PETER BROOK: THE TIGHTROPE Opens 4/11 in Los Angeles

Peter Brook is one of the world's most respected and revolutionary directors of contemporary theatre. To help his actors achieve extraordinary performances, he has a special exercise, called "the Tightrope," which evolved over decades of experimentation and practice into a process of transformation that makes theatre real and new for actor and audience alike. In this quietly eloquent and unique film, director Simon Brook - Peter's son - reveals how the Tightrope works its dramatic alchemy.

Filmed in total immersion with five hidden cameras, Peter Brook: The Tightrope plunges us into the intimate aspects of Brook working with his troupe of actors and musicians. Without disturbing the truth of the moment, the film reveals the magic inherent to the creative process, taking us beyond the intimacy of a workshop and into a heightened experience.

The film also features Japanese composer and musician, Toshi Tsuchitori who has collaborated with Peter Brook for more than 30 years, and French composer and musician Frank Krawczyk who composed the musical accompaniment for Love is My Sin, based on the sonnets of William Shakespeare and arranged and interpreted Mozart's original score for Brook's production of A Magic Flute.

Born in London in 1925, Peter Brook studied at Oxford and launched himself into stage directing for The First Time at age 17. During the course of his career, he has distinguished himself in a multiplicity of genres: theater, opera, cinema and writing. For the theater he has staged numerous texts by Shakespeare for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1971 in Paris, he founded with Micheline Rozan, the International Center for Theatre Reseach (CIRT) and took over the direction of the Bouffes du Nord in 1974, where he stayed until 2010. His productions are notable for their iconoclastic aspects and their international scope. He also directs operas and has written several books. Among his most recent works are: A Magic Flute, a free adaptation of Mozart's opera for which he received the Moliere Award in 2011. Also on world tour in 2013 and 2014, a revival of The Suit. This year will also see the re-release of his 1968 anti-war film Tell Me Lies, in a new version stunningly restored by the Technicolor Foundation and the Fondation Groupama Gan.

Awards:
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play Marat/Sade, 1966
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1971
Freiherr von Stein Foundation Shakespeare Award, 1973
Grand Prix Dominique, 1975
Brigadier Prize, 1975, Timon of Athens
Society of West End Theatre Award, 1983
Emmy Award, 1984, La tragédie de Carmen
Prix Italia, 1984
International Emmy Award, 1990, The Mahabharata
Praemium Imperiale, 1997
Dan David prize, 2005
The Ibsen Award, 2008
Critics' Circle Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts 2008

Honors:
Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1965
Honorary DLitt, University of Birmingham, 1990
Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1991
Honorary DLitt, University of Strathclyde, 1990
Honorary DLitt, University of Oxford, 1994
Officier de l'Ordre de la Légion d'honneur (France), 1995
Companion of Honour, 1998
Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur (France), 2013

About Simon Brook
Simon was born in London and grew up between Paris, London and New York. He started out working for the Dave Brubeck Quartet and Pina Bausch. He has written, directed and produced a number of films and documentaries such as Minus One based on the JG Ballard short story, and the Saki story Alice. Other works include 20 short films about children in Caucasus, a documentary on the Amazon river, a docudrama about the Karo tribe of Ethiopia for Canal+ and the documentary feature Brook by Brook, coproduced by the Dardenne brothers. He also made Cleopatra's Lost City for Discovery USA and a musical documentary in the Amazon, Jungle Magic, for BBC Storyville & Arte. In 2006, he wrote and directed The True Legend of the Eiffel Tower a 95 minute docudrama for Canal+ (the most successful docudrama ever broadcast on French pay-TV.)

In 2008, he directed the documentary Generation 68, a humorous and offbeat look at the 1968 uprisings, commented upon 40 years later by Dennis Hopper, Milos Forman, Mary Quant, President Vaclav Havel, Jean-Claude Carriere, Ed Ruscha... that premiered at the AFI America Film Institute. He went on to write, produce and direct Annie Nightengale: Bird on the Wireless, a one hour primetime musical documentary with Paul McCartney and Mick Jones of The Clash for the BBC.

He has just completed two feature documentaries: Indian Summer, a road movie about Ayurvedic medicine and cancer (premiered in Official Selection Thessaloniki 2013) and Peter Brook: The Tightrope (premiered in Official Selection Venice film festival). Simon Brook is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts BAFTA and the Director's Guild of Great Britain DGGB.

PETER BROOK: THE TIGHTROPE (2013, 86 min, France-Italy)
Directed by Simon Brook. Produced by Simon Brook, Ermanno Olmi, Luigi Musini and Jean-Pierre Eklou Attisso. Edited by Josie Miljevic and Barbara Bossuet. Sound by Philippe Avril. Art Direction by Yann Dury and Antoine Champeme. Sound Editing by Agnes Ravez. Sound Mixing by Thierry Delor. A production of Brook Productions, Cinemaundici (Italy) and ARTE France (France) in association with the International Center for Theatre Research (CIRT). With: Peter Brook; musicians Toshi Tsuchitori and Frank Krawczyk; and actors Hayley Carmichael, Marie-Hélène Estienne, Jos Houben, Micha Lescot, Marcello Magni, Khalifa Natour, Yoshi Oida, Adbou Ouologuem, Cesar Sarachu, Shantala Shivalingappa, Emily Wilson, and Lydia Wilson.

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