World Premiere
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

ECHO OF EVERYTHING

A film by Award-Winning Director Cam Christiansen

World Premiere: April 29 * 5:45pm*TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cinema 2

Additional screening: May 5 * 2:15pm*Scotiabank Theatre 6

Music is a mysterious force, yet its power remains unexplained. Echo of Everything follows the source of music’s power explored through science, history, and philosophy.

Filmed globally (Spain, Senegal, Paris, New York, Minneapolis, Calgary and the UK) and during the pandemic, Echo of Everything is packed with interviews, stunning music, and dance performances, interwoven with drama, animation, expressionism, and archival material, to offer some of the most vivid interpretations made on music in a documentary film.

Writer, Director Cam Christiansen reflects on the human condition, resilience and his own personal relationship with music, played out through the exceptional performance of Calgary actor Andy Curtis.

“Little did I know that trying to understand my love of music would lead to a three-year journey into the rich terrains of science, history and performance,” says Christiansen. “I met and profiled brilliant scientists and artists who appreciate music’s emotional qualities, but also the beauty of its physical form.”

Echo of Everything soundtrack is by British composer Michael Bascom. Included are music performances by Dan Junkins, Victoria Romero, Christian Hudson, Dan Tepfer, Stephon Alexander, and Melvin Gibbs. Dance performances by Erica D’Silva, the African Indiguel Dance Company, Project Logix, and Pulse.

Interviews with noted musicians and experts are with: Jules Evans, Helene Neveu Kringelbach, Babacar M’Baye, Melvin Gibbs, Stephon Alexander, Dan Tepfer, Victoria Romero, and Mark Whittle.

“Filmically, Echo of Everything is absolutely fantastic, Nobody else is making images of such complexity and extraordinary detail on the subject.” – Sir David Hare.

Echo of Everything is produced by Bonnie Thompson (Radiant City, Wildlife, Angry Inuk, Wiebo’s War, Bear 71, Birth of A Family, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up) and Cam Christiansen (WALL, I Have Seen the Future, The Real Place) who also wrote and directed. The film is produced by Calgary’s Off Grid Productions, with funding from the Canada Council, private investors, and Beckett Foundation.

Cam Christiansen’s films have screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival, and featured in TIFF’s Top Ten List of Canadian short films. Films include Wall (Annecy, Copenhagen) was written and starred two-time Oscar nominee David Hare; The Real Place (Sundance, TIFF Top 10); I Have Seen the Future (Sundance, TIFF Top 10.)

Bonnie Thompson is a veteran Canadian film producer. After three decades at the National Film Board of Canada, she now works independently through her Dreaming Bird Productions. Her work has screened nationally and internationally at festivals and on big/small screens, and has been awarded multiple prestigious awards, including for short animation Wildlife – nominated for a 2012 Academy Award; the short animation The Real Place screened at Sundance and was a TIFF Top Ten; feature doc Angry Inuk, winner 2016 Hot Docs Audience Award, Best Documentary Award at imagineNATIVE, and TIFF’s Audience Choice Award, and includes a CBC tv version; the feature animation WALL at the Annecy International Animation Festival; the PBS NOVA doc Transplanting Hope was nominated for an Emmy; and the feature doc nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, Opening Night film at Hot Docs 2019, winner of Hot Docs Best Canadian Documentary, and 2020 Canadian Screen Awards Best Feature Length Documentary, also included a CBC tv version. Thompson was honored with a Life-Time Achievement Award for her work from the Alberta Media Producers Industry Association.