In 2016, the League of American Orchestras conducted a study that revealed a shocking statistic: only 1.8% of the professional orchestra workforce in the US is Black. From an old church rec room in the inner city of Los Angeles, former lawyer-turned-conductor Chuck Dickerson is on a mission to change that.
Through ICYOLA - The Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, — the largest majority Black orchestra in the country — Chuck is creating life-changing opportunities for his community that did not previously exist.
The Orchestra Chuck Built is a loving portrait of a tireless mentor and a testament to the transformative power of music.
The Filmmakers
DIRECTOR / EDITOR: CHRISTOPHER STOUDT
Originally from New Orleans, Christopher Stoudt is an award-winning filmmaker based in Los Angeles. In 2018 he was nominated for a Los Angeles Emmy for Outstanding Director for his full-length documentary, Lost LA: Descanso Gardens. His short The Black Rebel was a Vimeo Staff Pick in 2019. His latest documentary short, Camp ALEC, was produced by The Kennedy/Marshall Company and acquired by Disney+ for the forthcoming revival of their series “People and Places.” His film Four Seasons Total Documentary, which profiles the infamous Philadelphia press conference, premiered on MSNBC and was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award. He is currently in development on his first feature with Vox Media.
PRODUCER: RYAN SUFFERN
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Ryan Suffern is a Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated director and producer, who previously headed up the documentary division, which he co-founded, for The Kennedy/Marshall Company. Over the past decade, he has helped to produce over 25 documentaries, ranging in topics from music to sports to social causes, but always with an emphasis on the human interest at the heart of the story. As a director, Suffern helmed the award-winning Finding Oscar, which Steven Spielberg executive produced. Suffern most recently co-directed and produced with Frank Marshall Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story for Sony Pictures Classics, and he directed a docuseries on A&M Records for EPIX, along with A Final Cut For Orson: 40 Years in the Making for Netflix, documenting the finishing of Orson Welles’s The Other Side of The Wind. Suffern has produced numerous other documentary titles, including The China Hustle, Satan & Adam, The Man vs. The Machine and the docuseries Laurel Canyon: A Place in Time. He served as an executive producer on The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash, a YouTube Originals release, and HBO’s The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, as well as the Paul McCartney / Rick Rubin docuseries for Hulu, McCartney 3,2,1.
PRODUCER: MARYANN GARGER
Maryann Garger is an Academy Award winning Film Producer who began her career at Disney on "Pocahontas" before segueing to a 20 year tenure at DreamWorks. There she was among the first employees to build DreamWorks' animation division under Jeffrey Katzenberg. She rose through the ranks from Production Manager to Producer on such memorable films as "Madagascar", "Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron" and "Prince of Egypt" and produced the Aardman Animation/DreamWorks movie "Flushed Away" and "B.O.O. The Bureau of Otherworldly Operations". Her other producing credits outside of DreamWorks include "Astro Boy" (Summit Entertainment), "The Lego Ninjago Movie" (Warner Bros.) and she executive produced the upcoming feature "The Tiger's Apprentice" (Paramount). On the TV side, she was the Supervising Producer of the satirical DreamWorks & Fox prime time series "Neighbors from Hell" which aired on TBS. She has produced a number of shorts throughout the years at the various studios. Her short , "If Anything Happens I Love you" (on Netflix) - made around her dining room table - won the 2020 Academy Award for Best Animated Short. It is the first Academy Award won for Netflix Animation. She is a member of the Academy Motion Pictures Of Arts and Sciences, ASIFA, SAG and PGA.
PRODUCER: BOB LOGAN
Bob Logan is an Emmy winning director. He is currently writing and directing the feature animated film Groove, produced by and starring Jamie Foxx. He recently directed an episode of the Netflix Original Series City of Ghosts for which he won the Emmy. Prior to this, Bob was a writer on the DreamWorks animated feature The Croods 2 and was also a writer and a director on The Lego Ninjago Movie, starring Jackie Chan for Warner Brothers Studios. Bob also wrote for Reel FX Animation on the feature film adaptation of the Dark Horse Comic The Beasts of Burden, along with his own original feature project Giant Girl. Bob is a veteran story artist and designer who’s worked on several feature films, adult animated sitcoms and children’s television shows for DreamWorks, Fox, Sony Pictures Animation and Disney Television. Some of Bob’s credits include Puss in Boots (2011 Oscar nominated film), Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, Megamind, Madagascar, Open Season,The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Astro Boy and The Simpsons. He also was an Assistant Director on Fox’s prime-time animated series The Critic. On the publishing side, Bob has authored and illustrated four children’s books with Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, two of which have sold worldwide in many countries and languages. Bob has been nominated twice for an Annie Award for—Storyboarding in a FeatureProduction Puss In Boots (2012 Nominee) and Storyboarding in a TV Production Timon & Pumbaa (1997 Nominee). Bob is also a fine artist being currently exhibited in various museums.
PRODUCER: AINS "BRAINZ" PRASAD
Ainsley Brainz Prasad is a multi-platinum music producer who began his career writing and producing songs alongside Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. He has since written and produced music for artists such as Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, PINK, Miley Cyrus, French Montana, Pit Bull and many more. He has won an American Music Award for soundtrack of the year (Save the Last Dance). Prasad and his partners at HMG acquired a publishing catalogue that won 5 Grammy Awards. He has contributed score composing on films such as Django Unchained,The Amazing Spider-Man and Hardball. Prasad has also had the opportunity to work on several television projects. Most recently, he was the composer for Jamie Foxx’s latest comedy on Netflix,“Dad Stop Embarrassing Me.”
Director's Statement
On our first day of shooting, there was a moment in an interview that has stuck with me ever since. Hannah Innis, an eighteen-year-old cellist in the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA), confessed with a sigh: “Growing up, there wasn’t really any Black cellists for me to look up to.” Here was a girl who, when she began began learning this rather intimidating instrument, had no one else like her that she could relate to. “But then I found ICYOLA,” she said with a smile.
At its heart, The Orchestra Chuck Built is a film about the importance of having our own life experiences reflected back to us. For the Black inner-city youth of this amazing orchestra, most had never had that privilege… until they, too, found ICYOLA.
The League of American Orchestras published an alarming study in 2016 that only 1.8% of professional orchestra performers in the United States are Black. This is the hard truth of our film. As our titular subject Chuck Dickerson lays out in our opening scene, “Most youth orchestras operate in communities that are all white. So if you look at those youth orchestras, all the kids are all white.” The goal of The Orchestra Chuck Built is to place a giant spotlight on this infuriating inequality. Our hope is that by highlighting this disparity, we can start a dialogue around fixing it.
The Orchestra Chuck Built Credits
Director
Producers
Co-Producer
Executive Producers
Director of Photography
Composer
Editor
Additional Cinematography
1st Assistant Camera
Additional Camera
Sound Mixers
Sound Design & Mix
Visual EFX Editor
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Production Assistants
DIT
Archival
Color Services
Digital Intermediate Colorist
Color Assistant
Apache Head of Production
Apache Executive Producer
Christopher Stoudt
Ryan Suffern
Maryann Garger
Bob Logan
Ains "Brainz" Prasad
Christopher Stoudt
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Laurie Klugman
Ryan Harris
Michael Becker
Lidia Nikonova
Ains "Brainz" Prasad
Christopher Stoudt
Ruby Miller Paiva
Sam Painter
Yaroslav Golovkin
Minami Moriyama
Ethan Hanielle
Nick Noble
Zack Wright
Dylan Martin
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Sophia Center
Soheyl Hamzavi
Saul Sanchez
Fabricio Di Santo
Lost Footage Found
Harry Adams Archive
Tom & Ethel Bradley Center
Apache Digital
Quinn Alvarez
Kevin Sian
Stephanie Schaldenbrand
Larue Anderson
FEATURING
Chuck Dickerson
Hannah Innis
Kevon Fortune
Kenichi Fortune
Janiyah Fortune
Malik Taylor
Isaac Green
Amber Daughtry
SPECIAL THANKS
The ICYOLA Family
Dwayne Burrell
Film Independent
Nick Fletcher
Knox Presbyterian
Gregory L. Moore
Akilah Morgan
Enzo Paonessa
Chris Tufts
Mountainfilm Commitment Grant
Rolling Hills Methodist Church
Rachel Elizabeth Seed
Kathy Stoudt
Teddy Stoudt
Dr. Louis Toppin
Bob Watt
Treniece Ward
Kristen Seller
Festivals & Awards (so far...)
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MountainFilm Festival
Indie Short Fest
Cine Paris
Lift Off Filmmaker Series
Afrikana Independent Film Festival
Cordillera Film Festival
Golden Short Film Festival
The Impact Docs Awards
ShortWay International Film Festival
The Vermont Film Festival
DC Black Film Festival
Chagrin Documentary Film Festival
Bend Film Festival
Newburyport Film Festival
Sidewalk Film Festival
Silicon Beach Film Festival
Lonely Seal Film Festival
Global Peace Film Festival
Montreal Black Film Festival
Flicker's Rhode Island Film Festival
Catalina Film Festival
Mountain Shadow Film Festival
Toronto Doc. & Short Film Festival
Cindependent Film Festival
Fresh Coast Film Festival
Black Film Festival
Charlotte Film Festival
Social Change Int'l Film Festival
Oregon Documentary Film Festival
Ojai Film Festival
Calgary Int'l Film Festival
Washington West Int'l Film Festival
Silverfest
Audience Award Winner, Best Short Documentary
Award Winner
Award Winner
Official Selection
Official Selection
Finalist
Finalist
Award of Excellence
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Finalist
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