Documentary ties bands to presidential election

Documentary about marching bands opens film festival at University of Virginia

By Rob Hedelt
Fredricksburg.com | Source

–Monica Anderson and Stanley Edmonds go to different universities in Virginia. But at the opening of this past weekend’s 22nd annual Virginia Film Festival, a unique documentary on their schools’ bands and last year’s presidential election brought the Fredericksburg-area youths together for a special night.

Anderson, a Massaponax High School grad and junior who plays the cymbals in the University of Virginia marching band, performed in front of the theater with other members of the drum line.

Stanley Edmonds, a North Stafford High School grad and a sophomore who plays trumpet for the Virginia State University Marching Band, performed with a select group from the band, the Trojan Explosion.

The pair, music and music education majors who both hope to direct a high school band one day, said being involved with the documentary “Marching Band” was a fascinating experience.

“They were around us for a long time, several months up to the election,” said Edmonds, who was featured in a segment of the film. “They were interested in what we did as a band, but also in how we all felt about taking part in our first presidential election.”

Anderson said the French filmmakers seemed interested in just how the young people involved in the bands felt about an election that involved young people like none had before.

“They were with us from band camp through several football games and practices right before the election,” said Anderson, who loves the idea that the band members at both schools were represented as one big family in the documentary.

A PLAYFUL BRODERICK

While “Marching Band” opened the festival at the University of Virginia, the new independent film “Wonderful World,” with Matthew Broderick, was the 85th and final film of the four-day event, screened Sunday night.

The movie, which will be released Jan. 8, focuses on a former children’s musician (Broderick) who has become jaded by the way he was treated by the business side of his industry.

It’s an interesting role for the actor who also screened his earlier film “Election.”

Broderick, now doing the play “The Starry Messenger” off-Broadway, said he took the “Wonderful World” role because he respects director Josh Goldin and because it’s a role that made him stretch to portray a person both cynical and, down deep, hopeful.

Broderick was in a playful mood when he took questions from the crowd, especially tackling a question about whether he was actively seeking roles that came with low pay.

“No, I like getting paid!” he said, adding that he could assure the audience that his off-Broadway role was paying him “at least $40 a night, almost enough to get me to the theater and back home again.”

Saying that he was inspired by the director’s drive to get the low-budget, independent film made, Broderick added, “Could you all give us some money? If each of you gave $5, it wouldn’t hurt you that badly, but would be a big thing for us.”

‘RUSSIANS’ COME AGAIN

Accomplished Hollywood director Norman Jewison (”Fiddler on the Roof,” “Moonstruck”) was at the festival to share his classic farce “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming.”

The tale, which has residents of an island off Cape Cod terrorized by a scared band of Russians whose sub has grounded on a sandbar, was just as funny as it was when it was released in 1966 in the middle of the Cold War.

After the screening, Jewison said the film, about finding common ground and understanding, was a tough sell to get made back then.

Because it portrayed the Russians as people and not monsters, it got keen interest all the way to the Kremlin, where he was invited for a showing.

“The trouble came when I tried to come back,” he said. “They almost wouldn’t let me back into this country.”

Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415