Beethoven and Tiananmen

UPDATE:  New article on this angle in our film at WQXR site, and interview with direction.

For 25th anniversary today of the massacre of students in China: I'm proud to say that one of the five major segments in our film Following the Ninth features footage of the protest and interview with student leader Feng Congde.  He tells how the students rigged up a P.A. system and played Beethoven's Ninth over and over, first to block out transmissions and announcements by the Chinese government, then to keep up their spirits and inspire them during the long days and then the fears on the eve of the massacre.   I don't have a full clip of that section but our original lengthy trailer includes about a minute of that segment.  And there's a full chapter in our book.