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About the Film


USA / 89minutes / Color / HD / English / 2011

In HOW TO GROW A BAND, 26-year-old Chris Thile is at a crossroads. His marriage has ended, and his platinum-selling band, Nickel Creek, has gone on “indefinite hiatus.” But Thile, a perfectionist prodigy who’s defied expectations since he learned the mandolin at age five, has a plan. Step 1: Write a 45-minute, four-movement elegy to your failed marriage to be played by a bluegrass quintet. Step 2: Recruit the only musicians around talented enough to play it and crazy enough to sign on. Step 3: Make a record, launch an international tour and brace yourself.

Filmed with uncommon access, HOW TO GROW A BAND provides a rare look at the start of one of America’s most promising young bands and explores the tensions that test young artists.

 

Directed & Photographed by

Mark Meatto

 

Produced by

Michael Bohlmann

& Mark Meatto

 

Edited by

Mark Meatto

& Purcell Carson

 

Executive Producers

Dan Algrant

Bert Keely

 

Associate Producers

Ruth Oxenberg

Tim Farrel

 

Production Sound

Mark Meatto

& David Sinko

 

Additional Camera, The Living Room

Hope Hall

Ben Niles

 

Additional Camera, Lincoln Center

Ben Wolf, DP

Ben Niles

Nara Garber

Ian Dudley

George Lyon

 

Sound Editing

Gordon Brislawn, Bad Habit Recordings

David Sinko

 

Sound Mix

Richard Bock

 

Color Correct

Tim Maffia, Modern Digital