-- Premieres on KQED Public Television 9 on Sunday, May 22 at 6pm --
May 3, 2011 San Francisco, CA --- It drove like a truck, but they wanted it to play like a dream. The inspirational tale of a piano reborn will kick off a new season of independent documentaries about life in the Golden State when KQED’s documentary film series Truly CA returns this May. Academy Award-winning filmmaker John Korty’s Miracle in a Box, narrated by acclaimed actor John Lithgow, airs on Sunday, May 22 at 6pm on KQED 9.
Acclaimed as “completely captivating” (Pacific Sun) and “a can’t-miss” (San Francisco Magazine), Miracle in a Box looks at the magic possible in a classic instrument. The film was named Best Documentary at the 2010 California Independent Film Festival and won the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film at the 2010 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. It was an official selection for the 2009 Mill Valley Film Festival, 2009 Port Townsend Film Festival, 2010 Sundial Film Festival, and 2010 Mendocino Film Festival.
The documentary looks at what one person gave away, what another person won, and how a small group of local artisans gave new life to something old. When a 1927 Steinway grand piano in need of serious restoration was bequeathed to the music department at the University of California at Berkeley, it was done so with the stipulation that it be given to “a worthy student of piano.” To find that most “worthy student,” the department created the First Berkeley Piano Competition.
Miracle in a Box highlights the restoration work done for the piano at the Alameda workshop of Callahan Piano Service. Performances from the Berkeley competition provide the soundtrack for the film while the Callahan Piano artisans take apart and rebuild the instrument, hewing to standards as precise as a tenth of a gram. The close relationships and easy humor of the crew show through as they work on the 6,000 parts of a piano using tools ranging from chisels and hammers to tiny glass beads.
The winner of the competition is revealed with a debut on their Steinway grand at a party given in the workshop. The celebration is not only about talent, but also about the dedication of craftspeople who give good performers a means to play better than they had imagined possible.