The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble's sound travels through jazz, rock, funk, soul, and hip-hop on peaceful waves. Reuben Atlas's debut film, Brothers Hypnotic, follows the group's eight horn-carrying brothers, all sons of legendary jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran, from an impoverished childhood on the South Side of Chicago to their current worldwide fame.
The documentary portrait starts by recounting the ensemble's journey over a decade ago to New York, where the brothers and their drummer (a close friend) appear playing outside Times Square's 42nd Street station for the pleasure of passersby. The musicians emphasize in talking-head interviews that they perform on sidewalks and without a record deal not from need but by choice, desiring to preserve their independent artists' right &...
The documentary portrait starts by recounting the ensemble's journey over a decade ago to New York, where the brothers and their drummer (a close friend) appear playing outside Times Square's 42nd Street station for the pleasure of passersby. The musicians emphasize in talking-head interviews that they perform on sidewalks and without a record deal not from need but by choice, desiring to preserve their independent artists' right &...
- 3/19/2014
- Village Voice
The Maysles Cinema in NYC will present the exclusive U.S. theatrical premiere of Reuben Atlas' feature documentary Brothers Hypnotic, which follows 8 brothers who make up the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, taking on the music business while trying to adhere to their father’s vision of music as a path to consciousness-raising. First-time director Atlas met the ensemble while they were playing on 42nd street in NYC, and followed them on tour, to meetings, in practice and at home in Chicago with their legendary musician father Phil Cohran - a loving family of one dad, three moms and 24 siblings. The film follows a long list of "musical...
- 2/5/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
A new year of film festivals has officially launched with the grand-daddy of them all (here in the USA anyway) the Sundance Film Festival, ending its run last weekend. In February, however, all eyes will be on the Pan African Film Festival that takes place in Los Angeles, CA, which runs from February 6-17, 2014, celebrating its 22nd anniversary. Continuing on with highlights from this year's event... from the documentary section, Brothers Hypnotic, an 86-minute feature doc from director Reuben Atlas, which follows 8 brothers who make up the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, taking on the music business while trying to adhere to their father’s vision of music...
- 1/31/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
The Film Society of Lincoln Center's 2013 lineup for Sound + Vision (July 26 to August 1) - a music documentary series exploring a range of musical artists, genres and styles - includes Brothers Hypnotic, an 86-minute feature documentary from director Reuben Atlas, which follows 8 brothers who make up the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, taking on the music business while trying to adhere to their father’s vision of music as a path to consciousness-raising. First-time director Atlas met the ensemble while they were playing on 42nd street in NYC, and followed them on tour, to meetings, in practice and at home in Chicago with their legendary musician...
- 7/15/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Reuben Atlas previously worked at Legal Aid, a maximum security prison, and as an entertainment lawyer before he started making films. This year he brings "Brothers Hypnotic" to the festival. What it's about: Eight brothers, extraordinary musicians from Chicago’s roughest neighborhood, seek to uphold the legacy of their anti-establishment, jazz legend father in the face of worldwide success. On the challenges: "Balancing the number of characters. Telling a story about eight brothers is tough enough, but adding to the mix their father, whose history is the history of Chicago music, and their super-dynamic mothers, was a big challenge. When celebrities like Prince, Mos Def, Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), and Sun Ra showed up in the story, we had to make them footnotes!" What's next: "I'm directing with Sam Pollard a Sundance Institute and Ida supported documentary about the community-organizing group, Acorn, and finishing a short documentary about Karim...
- 6/11/2013
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Some of the best films of the 2012/2013 calender year from Richard Linklater, Harmony Korine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Bujalski, Jeff Nichols, David Gordon Green, Shane Carruth and Joshua Oppenheimer are among the headliner names for the 2013 edition of the South by Southwest Film Festival. With a little over 100 plus film line-up (a whopping 2000+ titles were submitted), almost 70 are world premieres: there is the highly anticipated sophomore film (that has been on our radar since it first went into production) with M. Blash’s (The Wait), Joe Swanberg who makes SXSW his second home will premiere Drinking Buddies, veteran indie filmmaker John Sayles saddles in with Go For Sisters, and rounding out the Narrative Spotlight section we’ve got The Bounceback from Bryan Poyser, Loves Her Gun from Geoff Marslett along with titles we thought might break into Park City, but found an Austin home instead with Jacob Vaughan’s Milo and...
- 2/1/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
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