Local nominated for Academy Award
Hollywood’s Oscar has his eye on a Santa Monica documentary filmmaker.
Freida Lee Mock has been nominated for her fifth Academy Award.
If she wins Sunday it will be her second time taking home the film industry’s highest honor.
Her film, Sing!, has been nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject — which honors documentaries under 45 minutes long.
Mock and her husband Terry Sanders — who live and work in Santa Monica — own and operate the American Film Foundation, which has made more than a dozen films and won three Academy Awards and an Emmy.
The couple’s daughter, Jessica Sanders, was the film’s producer and could win an Oscar for her work on the film as well.
Sing! begins with children auditioning for the Los Angeles County Youth Choir and tracks several students as their talents evolve through hard work and training from dedicated teachers to become part of one of the most highly regarded musical youth ensembles in the country.
The film also shows how the community-based choir struggles with the financial weight of running its organization as public funds for the arts continually shrink.
“It makes you think about what we’re losing when you see what these children can do,” said Mock, as she frantically raced around town Friday to find a dress and jewelry for the awards ceremony.
“We thought they were symbolic of what is going on across the country — all these community-based organizations trying make up for a public policy that defunds the arts,” she said. “These same efforts are being made in communities across the country.”
The film was made with a $200,000 grant from the Bing Foundation and it was a co-production between the American Film Foundation and KCET, the Los Angeles-based PBS station.
Helen Bing, of the Bing Foundation, came up with the idea for the documentary and hired Mock to write and direct the film. Bing has for years financially supported children’s arts programs.
“It was really her inspiration and her idea,” Mock said. “And I am grateful she asked me to work on the film.”
One of the most powerful scenes is when choir children are chosen to sing at the Los Angeles Opera’s production of La Boheme. In what appears to be a behind-the-scenes moment, Maestro Placido Domingo, walks in and directs the choir’s rehearsal.
However, as it turns out, the scene was painstakingly planned out in advance, and it almost didn’t happen at all.
“That was my favorite scene,” said Mock. “We hoped it would happen. The children were background choir singers in La Boheme, and he was conducting that particular day.”
The filmmakers had written in advance to everyone involved in the opera’s production about their film, asking to capture the famous opera singer rehearsing with the children.
A morning and afternoon rehearsal were scheduled, but as the curtain time grew near it appeared the moment was-n’t going to happen.
However at the last minute, Domingo delayed the curtain time so he would have a chance to run through the show with the children.
“It was incredible for the kids. He must have stayed with them for a good 20 minutes,” said Mock. “Later, he told the group ‘You’re the best children’s chorus I’ve ever heard.’”
For one of the film industry’s most regarded documentary directors, the complement may be returned by the Academy on Sunday.
“Well,” Mock said, “we’ve got our fingers crossed.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 23, 2003. Read the original PDF.