PODCAST: FRED’s Chiara Nicoletti interviews Cristina Pato and Kinan Azmeh, musicians and protagonists of The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble from the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture of the film.

Cristina Pato from Spain and Kinan Azmeh from Syria are among the protagonists of the new documentary by Oscar winning director Morgan Neville, titled The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. The film has been presented at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, in the Berlinale Special section, and follows the story of the renowned international music collective created by legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma on tour.

Pato and Azmeh discuss the role of music and arts in society, and tell us their first impressions upon watching the film, and therefore their life stories, through the third eye perspective of Neville’s camera.

THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS: YO-YO MA AND THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE: From the director of the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom and the critically acclaimed Best of Enemies, the new film The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble tells the extraordinary story of the renowned international musical collective created by legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The feature-length documentary follows this group of diverse instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they explore the power of music to preserve tradition, shape cultural evolution and inspire hope.