Blue Blood

Stevan Reilly
Originally uploaded by holylandhipster.

Last night, I got together with a friend, colleague and Brit music enthusiast from the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. While working the TFF, we were both "Jury Liasions" which is just a fancy term for the fact that we were in charge of specific juries during the festival. We both had great experiences this year, and spent hours over pints laughing at some of the funnier moments. I was responsible for the International Documentary Film jurors, which consisted of Ken Burns, Oren Jacoby, Mark Levin, Rory Kennedy, Robert Drew and Whoopi Goldberg. D, on the other hand, had the A-list group of jurors including Ed Burns, Josh Lucas, Kelly Lynch and a couple more. We were fortunate enough to meet some incredible people: acclaimed actors, brilliant businessmen, talented musicians, starving artists and aspiring filmmakers. But there was ONE filmmaker in particular who really made an impression with both of us, and it wasn't just because he's a Brit.

Meet Stevan Reilly, Director of Blue Blood, a boxing film that was screened and eligible for the prize given out by my jurors. According to Jason Sanders on the official Tribeca Film Festival website:

Boxing films are hit with a fierce uppercut in this clever, genre-tweaking documentary about the training regimen and sparring contests of Oxford University students who step out of the ivory tower and into the boxing ring to settle matters with their Cambridge rivals. In underlining the freedom to not care about failing, or about what other people think, Blue Blood paints a winning portrait of the spirit of the underdog.

As much as I'd like to wax poetic about Stevan, the purpose of this blog is to talk about the music in the film, which was composed by Israeli musician Itamar Ziegler. I watched the film with Ken Burns and was absolutely blown away by the music. From the opening credits, which was composed by Itamar, and to the music selection embedded within the film, it was all amazing. Personally, I felt that the music MADE the film, and Itamar's contribution was really essential to the film.

Israeli's familiar with the local rock scene should recognize Itamar's work, as he has also performed with Balkan Beat Box throughout the world and his 2002 self titled album met with critical acclaim. His follow up album entitled "The Birds, The Sky, The Trees..all That Shit" is amazing. He's currently living with his extremely talented wife (fabulous artist) in Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, and working on composing music. I'm hoping that more people like Stevan Reilly will turn to him to score their films, as he has true talent.

To check out Itamar's work, visit Itamar Ziegler.

Song of the day is the Untitled Track off of "The Birds, The Sky, The Trees...all That Shit".

Shabbat Shalom!