Larry Weinstein

Directing

Larry Weinstein

Born 1956-01-01 · Toronto, Canada

Larry Weinstein is one of Canada's most prolific and accomplished documentary filmmakers, and has been honoured with retrospectives around the world and broadcasts in more than 40 countries. The majority of his 30 award-winning films centre on music and the creative process while his other subjects range from the horrors of war to the pleasures of football. His films consistently push the boundaries of conventional documentary storytelling by employing tools from fiction films, dramatic reconstructions, historical cinematic stylings, and impressionistic visuals. In 2007, Larry received the Cannes MipDoc International Trailblazer Award with the citation, "Weinstein is a deserving awardee for his creativity, originality, and risk-taking, and for pushing the genre of documentary forward."

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Blindness poster
6.5

When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.

Blindness

2008

Gunless poster
6.4

American gunslinger Sean Rafferty—aka The Montana Kid—is unable to find someone to duel in a Canadian town where no one understands the brutal code of the American Wild West.

Gunless

2010

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas poster
8.0

An offbeat, irreverent musical documentary that tells the story of a group of Jewish songwriters, including Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker and Johnny Marks, who wrote the soundtrack to Christianity’s most musical holiday. It’s an amazing tale of immigrant outsiders who became irreplaceable players in pop culture’s mainstream – a generation of songwriters who found in Christmas the perfect holiday in which to imagine a better world, and for at least one day a year, make us believe.

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas

2017

No artwork available
NR

MOZARTBALLS is a light-hearted tribute to Mozart and explores what he symbolizes in our age. The film features curious characters that embody the spirit of Mozart - from a retired Swiss school teacher obsessed by all things Mozart, to an ex-pop musician in Oklahoma who believes that her body is actually inhabited by Mozart's spirit; from a computer genius in California whose software has created a new Mozart cello concerto, to an Austrian astronaut who carried a score of "The Magic Flute" and delicious chocolate 'Mozartkugeln' into space. These are the individuals who inhabit MOZARTBALLS and through their strange and, at times, very moving stories, the viewer will be exposed to the liveliness, the magic and the obsession that Moart has become to so many music fans today. For them, Mozart defines the very essence of beauty in music, but he has become something more than that. Mozart is an icon, and for many he is still very much alive!

Mozartballs

2006

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould poster
7.0

A collection of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the life, work, and character of the acclaimed Canadian classical pianist.

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

1993

Toothpaste poster
8.5

A humourous "domestic opera" about an upwardly mobile couple in their mid thirties who can't resolve an argument about the cap being left off the toothpaste.

Toothpaste

2002

Ravel poster
9.0

Brilliant portrait of the composer's elusive life with a huge array of his greatest works. "This sumptuously beautiful documentary... combines rare film of the composer, interviews with people who knew him, and spectacular performances of his music... Rich production values, exhaustive examination, adoring in its representations of his work." - The Montreal Gazette

Ravel

1987

Ravel poster
9.0

Brilliant portrait of the composer's elusive life with a huge array of his greatest works. "This sumptuously beautiful documentary... combines rare film of the composer, interviews with people who knew him, and spectacular performances of his music... Rich production values, exhaustive examination, adoring in its representations of his work." - The Montreal Gazette

Ravel

1987

Ravel poster
9.0

Brilliant portrait of the composer's elusive life with a huge array of his greatest works. "This sumptuously beautiful documentary... combines rare film of the composer, interviews with people who knew him, and spectacular performances of his music... Rich production values, exhaustive examination, adoring in its representations of his work." - The Montreal Gazette

Ravel

1987

Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star poster
7.5

Leslie Caron, beloved star of Gigi and An American in Paris, is one of the last witnesses to the golden age of American cinema of the mid 20th century. Discovered by Gene Kelly when she was a teenager, she became one of the great talents in the worlds of film, dance, and theatre, still performing to this day! The film reveals a story told through the prism of a living legend who reveals secrets of her work and life- a world of contradictions, ambitions and dreams, lived by one of its most luminous personalities.

Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star

2016

No artwork available
8.0

Filmmaker Larry Weinstein traces the life and work of composer Hanns Eisler, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.

Solidarity Song: The Hanns Eisler Story

1995

Beethoven's Hair poster
7.5

Beethoven's Hair traces the unlikely journey of a lock of hair cut from Beethoven's corpse and unravels the mystery of his tortured life and death. The film begins in modern times, when a pair of Beethoven enthusiasts purchase the hair at a Sotheby's auction. The story then looks at the lock's previous owners and culminates in the science that reveals Beethoven's "medical secret". Set to a lush score of some of Beethoven's most glorious music, the film explores the world of forensic testing in sharp relief against the romance of 19th-century Vienna and the horrors of 20th-century Nazi Germany.

Beethoven's Hair

2005

The Impossible Swim poster
NR

In July 2018, Maya Farrell attempted her second crossing of Lake Ontario, following in the footsteps of great Canadian female marathon swimmers Marilyn Bell and Vicki Keith. Featuring interviews with Bell and Keith, 'The Impossible Swim' explores the legacy, what it takes physically and mentally to be a marathon athlete, and the new rising regime.

The Impossible Swim

2019

The Impossible Swim poster
NR

In July 2018, Maya Farrell attempted her second crossing of Lake Ontario, following in the footsteps of great Canadian female marathon swimmers Marilyn Bell and Vicki Keith. Featuring interviews with Bell and Keith, 'The Impossible Swim' explores the legacy, what it takes physically and mentally to be a marathon athlete, and the new rising regime.

The Impossible Swim

2019

Burnt Toast poster
8.0

An irreverent and hilarious spin on opera, domestic drama and the hallowed institutions of love and marriage, Burnt Toast is an hour-long television opera comprised of a series of eight comic operas each depicting a different stage of romantic love. The relationships depicted run the gamut: from the passionate to the fantasized, the bored and of course the dead relationship, each as recognizable as the last.

Burnt Toast

2005

Burnt Toast poster
8.0

An irreverent and hilarious spin on opera, domestic drama and the hallowed institutions of love and marriage, Burnt Toast is an hour-long television opera comprised of a series of eight comic operas each depicting a different stage of romantic love. The relationships depicted run the gamut: from the passionate to the fantasized, the bored and of course the dead relationship, each as recognizable as the last.

Burnt Toast

2005

Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity poster
6.0

Can a work of art remain relevant 200 years after its creation? Ludwig van Beethoven’s last completed symphony proves it’s possible.

Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity

2024

Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity poster
6.0

Can a work of art remain relevant 200 years after its creation? Ludwig van Beethoven’s last completed symphony proves it’s possible.

Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity

2024

Zivjeli! To Life! poster
NR

'Zivjeli - To Life' is a film documenting a tour to Yugoslavia by a group of Canada's most distinguished dancers and musicians including the Soundstage Canada '81 performances at the Zagreb Biennale. Produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, TVOntario, and the National Film Board of Canada.

Zivjeli! To Life!

1982

No artwork available
NR

A full length original tragic-comic opera with sends up a great political leader whose downfall was his colossal ego.

Mulroney: The Opera

2011

Our Man in Tehran poster
6.6

Chronicles the true story behind Argo’s Hollywood embellishments by looking at the efforts of the venerable Ken Taylor, Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, who personally sheltered six American diplomats in the operation that became known as "the Canadian Caper."

Our Man in Tehran

2013

Clara's Big Ride poster
NR

Chronicles an unprecedented 11,000 km bicycle journey across Canada by Olympic medalist and Bell Let’s Talk spokesperson Clara Hughes.

Clara's Big Ride

2015

Andrea Bocelli: Tuscan Skies poster
NR

Tuscan Skies (Cieli di Toscana) is the third DVD released by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. It contains music videos filmed in Tuscany of Bocelli singing 10 songs from his 2001 album, Cieli di Toscana, as a tribute to his home town and family

Andrea Bocelli: Tuscan Skies

No artwork available
7.0

RAVEL'S BRAIN is a musical/visual tone poem at once tragic and celebratory in its mood. The film portrays the inner being of a great artist who was rendered incapable of communicating with the outside world. For the last five years of his life, Maurice Ravel was the victim of his own lamentable circumstances. Afflicted by aphasia and apraxia, his brain produced music, but he was unable to write it down.

Ravel's Brain

2001