Ari Kinarthy is a composer based in Victoria, B.C. He’s also someone who lives with Spinal Muscular Atrophy type 2, a progressive condition.
As he reached the age of 34, long past his doctor’s predictions, and his condition continued to change, he began to think about what mark he would leave on the world. It combined with his passion for music, and a serendipitous connection with filmmakers Jeff Lee Petry and Nathan Drillot, to result in the documentary film Ari’s Theme.
Ari’s Theme will see its world premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival on April 30, with a repeat screening on May 2.
Ari’s Theme: How It Started
Ari utilizes a wheelchair, and the condition has left him unable to use his hands to play traditional instruments. His talent, however, was clear.
He came to discover his love of music as a teen. “I got introduced to writing music when I was a teenager,” Ari explains. It was initially a hobby he used to relax.
“Over the years, it got more serious, and I entered a competition, and I won it.” He’d made a pledge with himself that if he won, he’d take his music in a more purposeful direction. It led to studies at Berklee College.
Accommodations for musical performers are virtually non-existent. “I really wish I could play the piano somehow,” he acknowledges. For a while, he used technology that made music from the way he moved his wheelchair, but the results were too limited for his taste. When it comes to composition, however, it requires nothing more than the usual interfaces for accessing a computer.
As luck would have it, The Victoria Conservatory of Music’s music therapy program is renowned for its scope and successes. Its philosophy, as expounded on their website, fits perfectly with Ari and his goals, “Music Therapy breaks through the barriers that prevent individuals of all ages from achieving their full potential”. Ari worked with a music therapist to realize his goals.
He’d completed an album, and even performed his original songs live. However, Ari’s ultimate goal, more than anything, was to compose the full score to a film like his role models Hans Zimmer and John Williams.
Around the same time, filmmaking partners Jeff Lee Petry and Nathan Drillot were casting a different project, and their researcher came across Ari’s story in a local publication. “We were very intrigued,” Jeff says. They saw an opportunity to collaborate with an artist who had a unique life experience. They approached Ari and The Victoria Conservatory, who were immediately supportive. Ari’s therapist Allen also appears in the film.
To Jeff and Nathan, it was a story about an artist first and foremost. “He wanted to create music that impacted people,” Jeff says of Ari. The filmmaker’s idea was to go beyond merely scoring the film to scoring a documentary based on his own story.
“We agreed early on that this wasn’t going to be a disability film,” Ari says.
“I think we’ve stayed true to that journey,” adds Jeff.
Filmmaking, Composing
Ari says that, like most emerging composers, he didn’t fully grasp the scope of the project when he started out. “No, I did not,” he agrees. “The Project kind of evolved over time, and got bigger and bigger.”
“Initially the film was supposed to be a TV hour,” Jeff explains. However, as they began to shoot, they realized they had much more material, and went back to their producing partners, who agreed that a bigger scope was warranted.
Telling His Story
The process of the film was challenging not only in terms of creating music, but also when it came to opening his life up to the scrutiny of the camera. Ari says he was quite reserved in the beginning, but as the process went on, he opened up more.
In the film, you can see that process of Ari opening up emotionally, and how it both feeds off, and flows back into, the music he is writing.
Jeff notes that earlier pieces were bigger in scope, and somewhat heroic in tone, while later on, as Ari’s emotions came to the fore, they became quieter, and more sensitive.
“I think I did kind of hold back a bit,” Ari says of the music he wrote in the beginning. The process of opening up took some time, but he became convinced that people would respond if he was genuine, and honest in his expression.
One of the highlights of the process was hearing Ari’s Theme performed by a live violinist for the first time. As he listened, Ari truly felt for the first time that the music was working.
“I was completely blown away,” says Jeff.
During the two year process of making the film, Ari’s condition worsened for a time, but he says the pain fuelled the film and the music, in the end. Despite the stops and starts, however, Ari and Allen, his music therapist, could work quickly when his condition allowed.
“It made it easier and stronger,” Ari says of his evolution “I really had to put myself out there quite a lot.”
Filming, and releasing the film to positive advance reviews of both the gorgeous cinematography and score, has added to the effect.
“I definitely felt more confident lately,” he says. “It’s definitely helping me quite a lot.”
Cinematography
The filmmaker’s challenge was to create an engaging visual flow that revolves around writing music — not necessarily the most visually stimulating of activities. They adopted a poetic and evocative visual aesthetic that translates the emotions of the story, while keeping the visuals fresh.
“At times, I wanted to convey a sense of isolation,” Jeff explains. “That may involve asking the audience to feel as trapped or as bored as Ari is.”
The music gives the story life, and at other times, is reflected in the dynamic flow of images. Between the images and the story Ari tells, the film also conveys the self doubts and insecurities of Ari as a composer.
The film’s editor has a background in music. “He is really able to create some beautiful moments out of what Ari was writing,” he says.
Jeff describes the film’s process as “a flurry of collaboration.”
It was a unique experience in that, the film is typically shot first, then presented to the composer to write the music. For Ari’s Theme, he would write the music based on ideas that the filmmakers threw at him, rather than on video takes, not knowing what it would look like in the end.
“It was a great experience as well,” adds Ari. “Some pieces I was able to click with easily, probably because I got really emotional with them,” he says. Others required more thought and analysis. The story evolved and developed as did Ari’s emotional one.
“It’s very much a film within a film,” Ari says.
After the film’s world premiere at Hot Docs, James reports that multiple applications have been sent for the festival circuit. In addition, there are plans in the works, supported by The Victoria Conservatory, to tour the film as an event screening with performance and a short talk.
“The film itself is such a testament to the Victoria Conservatory’s music therapy program,” Jeff says.
Just ahead of Hot Docs, Bafta-Winning composer Ólafur Arnalds signed on as Executive Producer of the film.
- Check out more details about the film’s premiere screening at Toronto’s Hot Docs, and get tickets, [HERE].
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