Leonard Bernstein's protege Marin Alsop reveals how she smashed the glass ceiling to become an internationally renowned conductor.
Pulling the curtain back on the mysterious art of conducting, The Conductor shows how a conductor becomes the conduit for a composer’s message. The Marin Alsop that unfolds before us is a person who makes no secret about the fact that she fought every moment of her life to achieve her place in the classical music world. Throughout the film we meet both people who inspired her and the next generation of musicians to whom she is committed, like Valentina Peleggi who was taught and mentored by Marin. We feel the link between Alsop’s empathy for the struggles of these young talents and the hurdles she faced in becoming a conductor with no female role models. A Cargo Film & Releasing release
Bernadette Wegenstein is an Austrian-born linguist, author and critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker living in Baltimore. Her work brings together her feminist thought and her interest in human-centric storytelling. She studied semiotics with Umberto Eco at the University of Bologna, and received her phD in Linguistics from Vienna University. As a post-doc she studied Comparative Literature and Film at Stanford University. Bernadette Wegenstein is the recipient of numerous academic, film and Austrian governmental awards, and is currently also a professor of media studies at the Johns Hopkins University, where she directs the “Center of Advanced Media Study.” She’s directed four documentaries, including The Conductor, See You Soon Again, and The Good Breast, as well as the documentary short, See Me: a Global Concert. Bernadette is currently in post-production with the partly animated documentary Devoti tutti, and the feature film A Sweet Secret.
