Meridian Gallery presents the SF Bay Area premiere of the documentary film Intangible Asset Number 82, directed by Australian filmmaker and jazz vocalist Emma Franz and featuring Australian jazz drummer Simon Barker on Friday April 1st and Saturday April 2nd at 7:00 PM.

Director Emma Franz and musician Simon Barker will be in attendance and the screenings will include a Q&A session with both as well as a short solo performance by Simon. There will be a reception following each screening. 

The Friday April 1st screening will feature special guests Korean Consul General Jeong Gwan Lee and Australian Consul General Nigel Warren.

What lengths will people go to for their music? How do they discover the tools of self-expression and develop an individual voice? Where does the calling come from? What does it mean to be a musician in modern times?

Tackling these questions and more, Australian singer Emma Franz documents long-time friend and colleague, Simon Barker - an Australian drummer acclaimed as one of the most persuasive and individual voices in drumming today - as he searches for enigmatic Korean Shaman, Kim Seok-Chul, a man he believes to be one of the world's great improvisers.

After hearing a recording some time ago, Barker made a commitment to find and learn from the shaman. Yet despite his official designation as South Korea's 82nd Intangible Asset, Kim Seok-Chul had remained elusive. After seven years of setbacks and obstacles, and with the shaman in his eighties, Barker's commitment had intensified and he returned to Korea for a seventeenth time. It is at this point that the film commences, his ongoing search creating the narrative against which his personal and musical transformations are revealed. Barker's journey becomes a rite of passage as he is led around the country by traditional musician and educator Kim Dong-Won (also a member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project) and has meaningful encounters with other master musicians who will eventually lead him to the shaman under portentous circumstances.

Franz documented the journey observationally in High Definition, later utilizing the intimacy of a thought diary, various concert footage, interviews, and Super 8 elements to examine a deeper philosophical search for the tools of self-expression. The result is a layered story that provides intimate insight into the life of a creative musician, as he is inspired and transformed, and showcases music as a universal language.

After debuting at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil, where it was a finalist in the audience vote for Best Documentary, Intangible Asset Number 82 has gone on to screen in competition at some of the worlds most respected film and documentary festivals, including AFI SilverDocs and South By South West in the U.S.A., Hot Docs Canada, and others in places as diverse as Argentina, Chile, China, Korea, India, Egypt and Israel.

Most recently, the film won BEST DOCUMENTARY at the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa, Best Sound in Documentary at the 2009 AFI Awards Australia, and was voted runner-up for most popular Documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It was shortlisted for the Cinema Eye Honors in the U.S.A. and premiered in Korea last summer to critical acclaim.

TICKET INFO:

$15 general; $12 students/seniors

Limited seating capacity. Advanced ticket purchase recommended.

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER!
Purchase a ticket to this event AND the TRIMPIN: THE SOUND OF INVENTION film screening at the Delancey Street Screeningh Room on April 10th for a discounted price of $25 for both screenings. See the Brown Paper Tickets event page to purchase.

Co-sponsored by: the Korean Consulate of SF, the Australian Consulate of SF, the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, AKASF

Special thanks to Carl Landauer, Kino Lorber, Holly Choon Hyang Bachman

View the trailer below.

And check out this solo performance by Simon Barker!