I am not sure how/when/where this has been shown until now (TV?
festivals?), but the "TP" is going to the West Coast in December.
Rather than editing the information on a dialup line from Berlin, I am
just forwarding it with the proviso that all adjectives belong to the
releasing company...:)

   Zeitgeist Films presents the release of the music documentary THE
   TURANDOT PROJECT, which will be shown December 21 - 27, 2001
   exclusively at Landmark's Lumiere Theatre in San Francisco.

   THE TURANDOT PROJECT chronicles the creation of the extraordinary
   production of Puccini's opera, "Turandot," beginning in Florence,
   Italy, in 1997, and culminating the next year in spectacular outdoor
   performances in the Forbidden City of Beijing.  The award-winning
   Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou (Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern,
   Ju Dou, Not One Less) directed both productions, with conductor and
   musical director Zubin Mehta.  Puccini's 1926 opera, the story of
   the vengeful princess Turandot, has typically been presented in a
   more Western style.  Maestro Mehta wanted a more "authentic," more
   Chinese version of the opera, which led to the collaboration with
   Yimou.

   Acclaimed documentarian Allan Miller found himself filming an historic
   event when Zhang and Mehta were able to obtain government permission
   to bring their "Turandot" to the ancient Beijing's Forbidden City.
   THE TURANDOT PROJECT offers privileged access to the back-stage drama
   that surrounded the mounting of Turandot and the passionate
   personalities that made the production such a triumph.

   Allan Miller is recognized as the foremost music documentarian, having
   won Academy Awards for Bolero and From Mao To Mozart -Isaac Stern in
   China.  Also among his 35 documentaries is the Academy Award-nominated
   Small Wonders, a film about violin teacher Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras,
   which inspired the Meryl Streep film Music of the Heart.  In spite
   of his enormous experience, Mr.  Miller says that filming Yimou and
   Mehta's "Turandot" was the culmination of all his work on music.

   The film's running time is 84 minutes; it is not rated.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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