About the Film
The Measure of All Things is a new ‘live documentary’ by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Green. The film, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, is a meditation on fate, time, and the outer contours of the human experience. Inspired very loosely by the Guinness Book of Records, The Measure of All Things weaves together a series of portraits of record-holding people, places, and things, including the tallest man (7 feet 9 inches), the oldest living thing (a 5,000 year old Bristlecone Pine in Southern California), the man struck by lightning the most times (seven!), the oldest living person (116), and the woman with the world’s longest name, among others. Drawing inspiration equally from old travelogues, the Benshi tradition, and TED talks, The Measure of All Things is screened with in-person narration and a live soundtrack. (NB: The Measure of All Things is in no way endorsed, sponsored, or connected to The Guinness Book of Records or Guinness World Records Limited).
Bios
Sam Green
Director
Sam Green is a New York City-based documentary filmmaker. His film The Weather Underground was nominated for an Academy Award in 2004, broadcast nationally on PBS, and included in the Whitney Biennial. Green’s most recent documentary The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller features a live score by legendary indie rock band Yo La Tengo and is currently screening widely. His other films include Utopia in Four Movements, lot 63, grave c, Utopia Part 3: the World’s Largest Shopping Mall, The Rainbow Man/John 3:16, N-Judah 5:30, and Pie Fight ’69. Green received his master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied documentary with acclaimed filmmaker Marlon Riggs. He has received grants from the Creative Capital, Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts. www.samgreen.to
Annie Dorsen
Creative Collaborator
Annie Dorsen works in a variety of fields, including theatre, film, dance and, as of 2010, algorithmic performance. Most recently, she presented Spokaoke, a participatory karaoke for political and historical speeches, at Crossing the Line Festival (NY), Black Box (Oslo) and BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen). Her new algorithmic theatre project, A Piece of Work, was recently seen at BAM (NY), Parc de la Villette (Paris) and De Keuze Festival (Rotterdam), among other venues. Her previous algorithmic piece, Hello Hi There, continues to tour internationally, most recently at Parc de la Villette, Kanuti Gildi Saal (Tallinn), Cincinnati Arts Center, 4+4 Days in Motion Festival (Prague) and at Bard Live Arts. Magical, a collaboration with Anne Juren, will tour in 2014 in Cologne, Zurich, Tallinn, and Lyon. She has taught, written and lectured extensively on performance (both algorithmic and non) and is the co-creator of the 2008 Broadway musical Passing Strange, which she also directed.
yMusic
Music
yMusic is a sextet made up of Hideaki Aomori, CJ Camerieri, Clarice Jensen, Rob Moose, Nadia Sirota, and Alex Sopp. Equally comfortable in the overlapping worlds of classical and pop music, the ensemble was created in 2008 to bring a classical chamber-music aesthetic to venues outside the traditional concert hall. The ensemble includes a unique combination of instruments: string trio, flute, clarinet, and trumpet. Hailed by NPR’s Fred Child as “one of the groups that has really helped to shape the future of classical music,” its members have individually toured and recorded with artists such as Bon Iver, Bjork, Peter Gabriel, Antony and the Johnsons, Ryuichi Sakamoto, The National, Rufus Wainwright, Grizzly Bear, Meredith Monk, Yo-Yo Ma, The New York Philharmonic, David Byrne, and Sufjan Stevens. yMusic’s debut album, “Beautiful Mechanical,” was named Time Out New York’s #1 Classical Record of 2011.
Todd Griffin, Brendan Canty, and Catherine McRae
Music
Todd Griffin, Brendan Canty, and Catherine McRae previously collaborated with Sam Green on his 2010 live documentary Utopia in Four Movements and toured widely with that project. They coax a luminous sound out of decayed samplers, walkmans, vibraphonette, footpedal loopers, tape echo violin and homespun harmonies. Like a space-age Carter Family, they weave low-tech electronics around songs sturdy enough to stand up even if the power goes out. They call it “porch techno”. Together and separately they’ve collaborated with musical luminaries including Vic Chesnutt, Patti Smith, Tom Verlaine, Yo La Tengo, members of The Ex, Fugazi, and godspeed you! black emperor. They have created live soundtrack projects with filmmakers such as Jem Cohen and Brent Green, and theater directors Anne Bogart and Richard Maxwell. www.shinylittlerecords.com
Andrew Black
Cinematography
Andrew Black is a Director of Photography whose work includes documentary and feature films. His work has been for theatrical and broadcast distribution and shown in festivals worldwide. Black worked with Michael Moore on Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko. He shot the Academy Award nominated The Weather Underground by Sam Green and Bill Siegel. His work airs widely, most recently on a national PBS broadcast of Mustang: Journey of Transformation, which was shot in a remote area of Nepal. He annually shoots the Emmy Award winning Global Focus, a PBS show featuring environmentalists from around the world. Based in San Francisco, California, Black travels extensively for work and has visited over 35 countries.
Peter Sillen
Cinematography
Peter Sillen is a New York-based filmmaker. Sillen creates portraits of an array of individuals who live and work outside stereotypical 9-to-5 situations. With sensitivity to his subjects and their environments, Sillen’s work gives an unobstructed view into the lives of a number of uniquely talented artists and workers. Career highlights include “I Am Secretly an Important Man” a feature length documentary on Seattle writer Steven Jesse Bernstein, “Benjamin Smoke,” a feature-length documentary collaboration with fellow filmmaker Jem Cohen (nominated for an IFP Independent Spirit Award as well as a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association), and the feature-length “Speed Racer: Welcome to the World of Vic Chesnutt”.
C41 MEDIA
Producer
C41 MEDIA is a full service production company specializing in long form, branded content and documentary films. Launched in 2011 by Pete Sillen and Brendan Doyle, C41 Media has worked with many innovative brands and clients: including Apple, Brizo, Heath Ceramics, Herman Miller, and J. Crew. Sillen has spent 15 years as both an award winning documentary filmmaker and commercial director. Doyle has served as Sillen’s producer and collaborator. The duo teamed up to create a boutique shop where great stories can be expanded beyond the 30 second spot.
ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann
Producer
A Brooklyn-based producer of acclaimed international projects and tours, ArKtype’s work has been seen worldwide, including projects with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Yael Farber, Peter Brook, Jay Scheib, Julie Taymor, Yaron Lifschitz, Dmitry Krymov, and Victoria Thiérrée-Chaplin. Recent premieres include Big Dance Theater & Baryshnikov Productions’ Man In A Case at Hartford Stage and the off-Broadway run of Nalaga’at Deaf-Blind Theater’s Not By Bread Alone. Additional projects include Rude Mechs (Austin); Theatre for a New Audience; Soho Rep.; Young Vic (London); Big Dance Theater; Aurélia Thiérrée & Victoria Thiérrée-Chaplin (Paris). Upcoming premieres include Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen’s HOW TO BE A ROCK CRITIC and Jay Scheib's PLATONOV or THE DISINHERITED. www.arktype.org
Credits
Director
Sam Green
Quavers
Brendan Canty
Todd Griffin
Catherine McRae
yMusic
Hideaki Aomori
CJ Camerieri
Gabriel Cabezas
Rob Moose
Nadia Sirota
Alexandra Sopp
Creative collaborator
Annie Dorsen
Cinematography
Andy Black
Pete Sillen
Producers
Alison Byrne Fields / Aggregate
ArKtype
C41
Produced in association with
DCTV
Rooftop Films
Composer
Mark Dancigers
Additional music
Marcos Balter
Annie Clark
Nico Muhly
Sarah Kirkland Snider
Jeremy Turner
Additional cinematography
Joshua Weinstein
Jason Lee Wong
Colorist
Chris Martin
Spy Post
Production assistance
Dana Kash
Jon Weisburst
Design
Familiar
China fixer / translator
Yanyu Chen
Legal
David Ashley, Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP
Footage research
Rosemary Rotondi
Graphics
Matt Notaro
Re-recording mixer
Rich Bologna
John Moros
Footage
Don Bain
Nicholas White
Funding
The DrumStick Fund
The Harburg Foundation
The National Endowment for the Arts
The Whitman Institute
Special Thanks
Laurie Anderson
Dave Cerf
Jasmine Dellal
Alison Byrne Fields
Kat Galasso
Dana Kash
Nion McEvoy
Carl Williamson
Thanks
Ayumi Ashley
Aurora Picture Show
Bill Basquin
Alan Berliner
Carey Burens
Adam Carroll
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