Inside the Perfect Circle
Produced and directed by CHRIS PEPINO
A music documentary about world-traveled composer and conductor Joel Thome, 'Inside The Perfect Circle' provides a close personal look at his career and philosophy. He collaborated extensively with Frank Zappa arranging the eccentric rock icons elaborate music for symphony orchestra and rock band. He was awarded a Grammy for his work with Zappa and guitarist Steve Vai, and was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He composed the music to Pablo Picasso's only play, and completed many other projects furthering modern music. After suffering a debilitating stroke in 1998, Joel lost the use of his left arm and was forced to undergo years of recovery. Using music as a resource for healing, he was able to resume composing and returned to the stage to perform his graphically notated mandala scores. The performance was featured at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City in September 2009.
Soundtracked by the brilliantly eccentric Scorchio Quartet, the film is filled with modern music captured live, emanating a meditative and serene sonic backdrop. Meanwhile, the mandala paintings of abstract artist Harry C. Doolittle swell in the background, assembling and deconstructing on a big screen in sync to the live concert. The documentary includes rehearsal footage, interviews with musicians, colleagues, and performers, archival video, and performance footage. The journey of Joel Thome is an unusual story of dedication, love, and unquestionable genius; the story of a composer who constantly strived to break the mold and explore uncharted territories in music and in life.
BEST DOCUMENTARY: NJ Film Festival
AUDIENCE AWARD: Doc Miami International Film Festival
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY: Philadelphia Independent Film Festival
BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Indie Fest, San Diego
MOST INSPIRATIONAL DOCUMENTARY (finalist): Doc Miami International Film Festival
Joel Thome
A Grammy Award recipient and Pulitzer Prize nominee, Joel Thome is an internationally acclaimed composer of classical and contemporary orchestral music. Having conducted various prominent and international orchestras, Thome is also a renowned conductor of opera and other music/theatre works. He has also collaborated with a number of renowned musicians, visual artists, film makers, and choreographers on various projects.
His modern opera performances include the Weill/Brecht Threepenny Opera, and the Thomson/Stein Four Saints in Three Acts. Thome regularly collaborated with Frank Zappa, providing critically acclaimed arrangements of Zappa’s wide-ranging repertoire. In 1994, Thome’s Polygram/Verve recording of Zappa’s Universe received a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental. Thome’s major compositions include Savitri Traveller of the Worlds (Pulitzer Prize nomination), the score for Picasso’s play Catch Desire by the Tail, Book of Beginnings V for Benny Reitveldt, and Time Spans. His recordings include the Thomson/Stein opera Four Saints in Three Acts (Nonesuch), Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire for Vox, and Satyavan: Dream Twilight for World Sound.
Thome has served as a member of the board of directors of the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Mexican Institute for Culture in New York, Erick Hawkins Foundation for Modern Dance, and the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function. For several years he acted as the head of the Music Department at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2002 and 2004 he was awarded the Music Has Power Award, and the ASCAP award respectively. Thome received his BA from the Eastman School of Music, MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and Certificate from the Ecole Internationale for Music and Dance in Switzerland. He also studied with Pierre Boulez at the Concours Internationale in Switzerland.