Prof. Scot Hanna-Weir's New Score Featured in America, You’re Beautiful Film
Baltimore/DC-based chamber ensemble Bridge premiered America, You’re Beautiful, a short film conceived in response to the Black Lives Matter movement made in collaboration with The Poet Life and poet Nina Brewton. The film was released on Thursday, February 25th and features a new score by Scot Hanna-Weir (Music), written for and performed by Bridge, and a poem, written and performed by Virginia-based poet Nina Brewton. Baltimore-based cinematographer Tyler W. Davis, fresh off a Sundance Festival debut (Baltimore’s own Strawberry Mansion), captured the film on location at the National Mall and Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C. this winter.
In June of 2020, during the weeks of national outcry and mourning following the death of George Floyd, Bridge reached out to a previous collaborator, Christoph Jenkins (The Poet Life), to brainstorm a project that would respectfully respond to this tragedy, contribute meaningfully to the movement to protect black lives, and help to amplify the voice of a black artist.
Bridge, courtesy of The Poet Life, commissioned poet Nina Brewton to write a poem in response to these events. Scot Hanna-Weir composed a wordless soundtrack designed solely to support Brewton’s poetry, which Bridge recorded remotely from home studios. The poem and underlying musical score both draw inspiration from “America, the Beautiful”.