Message From Jennifer Peedom: Director, Mountain
Richard Tognetti approached me with the idea of this collaboration. The idea of expressing musically and visually, the nature of human relationships with mountains was an opportunity that immediately excited me, as did the chance to work with this incredible orchestra that I had been a fan of for many years.
The creative challenge was creating something that married music, images and words, not only for live performance but also as a standalone film. Filmmaking is always about collaboration but I knew that in this case, the collaboration was the most important aspect of the project. And so it has proved.
Richard Tognetti approached me with the idea of this collaboration. The idea of expressing musically and visually, the nature of human relationships with mountains was an opportunity that immediately excited me, as did the chance to work with this incredible orchestra that I had been a fan of for many years.
The creative challenge was creating something that married music, images and words, not only for live performance but also as a standalone film. Filmmaking is always about collaboration but I knew that in this case, the collaboration was the most important aspect of the project. And so it has proved.
"The creative challenge was creating something that married music, images and words, not only for live performance but also as a standalone film."
Our process was very organic from the start. Richard had a very visceral reaction to Renan Ozturk’s amazing cinematography and started responding musically to those ideas. Meanwhile, I would listen and respond to existing ACO recordings in the edit, and craft images around those masterpieces. In other cases, Richard and I would talk about what we were trying to express in a scene, and he would write something bespoke.
Robert Macfarlane’s words were then an essential part in bringing the whole narrative together. This was completed by Willem Dafoe’s brilliant performance of the text.
One of the interesting revelations in this process was that Richard and I would watch the same sequence of images, yet respond to them in very different ways. Where I’d see majesty and beauty, Richard would see horror and terror. I believe that this has ultimately made the film a more interesting, complex exploration of our relationships to mountains. The fact that Richard was able to somehow incorporate both these elements into his wonderful score was one of the great joys of this collaboration.
Message From Richard Tognetti: Musical Director, Mountain
Being in a pitch-dark room can make your thoughts brighter, and being alone atop a mountain can bring you closer to humanity.
Mountain draws you into this world. Through the stunning images curated by Jen Peedom, and for the most part shot by Renan Ozturk, the abstraction of music underscores and captivates, opening a portal through which we concoct an experience that beckons the viewer to the majesty and horror that is the allure and portent of mountains.
Robert Macfarlane’s words were then an essential part in bringing the whole narrative together. This was completed by Willem Dafoe’s brilliant performance of the text.
One of the interesting revelations in this process was that Richard and I would watch the same sequence of images, yet respond to them in very different ways. Where I’d see majesty and beauty, Richard would see horror and terror. I believe that this has ultimately made the film a more interesting, complex exploration of our relationships to mountains. The fact that Richard was able to somehow incorporate both these elements into his wonderful score was one of the great joys of this collaboration.
Message From Richard Tognetti: Musical Director, Mountain
Being in a pitch-dark room can make your thoughts brighter, and being alone atop a mountain can bring you closer to humanity.
Mountain draws you into this world. Through the stunning images curated by Jen Peedom, and for the most part shot by Renan Ozturk, the abstraction of music underscores and captivates, opening a portal through which we concoct an experience that beckons the viewer to the majesty and horror that is the allure and portent of mountains.
"Mountain attempts to bring you into these spaces that sane people would not otherwise dwell."
Whether it be the goons’ rodeo of going downhill at speed (in wing suits or skis or whatever your poison) or ascending rock-faces in slow-mo, that only a generation ago seemed unassailable, the original music attempts to inhabit this physical and geographical drama. The Beethoven, on the other hand, transcends it all. Renan, the cinematographer for Mountain, isn’t just a man with a camera; he lives in actuality on the rock face, as a fellow climber with the likes of Alex Honnold – a free solo climber who has scaled the likes of El Capitan. I trust you are sitting down when you’re reading this: free soloing is the art of climbing with no ropes or aids of any kind.
Mountain attempts to bring you into these spaces that sane people would not otherwise dwell.
Message From Robert Macfarlane: Writer, Mountain
To those who are enthralled by mountains, their wonder is beyond all dispute. To those who are not, their allure is a kind of madness. What is this strange force that draws us upwards – this siren-song of the summit?
Mountain attempts to bring you into these spaces that sane people would not otherwise dwell.
Message From Robert Macfarlane: Writer, Mountain
To those who are enthralled by mountains, their wonder is beyond all dispute. To those who are not, their allure is a kind of madness. What is this strange force that draws us upwards – this siren-song of the summit?
"The mountains we climb, are not made only of rock and ice, but also of dreams, and desire. The mountains we climb, are mountains of the mind."
Only three centuries ago, setting out to climb a mountain would have been considered an act of lunacy.
The idea scarcely existed that wild landscapes might hold any sort of attraction. Mountains were places of peril, not beauty. An upper world to be shunned, not sought out.
How then have mountains now come to hold us spellbound, drawing us into their dominion . . . often at the cost of our lives?
The mountains we climb, are not made only of rock and ice, but also of dreams, and desire.
The mountains we climb, are mountains of the mind.
Click here to discover and book Mountain, touring to Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne from 27-30 October.
The idea scarcely existed that wild landscapes might hold any sort of attraction. Mountains were places of peril, not beauty. An upper world to be shunned, not sought out.
How then have mountains now come to hold us spellbound, drawing us into their dominion . . . often at the cost of our lives?
The mountains we climb, are not made only of rock and ice, but also of dreams, and desire.
The mountains we climb, are mountains of the mind.
Click here to discover and book Mountain, touring to Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne from 27-30 October.
