SYNOPSIS
Life comes between us and our dreams. Sometimes, we are lucky enough to be reunited.
THEY CAME TO PLAY is an uplifting feature length documentary chronicling the passion, pressure and potential surrounding the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs hosted by the Van Cliburn Foundation, a prestigious event which reunites seventy-five of the world’s best amateur pianists with their dreams, if only for a brief time.
Players from all over the world, ranging from self-taught to classically trained, aged thirty-five to almost eighty, convene in Fort Worth, Texas, for a week of intense competition, music and camaraderie.
Entertaining, irreverent and, above all, inspiring, the film provides an intimate look into the lives of these colorful, multi-faceted competitors as they strive to balance the demands of work and family with their love of music. Years of dedicated preparation culminate in critical performances before a professional jury and discerning audience during three nerve-racking elimination rounds.
Having made their careers outside of music in fields ranging from real-estate to medicine, professional tennis to education, the competition represents the fulfillment of long-deferred dreams. For competitors who have faced such extraordinary challenges as drug addiction, AIDS, or political asylum, the competition is also a triumph over adversity. For all, it represents an overwhelming desire to express a deeper side of themselves, musically and otherwise.
Commentary from noted American pianist Van Cliburn and gold medalists from the Foundation’s professional competition, along with outstanding performances of great classical masterworks - from Beethoven to Alkan and from Rachmaninoff to Barber - complement the action in a film that celebrates the creator and the competitor in each of us.
Filmmakers
ALEX ROTARU - DIRECTOR
Alex Rotaru, a native Romanian, started out as an award winning child actor, but subsequently earned his bachelors degree in physics from MIT with top honors. Inspired by his stint studying film at the Sorbonne, he interrupted is PhD in physics and enrolled at USC school of cinematic arts, where he earned an MFA in film production and started working in Los Angeles - from development to production and postproduction.
His recent accomplishments include receiving a Christopher award for co-producing, shooting and editing the award winning PBS’s “P.O.V.” special The Hobart Shakespeareans, producing and directing Artistic kids with camera, a documentary about creative genius in children with Asperger’s syndrome; and directing They Came To Play.
Alex’s screenplay The End Of Rain won first prize in the Romanian government’s Center for National Cinema screenplay competition. This English/French/Romanian language psychological thriller slated for production next spring, marks Alex’s narrative feature directorial debut. In addition, he is preparing to shoot The play’s The Thing, a feature-length documentary About America’s oldest high school competition of Shakespearean theater.
LORI MILLER - PRODUCER
Lori Miller’s feature film producing credits include: Panic, starring William H Macy, Donald Sutherland, Tracey Ullman, and Neve Campbell; Perfect Opposites, starring Piper Perabo, Joe Pantoliano, and Jennifer Tilly; The Last Supper starring Cameron Diaz and Bill Paxton; and Campfire Tales, starring Ron Livingston and Christine Taylor. An avid amateur musician, Lori approached the Van Cliburn foundation for the rights to They Came To Play, and was able to fulfill your dream of making a film about classical music. She continues to produce documentaries about arts related subjects.
RONNIE PLANALP - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Ronnie Planalp’s career as spanned senior roles in investment banking, publishing, the Internet, recorded music, and film, with a significant focus on the international markets. She worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs following her graduation from Boston University‘s College of Communication and Columbia University’s Graduate School for Business.
While living overseas in Hong Kong she began her international media career and spent the next 10 years there and in the UK in various business development and strategy roles for companies including Time Warner, Excite Europe and EMI recorded music. Her most recent corporate role was as the director of film for the Producer’s Alliance for Cinema and Television based in London.
After moving back to New York City in the summer of 2004 she began to work in democratic politics co-chairing the committee to elect Kirsten Gillibrand to New York’s 20th congressional district and also joined two organizations as a board member: the film Society of Lincoln Center which runs the New York film Festival and the social enterprise program at Columbia business school.
HARRISON ENGLE - SENIOR EDITOR
Harrison Engle has directed and produced more than 80 nationally recognized dramatic and documentary productions, most of them dealing with history, biography and the arts.
Directing credits include Women of Heart; A Visit to InnerSpark; Dancing with Jean Erdman, a film on choreographer and wife of mythologist Joseph Campbell; The three hour documentary West Point: Honor and Tradition; the historical feature The Legend of Two-Path; War and Peace, a survey of Hollywood war films (TNT); Obsessed with Vertigo, about the Hitchcock classic (Universal/AMC), and the jazz documentary Benny Carter Colin symphony in riffs (A&E).
His multi award-winning feature The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt, narrated by George C Scott, was named one of the best programs of the year by the New York Times. Engle is a director member of the DGA, and past President of the International Documentary Association. He has created biographical tributes for seven Academy Awards telecasts, including honorees Billy Wilder and George Lucas.
He has produced events for MethodFest, the DGA, SAG, AMPAS, and other industry organizations. Engle served as senior editor for the new HD documentary They Came To Play.
DREW KILCOIN - EDITOR
Drew Kilcoin began making movies when he was a sophomore in high school in Marlton, New Jersey. He then went on to earn a BFA in film production from Penn State University, and an MFA in film editing from Chapman University.
During college and following he worked as an editor for such companies as ABC, ESPN, NFL films, Fox. He has edited and assisted on many short and feature films including They Came To Play, America betrayed, and By The Wayside that have traveled to many festivals all over the world.
He is currently assisting on two feature films by the Polish Brothers due out next spring in theaters.
BRIAN O’CONNELL - CINEMATOGRAPHER
Brian O’Connell is a graduate of the NYU film school. He began his career in New York City working as a film electrician, gaffer, and then cameraman on numerous film, television, and commercials projects.
He moved to Los Angeles working as a director of photography for N. Lee Lacy, a highly regarded and seminal commercial director. After years of shooting commercials, Mr. O’Connell became a director/cameraman filming a wide variety of projects but specializing in directing kids commercials.
Mr. O’Connell has worked in various documentary projects over the course of his career but in recent years documentaries have become his passion. They Came To Play is a project that he is particularly proud of having been an integral part of.
ADRIAN POPESCU - CINEMATOGRAPHER
Adrian Popescu graduated from I.L. Caragiale, Bucharest’s National University of drama and film in 1998, with a degree in cinematography.
He moved to the US in 1998 where in now works as a freelance cinematographer. His director of photography credits include Golgota, selected for the IDFA documentary film festival Amsterdam, Art Brevis Vita Longa selected for the Munich International Film Festival, Spoletto Festival and Karlovi Vary Festival, and the award winning short documentary Rappers.