It’s curious really because I don’t feel a year older than ten, like my choristers…
Edward higginbottom
★★ Award Winner On Art Film Festival (Poland)
★★ Official Selection – Master of Art Film Festival (Bulgaria)
★★ Official Selection – Beirut Art Film Festival (Lebanon)
“Edward Higginbottom’s last weeks as the Choirmaster of New College Choir that he led for thirty-eight years. Higgi unveils the secrets of his pedagogy and his devotion to choral music at critical, moving moment in his life. It is a film that shows us the benefits of quality music education and awareness of beauty, lavished on young singers by an exceptional pedagogue.”
“Les dernières semaines du professeur Edward Higginbottom à la tête du choeur qu’il a dirigé pendant trente-huit ans, le célèbre New College Choir Oxford. “Higgi” nous dévoile sa pédagogie et son art à un moment émouvant de sa vie. Dans le décor étonnant du prestigieux college, le film décrit les bienfaits d’un enseignement musical de qualité et d’une sensibilisation à la beauté, prodigués à de jeunes choristes par un pédagogue d’exception, dont la méthode a fait école un peu partout dans le monde.”
Réalisé par / Directed by Loïc Porcher & Philippe Reypens
Avec / Featuring New College Choir, Oxford & Ensemble Collegium Novum
Produit / Produced by Loïc Porcher (IVANOE FILM), Philippe Reypens (KING’S GROUP), avec / in association with Charles Delbeuck & Jan Broberg Carter (USA), et le soutien de / with the support of the National Lottery of Belgium & Wallonia-Brussels Federation
Directeur de la photographie / Director of Photography: Léo Lefèvre
Monteur / Editor: Thomas Fournet-Oberlé
Étalonneuse / Colourist: Miléna Trivier (Studio Bruits)
Ingénieurs du son / Sound engineers: Grégory Beaufays & Louis-Philippe Fourez
Ingénieur du son post-prod / Sound editor & mixer: Hugo Fernandez
Voice over: Wilhelm Paul Foster
Assistants de production / Producers’ assistants: Bruno Desclée, Quentin Van Hove, Luis Parmentier
Filmé / Shot with BMPCC and S16 Canon 11,5-138, Sigma 18-35
Étalonnage / Color grading with DaVinci Resolve
https://www.facebook.com/HiggiTheMovie
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8937100/
EDWARD HIGGINBOTTOM aka « HIGGI » :
“My overwhelming sense of the purpose and interest of this film is that it shows how children can engage in making music at the highest level.
For me it was an extraordinary privilege to have been responsible for the development of New College Choir over nearly four decades. I found myself working with very talented youngsters, some of them exceptional.
As an all-round musical education, there is nothing that com- pares with singing in a first-rate children’s choir on a daily basis. I would like the outside world to understand that this is not an abnormal activity for a child, but a solid, purposeful and down-to-earth pursuit in which the children engage very much as themselves. As they become increasingly competent and effective, one might easily forget this, thinking somehow they are not real children. They are real. And so am I.
The institutions that allow this activity to flourish are to be cherished. They provide the environment that makes every- thing possible. We are all, from the youngest boy to the director, elevated by them. We are in a privileged space. In a world uncertain about its values, the value of this education – technical, artistic, affective – needs to be celebrated.
The film Higgi is indeed a celebration of my last few weeks with the Choir. But it is more than that. It is a celebration of New College and of the tradition to which its choristers belong. The film should help to demystify what goes on in these special places. It should reveal the immense talent and commitment of the choristers. And it should help us to understand better the extraordinarily powerful synthesis that is the child’s voice, great music, religious practice and human endeavour.”
– Edward Higginbottom
© 2018 IVANOE FILM / KING’S GROUP
