Ari Kinarthy’s nightmare before the live recording session. (screenshot from Salazar Film)
The 43rd Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) officially opens Sept. 26 with the screening of Ari’s Theme, a TELUS original feature documentary about local composer Ari Kinarthy by local filmmakers Jeff Lee Petry and Nathan Drillot, who run Salazar Film.
Jewish Independent readers will be familiar with all three creatives, who will attend both VIFF screenings, ready to answer audience questions, as well as participate in a panel discussion.
Sam Margolis first wrote about Victoria Jewish community member Kinarthy in 2020 – Kinarthy, 30 years old at the time, had released two albums, won an international music competition and was looking for people who might want original music for a project they were working on.
“I create all my music entirely with the computer,” he told the Independent. “Sometimes, I will have access to a guitar player or singer but normally the music will be all done by the samples I use. I usually start with just piano and sometimes will write out a score. I think of a melody and/or harmony and continue from there. I love making themes.”
Kinarthy uses a special computer system to record his music, as he has spinal muscular atrophy type 2, a symptom of which is worsening muscle weakness.
When Margolis interviewed Kinarthy a second time for the Independent, it was because Ari’s Theme was about to première at Toronto’s Hot Docs Film Festival. In the article, which was published in April, the filmmakers share that the documentary was inspired by the first JI article.
“We hired Vaka Street Casting to help find us subjects for potential documentaries. They found the JI article while searching for individuals with unique stories,” Drillot told the Independent in an interview last week.
Drillot said the number one factor he and Petry look for in possible documentary subjects is that the individual has a unique perspective – “You’ve got to be an outside the box thinker,” he said, “which Ari most definitely is.”
“As we learned more about Ari’s story, we thought about how interesting it would be to work with a composer like Ari, who has a very particular life experience, and ask him to compose music about the most impactful moments, dreams and experiences of his life and let us create cinematic scenes around them,” Petry told the Independent in April.
It was hard to imagine just how Petry and Drillot would create those scenes and how Kinarthy would not only choose the times in his life to highlight, but be able to compose the music to accompany those emotional times. We learn in the film that Kinarthy doesn’t just want to write any song – he wants to leave a legacy, to make an impact on the world, so that his life will have been, in his words, “worth it.”
Kinarthy’s honesty with his feelings, fears and ambitions, is remarkable. He undergoes a transformation during the film. His physical challenges and the dangers to his health if he gets sick have led to him being isolated for much of his life, relying on a few key caregivers and his parents. He is mentally strong, though, and this is made clear as he questions the walls he has built to protect himself and as he lives seemingly at peace with his limitations, while also knowing what he is capable of beyond them. That he allows the filmmakers – and us – to see just how vulnerable he is, is proof of his sheer strength.
“Watching Ari go through the process of making the film was incredibly rewarding,” said Drillot. “He overcame a lot of creative obstacles and consistently impressed the whole filmmaking team with his drive, determination and creativity. Personally seeing him watch the footage in the movie theatre was the most impactful. It’s a very unique experience to sit in a movie theatre and see your life reflected back at you. I really have a lot of respect for Ari for trusting the process and for constantly rising to the occasion.”
Kinarthy opens himself up creatively in ways even he may have thought not possible. We see him working with fellow musicians Allan Slade and Johannes Winkler, who provide feedback and guidance, and help him translate his vision into reality. It is in these scenes that we witness both Kinarthy’s confidence and anxiety, and the filmmakers capture it incredibly well, unobtrusively filming the men creating together, with other shots of Kinarthy talking about the process. There is an especially powerful scene, where Kinarthy sits alone in the Alix Goolden Performance Hall, on stage, as pages of music swirl madly about him.
Ari’s Theme uses such special effects, as well as animation and reenactments, to help tell Kinarthy’s story. There are home videos of Kinarthy and his family, and it is so moving to hear him talk about his family – describing his sister as a drum, driving him to enjoy himself; his dad as a cello, supporting from the background; and his mom as a piano, providing the strong underlying cords binding the family together. “And then there was me. I was a flute,” he says. “A little sound that would come in and out. I wasn’t integral to the song, but I added something unique. I often miss that version of myself, when life was expanding, free of concern and anxiety. As I’ve gotten older, these memories have become more and more important to me.”
In the film, Kinarthy questions whether other people will be interested in his memories. Anyone who sees the documentary will likely respond with a resounding, yes! Not only interested in the memories, but inspired by the man who shared them and the man who created their impressive soundtrack.
Passages of that soundtrack will be performed live at the opening event by members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. For tickets to either screening of Ari’s Theme (Sept. 26 or 28) and any other VIFF offerings, visit viff.org. The festival runs to Oct. 6.