SYRFILMFEST ’12
CLOSING Night and awards ceremony
Sunday, October 14
7:30 p.m.
Palace Theatre
I am Not a Rock Star
by Bobbi Jo Hart
Tickets $15/$10 AARP members with valid ID
I AM NOT A ROCK STAR
by Bobbi Jo Hart – 86 min, doc – Canada
The film will be followed by a Q&A with the director and Marika after which Marika will perform a mini recital.
An absolutely outstanding documentary that follows the story of 20-year-old Marika Bournaki, who embarks on a journey to become a world-class concert pianist, a dream she has had ever since her father
first encouraged her to start playing the piano at the age of five. Shot in cinéma vérité style over eight years, the film begins when Marika is 12 years old and commuting every Saturday from Montreal to attend Juilliard’s prestigious Pre-College Program in New York. She moves on her own to New York City at age 14, and starts auditions and performances around the world. The effects of this lifelong sacrifice
of her parents to turn Marika into a star begin to reveal themselves, while within the walls of Juilliard she finds a kindred soul and her first love. The film ultimately reveals the gritty realities of making it in the cutthroat classical music world, but also how Marika matures to eventually question her path, appropriating her musical passion to make it her own.
Marika Bournaki
At the 2009 Palaces of St. Petersburg Festival in Russia, Ms. Bournaki played the Schumann Piano Concerto with the St. Petersburg Symphony under the baton of Vladimir Lande. The performance was
aired on Russian television and made into a DVD. 2011 Canada’s Women of the Year her numerous performances include: 2011 at Carnegie Hall presented by the Glenn Gould Foundation. 2009-10 Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Montreal Symphony, Andrew Grams, conducting; recitals of Chopin and Schumann at the National Arts Centre Debut Recital Series in Ottawa and at the Seoul Arts Center Opera House in South Korea; and at the Flanders Festival in Belgium and on the Accordate Konzerte Series in Aachen, Germany. In addition
to a broadcast of National Public Radio’s From the Top, she has been featured on radio in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and on television in Canada and Europe.
The film will be followed by a Q&A with the director and Marika after which Marika will perform a mini recital.
An absolutely outstanding documentary that follows the story of 20-year-old Marika Bournaki, who embarks on a journey to become a world-class concert pianist, a dream she has had ever since her father
first encouraged her to start playing the piano at the age of five. Shot in cinéma vérité style over eight years, the film begins when Marika is 12 years old and commuting every Saturday from Montreal to attend Juilliard’s prestigious Pre-College Program in New York. She moves on her own to New York City at age 14, and starts auditions and performances around the world. The effects of this lifelong sacrifice
of her parents to turn Marika into a star begin to reveal themselves, while within the walls of Juilliard she finds a kindred soul and her first love. The film ultimately reveals the gritty realities of making it in the cutthroat classical music world, but also how Marika matures to eventually question her path, appropriating her musical passion to make it her own.
Marika Bournaki
At the 2009 Palaces of St. Petersburg Festival in Russia, Ms. Bournaki played the Schumann Piano Concerto with the St. Petersburg Symphony under the baton of Vladimir Lande. The performance was
aired on Russian television and made into a DVD. 2011 Canada’s Women of the Year her numerous performances include: 2011 at Carnegie Hall presented by the Glenn Gould Foundation. 2009-10 Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Montreal Symphony, Andrew Grams, conducting; recitals of Chopin and Schumann at the National Arts Centre Debut Recital Series in Ottawa and at the Seoul Arts Center Opera House in South Korea; and at the Flanders Festival in Belgium and on the Accordate Konzerte Series in Aachen, Germany. In addition
to a broadcast of National Public Radio’s From the Top, she has been featured on radio in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and on television in Canada and Europe.
Sunday, October 14
7:30 p.m.
Palace Theatre
I am Not a Rock Star
by Bobbi Jo Hart
Tickets $15/$10 AARP members with valid ID
SYRACUSE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL