Today marks the release of Crestone, the debut feature written and directed by Marnie Ellen Hertzler in partnership with Memory, and is out now on digital platforms. Hertzler enlisted the pioneering experimental act Animal Collective to compose the film’s score, a first for the band, which is also out digitally today. Crestone (Original Score) will also be available physically on April 23, preorder it HERE.
To coincide with the release of the film and score, Animal Collective have shared a video for track “Sand That Moves,” featuring footage from the film.
Watch “Sand That Moves” HERE
Watch Crestone HERE
Marnie Ellen Hertzler on the score: "The town of Crestone is not only the location of the film, but also an important character. I wanted a score that was able to highlight and elevate its importance. There are no musicians I'd rather work with more on this film, and no band that can sonically describe a landscape better than Animal Collective can.”
Set in the desert of Crestone, CO over the course of eight days, Crestone follows a group of SoundCloud rappers who live in solitude, growing weed and making music for the internet. When an old friend arrives to make a movie, reality and fiction begin to blur.
Animal Collective previously created the audiovisual album Tangerine Reef (2018) in collaboration with Coral Morphologic, released Transverse Temporal Gyrus (2012) as the music for an installation at the Guggenheim Museum alongside the visual work of artist Danny Perez, and released the visual album ODDSAC (2010), also in collaboration with Danny Perez. Crestone (Original Score) is the band's first film score.
Watch the trailer for Crestone HERE
Crestone | Official Red Band Trailer - YouTube
Crestone (Original Score) tracklisting:
01. Dome Yard
02. Eye in the Sky
03. Boxing & Breathing
04. Scavengers
05. Wake Up Ryan
06. Benz’s Dream
07. Sloppy's Dream
08. Sand That Moves
09. Over the Sangre de Christo
10. EBS
11. Sad Boy Sleeping
12. Ramshack
13. Smoke & Broken Mirror
14. Zapata Falls
15. Oh California
16. Cotton Candy Sky (Dead God Theme)
About Utopia Media
Founded in 2018, Utopia Media is a film distribution and sales company with a ‘filmmaker first’ approach co-founded by filmmaker Robert Schwartzman. Recent Utopia titles include official Sundance 2020 selection Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets; celebrated fashion documentary House of Cardin; Academy Award Winner Errol Morris’ American Dharma; Annabelle Attanasio’s Cannes breakout, Mickey and the Bear, starring Camila Morrone; Tim Heidecker’s Adult Swim comedy, Mister America; Liam Firmager’s portrait of trailblazing singer-songwriter Suzi Quatro in Suzi Q; and, the 4K restoration of Hal Needham’s 1986 cult-classic, RAD, among others. Upcoming releases include the TIFF breakout, Shiva Baby, the SXSW 2020 comedy Golden Arm and documentary on the improv legend Del Close: For Madmen Only; and more.
About Memory
MEMORY is an independent artist-driven motion picture studio founded by Sebastian Pardo and Riel Roch-Decter at the start of 2014. Together they have produced and distributed award-winning fiction and non- fiction films that have premiered in renowned international festivals such as Venice, Berlinale, Sundance, IFFRotterdam, Locarno, NYFF, TIFF, SXSW, True / False, and AFI Fes as well as played at prestigious institutions such as MoMA PS1, Tate Modern, MOCA, Gavin Brown Enterprise, ICA Miami, Lincoln Center, and the Harvard Film Archive. MEMORY has collaborated with multi-hyphenate filmmakers and artists to bring their debut films to fruition, such as: Celia Rowlson-Hall’s MA, Carson Mell’s ANOTHER EVIL, Dean Fleischer-Camp’s FRAUD, Theo Anthony’s RAT FILM, Leilah Weinraub’s SHAKEDOWN, Marnie Ellen Hertzler’s CRESTONE and Zia Anger’s MY FIRST FILM project. In 2016 MEMORY was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, and in 2017 their film RAT FILM, by Theo Anthony, was nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Documentary Feature. Most recently the founders were awarded the 2020 Cinereach Producing Award for their work. Their latest production ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE by Theo Anthony is having its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival later this month. More info: www.memory.is
About Animal Collective
With an expansive catalog of releases spanning several decades, Animal Collective are one of the 21st century's definitive experimental bands—shaping the sounds of both underground and mainstream music permanently, while always following their own creative arrow. The product of a lifelong friendship that spans much of their childhood, the Baltimore-hailing quartet of Dave "Avey Tare" Portner, Josh "Deakin" Dibb, Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox, and Brian "Geologist" Weitz have collaboratively made music together in various combinations since high school, officially forming Animal Collective in New York City in 2000. The original score to Crestone is the first full length release to feature the duo of Deakin and Geologist - a culmination of the time the two spent making music together across 2017-2019. During that period they performed multiple concerts at Baltimore’s Parkway Theater, including a live ensemble re-score to Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 animated feature “The Adventures of Prince Achmed”, and an improvised set to visuals following a screening of Tyler Hubby’s “Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present”. Those two experiences in particular led to their working together on Crestone.