sounds features original music by JD Samson, performed live.

32 Sounds was Commissioned by Stanford Live, Stanford University; The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH; Georgia Tech Arts, Atlanta, GA; Green Music Center of Sonoma State University, Arizona Arts Live! Tucson, AZ; and developed through a creative residency at MassMOCA, North Adams, MA

Stage: Proscenium / black box
Capacity: 100-1000
Personnel: 6
Availability: 2024-25 OPEN

 

A Thousand Thoughts
A Live Documentary by Kronos Quartet & Sam Green
World Premiere: January 25, 2018, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH

A THOUSAND THOUGHTS is an unprecedented live documentary cinema project taking on an expansive exploration of form as it tells the story of Kronos’ 40-plus-year history through live narration, archival footage, vignettes, interviews, sound bites, and live music performed by Kronos. A THOUSAND THOUGHTS is set to premiere in January 2018, and tour extensively in the 2018/19 Season as a part of Kronos’ 45th anniversary. The portability and scalability of the production will enable A THOUSAND THOUGHTS to be presented at a wide range of performance, music, film, and multi-genre venues. ArKtype, Kronos Quartet and Kronos Performing Arts Association are thrilled to announce this commissioning opportunity conceptualized by Academy Award—nominated filmmaker Sam Green.

Tour representation:
David Lieberman Artists
Phone: 714-979-4700
E-mail: allen@dlartists.com

Stage: Proscenium / black box
Capacity: 100-1000
Personnel: up to 8

Brent Green & Sam Green: Live Cinema

One makes narrative shorts. One makes documentaries. And they aren’t related. Self-taught animator Brent Green and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green (The Weather Underground)—who have showcased their work at MoMA, the Whitney Biennial, and all the major film festivals—burst the bounds of cinema by pairing live music and narration with their singular films. In this showcase of their best work to date, Foley sound artist Kate Ryan and a band comprising Brendan Canty (Fugazi), James Canty (Nation of Ulysses), and Becky Foon (Silver Mt. Zion) perform live alongside the cinematic proceedings: flickering stop-motion forays into Southern Gothic from Brent, engrossing documentaries about provincial dreamers and doers from Sam. LIVE CINEMA will make its New York debut as part of Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival 2016.

Capacity: 100 – 1000
Stage: Proscenium / Black Box
Personnel: Up to 8

The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller

Buckminster Fuller, twentieth-century futurist, architect, engineer, and inventor—he called himself a “comprehensive anticipatory design scientist”—experimented tirelessly for fifty years to find out just what a single person can do on behalf of humanity. The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller is a new hour-long “live documentary” from Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Sam Green exploring Fuller’s utopian vision of radical social change through a design revolution. Originally commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Design and Architecture Department, the project is a collaboration between Green and the legendary indie band Yo La Tengo. At each screening, Green narrates the film in person and cues images while Yo La Tengo performs their original score. The film’s unique form draws inspiration equally from old travelogues, the Benshi tradition, and TEDtalks.

Stage: Blackbox
Capacity: 100-1000
Stage: Proscenium/black box
Personnel: up to 8

The Measure of All Things

“The Measure of All Things” is a poetic portrait of humanity at its outer contours. The piece is inspired in part by the Guinness Book of World Records consists of twenty or thirty film portraits of record-holding people, places, and things: the oldest person in the world (116 years), the tallest person (8 feet, 5 inches), the smallest (22 inches); the longest fingernails, longest name, longest hair; the oldest living thing (a Bristlecone Pine in California), the most overdue library book (123 years). Each of these sections will be a poem. Some will be funny—the world’s largest cat for example. Others will be poignant: “Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning a record seven times. He eventually took his own life. Friends said he was ‘unlucky in love.’”

Throughout each performance, Green cues visual materials like a DJ, reacting to the particular rhythm of each audience and each section of the film. “Measure…” steers clear of the silly side of Guinness; instead, the portraits add up to a poignant meditation on fate, human endeavor, and the nobility and folly of our efforts here. Much of the power of the piece comes from the live soundtrack, evoking a feeling of mono no aware, the Japanese notion of a wistful empathy over the nature of our existence.

Stage: Proscenium / black box
Capacity: 100-1000
Personnel: up to 8

materials

calendar

32 SOUNDS

December 11, 2021 | MASSMOCA, North Adams, MA (Work-in-Progress)
January 14, 2022 | National Sawdust, Brooklyn, NY (APAP/Work-in-Progress) // POSTPONED
January 20-21, 2022 | Sundance Film Festival, WORLD PREMIERE
February 11, 2022 | Stanford Live, Stanford, CA
March 9-11, 2022 | The Arts Centre @ NYUAD, Abu Dhabi, UAE
March 24-26, 2022 | Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
August 17, 2022 | Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
August 20-23, 2022 | Noorderzon Festival, Groningen, NL
Sept 29, 2022 | Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
October 1, 2022 | Cleveland, OH, TBA
October 21-22, 2022 | AZ Arts Live, Tuscon, AZ
November 12, 2022 | Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Feb 10, 2023 | GA Arts, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA
March 24-25, 2023 | CAP-UCLA @ Nimoy Theater, Los Angeles, CA
April 2, 2023, Big Ears, Knoxville, TN
Apr 8, 2023 | Green Music Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA
April 21-22, 2023 | ICA Boston, MA
May 4-18, 2023 | Film Forum, New York, NY
May 6, 2023 | National Gallery, Washington, DC
May 18, 2023 | Millenium Docs Against Gravity, Poznan, PL
May 19, 2023 | Millenium Docs Against Gravity, Warsaw, PL
July 27, 2023 | The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
September 8-9, 2023 | Center for an Untold Tomorrow, Portland, OR
October 3, 2023 | Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver, CA
January 26 – 27 , 2024 | Hopkins Center @ Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
March 22-23, 2024 | ICA Boston, Boston, MA

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