Dr. Steeve Coupeau Goes One‐on‐One with Douglas Mueller at the Ninth Edition of the Socially Relevant Film Festival
NYIHA MEDIA: Can you share the significance of the film’s title?
Filmmaker: The film’s title “Alone” refers to basically all of us during the pandemic and the isolation that we all shared. The full title to John Wineglass’s composition is: “Alone: with live effects and electronica” which is in reference to the sound effects layered on top of the live performance.
NYIHA MEDIA: Can you describe the process that led to the selection of violinist Christina Mok?
Filmmaker: The violinist Christina Mok is the concert master for the Monterey Symphony during their normal orchestral season so she was on the top of the list to perform this piece and I cannot be sure 100% but I think Mr. Wineglass wrote the peace knowing that Ms. Mok was going to be performing it.
NYIHA MEDIA: Can you describe the music selections?
There are two very distinct movements and the first half is a reference to our lives before the pandemic which was very rushed and haphazard and chaotic and the second half or skews me the second movement is a very lyrical sweeping somber but hopefully tune. I certainly don’t fancy myself a contemporary orchestra music aficionado but I really like this piece the second movement especially.
NYIHA MEDIA: Your film is dedicated to the victims of the Covid‐19 pandemic. How is the COVID pandemic impacting your work as an artist?
Filmmaker: I’ve been very fortunate during the pandemic that the Monterey Symphony, Nicola Reilly their Executive Director, has engaged me to offset their live presentations with video projects. None are as ambitious as “Alone” but they all kept me going and kept my brain thinking and kept a camera in front of me and in many ways conditioned our team to tackle a more ambitious product. For the production “Alone” specifically, we shot this at the onset of the pandemic before there was a vaccine and we had to take a number of precautions; minimizing the crew, minimizing the support during the shoot and of course masking and social distancing.
