Hallelujah – the movie. A Nelson celebration of music

Hallelujah – the movie. A Nelson celebration of music and community.

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Handel’s Messiah will go on stage this month in halls and auditoriums worldwide, but in Nelson the iconic work gets a new treatment, with the screening of local filmmaker Dan Kendrick’s documentary movie Hallelujah! The People and the Music.

It features highlights from the Nelson Civic Choir’s 2011 performance of The Messiah, staged at the 100 year old Nelson School of Music, with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with choir members and the conductor.

At that time, Nelson music maestro Pete Rainey was conductor and musical director of the choir and says the opportunity of making a film was not to be missed.

“Dan has such a creative talent, I felt that it would be remiss of me not to offer him the chance to create something magical around this – which is exactly what he has done,” Pete said.

Dan attended rehearsals and conducted interviews for several months in the build-up to the performance, and says he gained the confidence of the singers as he went.

“I wanted to capture real moments of humanity, without being intrusive in any way – no-one likes having a camera shoved in their face, so I wanted the choir to be completely relaxed with me being around.” 

Dan also conducted interviews with members of the choir, to give viewers an idea of who the choir members were, and what led them to join the choir in the first place. 

“I felt humbled by the trust and enthusiasm shown to me by the interviewees, it was a wonderful experience,” Dan said, “I feel very privileged.”

On opening night Dan had four cameras in operation, capturing every possible angle; and then the hard work began - nearly nine months editing 15 hours of footage into 61 minutes. This, while working full-time on Smokefreerockquest and other events.

“I love editing, but it can be a brutal process  - if I had kept everything in there that I wanted to, the film would have been four hours long,” Dan said.

Hallelujah screens for one night only on Saturday 14 December at 7.30pm, at Nelson’s Theatre Royal. Tickets $15 + service fees. Call 03 548 3840 option 2 or book online www.ticketdirect.co.nz

ENDS

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