FolloWING THE NINTH
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BEETHOVEN’S FINAL SYMPHONY
In Following The Ninth, Candaele journeyed across five continents to explore the resounding impact of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. From its empowering presence at Tiananmen Square and Berlin's Wall to its message of hope in post-tsunami Japan and the resistance during Chile's military dictatorship, Beethoven’s Ninth has consistently inspired resilience and hope for what’s most precious in the human spirit.
“Since my earliest childhood, I have wanted to place my art in the service of suffering humanity whenever possible.”
- LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN, 1812
WATCH THE TRAILER
A director’s cut of the film the Village Voice called “A majestic documentary” will be released in May 2024, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the first performance of the symphony. The Director's cut will include additional concert footage from the British musician Billy Bragg, additional interviews, and behind the scenes from making the film.
Following the Ninth Reviews
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"The film is beautiful and powerful…If millions could experience its affirming and incandescent message, we might turn around the destructive dynamics that are overwhelming the earth.”
– Bill Moyers
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“A majestic documentary … Each anecdote builds upon the next to create that rarest of films: a documentary as ineffable and transformative as it sets out to be.”
– The Village Voice
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"Thrilling, smartly assembled and gracefully paced"
– The New York Times
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"In addition to accomplishing the important task of bringing inspirational stories to light, Following the Ninth succeeds on another level, that of brilliant filmmaking."
– Santa Barbara Independent
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“This illuminating documentary will enable you to appreciate it from not just a musical, but also historical perspective. You’ll never hear it the same way again.”
– Whole Life Times
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“The reach of Beethoven’s final great work extends way beyond the concert hall, as this stirring documentary attests.”
— Film Journal
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“Following the Ninth is a deeply moving, and inspiring achievement. It has always amazed me how suddenly and vividly a piece of music can overwhelm one with epiphanies, insights and inspirations, and Candaele’s beautifully composed film affects one in much the same way.”
– Daniel Stewart, Music Director, Santa Cruz County Symphony
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“Following the Ninth is an inspiring film showing the power that music can bring to people; not only experientially, but intellectually, emotionally, and socially. The film is a celebration of a composer and his art; but it also a celebration of the free will of the people. The symphony allows that free will to be expressed even in the face of repression–the music plays on, and so shall our freedom, our togetherness, and our Joy.”
– Jennifer Weinstein, Executive Director, Southern Vermont Arts Center
Following the Ninth is a documentary film about the global impact of Beethoven’s final symphony. The film, released in mid-2013, has screened in over 250 cities in the United States and around the globe, with more to come.
Written in 1824, near the end of Beethoven's life, the Ninth Symphony was composed by a man with little to be thankful for. Sick, alienated from almost everyone, and completely deaf, Beethoven had never managed to find love, nor create the family he’d always wanted. And yet, despite this, he managed to create an anthem of joy that embraces the transcendence of beauty over suffering.
Celebrated to this day for its ability to heal, repair, and bring people together across great divides, the Ninth has become an anthem of liberation and hope that has inspired many around the world:
At Tiananmen Square in 1989, students played the Ninth over loudspeakers as the army came in to crush their struggle for freedom.
In Chile, women living under the Pinochet dictatorship sang the Ninth at torture prisons, where men inside took hope when they heard their voices.
As the Berlin Wall came down in December 1989, it collapsed to the sound of Leonard Bernstein conducting Beethoven’s Ninth as an “Ode To Freedom.”
In Japan each December, the Ninth is performed hundreds of times, often with 10,000 people in the chorus. Following the Ninth gives us insight into the heightened importance of this massive communal Ninth, known as “Daiku,” in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.
Directed and produced by Kerry Candaele—who previously produced Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices, Iraq for Sale, and the documentary A League of Their Own—Following the Ninth traces these stories, intertwining them with the history of the Ninth itself to create a moving ode to hope, freedom, and the power of art.
About the film
Screenings
Following the Ninth, has screened in more than 250 cities across the nation and around the world, including:
Lincoln Center, New York
The Gene Siskel Center, Chicago
Babylon Theater, Berlin, Germany
Casa Del Cinema, Rome, Italy
American Film Institute’s Silver Theater, Silver Spring, Maryland
Quad Theater, New York
Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills, California
Here is a complete list of our past and upcoming screenings
