A character portrait of anti-archetype guitar hero, Bill Frisell, this nuanced film traces the ideas and processes that shaped Frisell’s music, and provides rare insight into the mind and personality of one of the significant musicians of recent decades. Full of live music, revealing stories, and intimate access to the normally reclusive Frisell, various collaborations are followed from development to fruition, including the last ever performance of the Paul Motian Trio with Frisell and Joe Lovano. Also featuring Bonnie Raitt, Hal Willner, Paul Simon, Nels Cline, Joey Baron, Jim Hall, Jason Moran, Mike Gibbs, John Zorn, Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter and John Abercrombie.
Emma Franz is an award-winning filmmaker who has been producing, directing, shooting, editing, writing and researching auteur-driven nonfiction film projects for the last 16 years. Her films have been broadcast on Netflix, Amazon Prime, NHK Japan (Primetime slot), ABC Australia, Sky Italy, Link TV USA, YLE Finland and TV Catalunya Spain, and screened as far and wide as the USA, Australia, UK, Japan, Korea, Italy, France, Finland, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Israel, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Singapore, New Zealand and Macedonia. They have enjoyed theatrical release at Laemmle Cinemas around Los Angeles and the IFC Centre, MOMI (Museum of the Moving Image), the Lincoln Centre and Jacob Burns Film Centre in New York, as well as a 13-city release in Korean cinemas. Her debut feature, Intangible Asset Number 8,2 won Best Foreign Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival (2009), an AFI award in Australia for Best Sound in Documentary (2010). Her recent feature, Bill Frisell, A Portrait, premiered in the Grand Jury selection for Best Feature Documentary Award at South by South West Film Festival, USA (2017). Prior to her work in film and television, she worked as a professional singer for stage, television and radio. Film and music engagements have taken her across 6 continents and 35 countries, providing the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse range of people from various cultures and languages, social and economic structures, and political histories.
