Serendipitous Discovery: Following the Ninth

Another day, another interesting surprise. I was searching for a way to rent a Lexus R300h in or around Frutillar, Chile (research for LCB: Drives) and came across a post on Fodor's forum by someone asking about a scenic spot between Santiago and Puerto Varas. The poster's name was Kerry Candaele and he mentioned that he was working on a documentary. Someone replied to his question and wondered whether he was related to Casey Candaele, former Major League ballplayer. Turns out, Kerry is Casey's brother and the two had previously produced the documentary A League of Their Own, on which the feature film starring Tom Hanks and Geena Davis was based, about their mother Helen Candaele, who is inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Anyway, he posted a link to his current documentary project: Following the Ninth. Curious, I clicked on the link. Nothing to do with the nine innings of baseball. Rather, the Ninth in question here is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It's a fascinating documentary that links the world and its historical events through this one seminal symphony.

As the website explains: "Part road film, ala Jack Keroac, part musical love story, ala The Red Violin, FOLLOWING THE NINTH will move across geographical and cultural borders like the Ninth Symphony itself. The film will tell the story of passionate commitment to and love for music and its capacity to sustain us even in the darkest of times. Rather than limit the appeal of the story by focusing on symphony musicians alone, FOLLOWING THE NINTH will find the rock band in Hong Kong that performs the piece, the Qanun player in Jerusalem, or the steel drum players in New York City, the five-thousand-member chorus in Tokyo, from poets, priests, and housewives, scholars and scamps all over the world who have found themselves connecting to Beethoven’s Ninth."

I have no idea who that Hong Kong rock band is. Eagerly awaiting the movie's May 2008 release just to find out.