films

Bill Frisell, A Portrait

A film by Emma Franz

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A character portrait of anti-archetype guitar hero, Bill Frisell, this nuanced film traces the ideas and processes that shaped Frisell’s music, and provides rare insight into the mind and personality of one of the significant musicians of recent decades. Full of live music, revealing stories, and intimate access to the normally reclusive Frisell, various collaborations are followed from development to fruition, including the last ever performance of the Paul Motian Trio with Frisell and Joe Lovano. Also featuring Bonnie Raitt, Hal Willner, Paul Simon, Nels Cline, Joey Baron, Jim Hall, Jason Moran, Mike Gibbs, John Zorn, Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter and John Abercrombie. 

BillFrisellFilm.com for more info and to purchase.


The Great Flood

Film By: Bill Morrison

Producer: Phyllis Oyama

Music by: Bill Frisell

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The Mississippi River Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in American history. In the spring of 1927, the river broke out of its banks in 145 places and inundated 27,000 square miles to a depth of up to 30 feet.

Part of it enduring legacy was the mass exodus of displaced sharecroppers. Musically, the Great Migration of rural southern blacks to Northern cities saw the Delta Blues electrified and reinterpreted as the Chicago Blues, Rhythm and Blues, and Rock and Roll.

Using minimal text and no spoken dialog, filmmaker Bill Morrison and composer / guitarist Bill Frisell have created a powerful portrait of a seminal moment in American history through a collection of silent images matched to a searing original soundtrack.

2014 Smithsonsian Ingenuity Award for Historical Scholarship

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"Beautiful...Visual poetry." 
- The New York Times

"A terrific achievement” 
- Los Angeles Times

“This is cinema as art, and a classic” 
- LA Weekly

“An early contender for the year’s best film” 
- film.com


Walk The Line

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Studio: Fox 2000 Pictures, Tree/Line Film

Producer: Cathy Konrad, James Keach

Director: James Mangold

Composer (Music Score), Executive Music Producer:T-Bone Burnett

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Tongzhi In Love

Studio: Smiley Film Distribution

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Producer: Thomas Lennon

Director: Ruby Yang


All Hat

Studio: New Real Films

Producer: Jennifer Jonas

Director: Leonard Farlinger


Finding Forrester

Studio:  Sony Pictures

Producer:  Laurence Mark, Danny Wolf

Director: Gus Van Sant

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Bill Frisell's music is featured in Gus Van Sant's film for Sony Pictures entitled Finding Forrester starring Sean Connery. Besides using music from Bill's catalogue of recordings, Gus asked Bill to create new music specifically for the film. Miles Davis' music is also featured prominently on the soundtrack. The soundtrack is available on CD from Sony Records.

While struggling to fit in at the prestigious and mostly white prep school that has accepted him on scholarship, a black teen with a genius IQ embarks on an unlikely and rocky friendship with a brilliant novelist who has been a recluse for decades. The writer mentors the teen through some very hard times, and the relationship ultimately enables the older man to grow and thrive. Finding Forrester also features Robert Brown, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes and F. Murray Abraham.


Four Boys In A Volvo - 1996

Soundtrack:  Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz

Producer:  Steve Nealy

Director: Gus Van Sant

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Million Dollar Hotel

Studio: Jean Pictures

Producer and Director: Wim Wenders

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Wim Wender's film, The Million Dollar Hotel includes Bill Frisell on it's soundtrack as well as Bono, Daniel Lanois, Jon Hassell, Brian Eno, Greg Cohen, Brian Blade, Brad Mehldau & Chris Spedding. Produced by Hal Wilner and Bono, the soundtrack album has been released by Interscope Records. The album was recorded in Dublin and features 16 tracks from the film. It includes music co-written by Bill Frisell and songs by Bono and U2.

The Million Dollar Hotel is a story of friendship, betrayal and the overwhelming power of unconditional love. A gang of unique outcasts and misfits live in a downtown Los Angeles fleapit, known locally as the Million Dollar Hotel. Their story is seen through the eyes of a lovesick innocent named Tom Tom (Jeremy Davies), who has fallen head over heels for the tarnished street angel Eloise (Milla Jovovich). As their relationship develops, The Million Dollar Hotel becomes the focus of a police investigation: one of its residents, the engaging junkie Izzy, has come to a grisly end. To the amazement of his neighbors, he is revealed to have been the son of a billionaire media magnate. Every denizen of The Million Dollar Hotel falls under suspicion in the inquiry led by FBI hardliner, Detective Skinner (Mel Gibson). As Skinner's investigation proceeds, the lines between murder and suicide, sane and deranged, become very blurred indeed.

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