Followed by a pre-recorded conversation on-screen with director Matthew Heineman
Early in 2022, multi-instrumentalist Jon Batiste finds himself the most celebrated artist of the year with eleven Grammy nominations including Album of the Year. In the midst of that triumph, Jon is immersed in his most ambitious challenge yet: composing “American Symphony”, an original symphony that thrillingly reimagines the classical traditions of the form, bringing together an expansive and inclusive diaspora of music for a performance at storied Carnegie Hall. This extraordinary trajectory is upended, however, when Batiste’s life partner – best-selling author Suleika Jaouad – learns that her long dormant cancer has returned. In the moving and deeply intimate AMERICAN SYMPHONY, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning director Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land, The First Wave, Retrograde) delivers a portrait of two inimitable artists at a crossroad and a profound meditation on art, love, and the creative process.
“A home run from Director Matthew Heineman.” – Clayton Davis, Variety
“A celebration of art, resilience and the mutability of the human spirit… JOYFUL AND EMOTIONALLY RESONANT.” – Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
“ONE OF THE BEST DOCUMENTARIES OF THE YEAR… An astonishingly honest love story about what it truly means to stand by someone in sickness and in health.” – Katie Walsh, Tribune News
“CAPTIVATING. MOVING AND MUSICAL, This is a striking portrait of courage and creativity.” – John Nugent, EMPIRE
Matthew Heineman is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and the founder of production company Our Time Projects, Inc. His awards include three Primetime Emmys for the 2015 documentary, Cartel Land. The Sundance Film Festival called Heineman “one of the most talented and exciting documentary filmmakers working today”
