The Ballad of Fred Hersch is an intimate portrait of one of today’s foremost jazz pianists. With more than 30 albums and 10 Grammy nominations, Hersch is internationally revered in jazz circles as a master improviser. A maverick in music and in life, he was the first jazz musician to come out as gay and HIV-positive in the early 1990s, and he miraculously survived a two-month coma in 2008. Both exacting and full of love, our unfettered cameras capture Hersch’s creative process as he does double duty as a workaday jazzman and first-time theater producer—turning his tragedies into triumphal art.
Trailer
Available on Video On Demand.
Watch
Online Streaming
THE BALLAD OF FRED HERSCH is available for HOME USE ONLY via Video On Demand (VOD) on Vimeo.
Broadcasting
RSI, Swiss Italian TV
Starting March 10, 2019
Upcoming Screenings
August 22, 2019 – Charlie Parker Festival, followed by Q&A with filmmakers
Maysles Documentary Center, New York, NY – 7pm
April 16, 2020 – Library of Congress, Washington, DC (Details to follow)
Host a Screening
THE BALLAD OF FRED HERSCH is available for screenings at festivals, community centers, schools, conferences and organizations. Contact us to host a screening.
Check Fred’s memoir GOOD THINGS HAPPEN SLOWLY. Order your copy of the book now.
Press
“This is one not to miss.” – INDY News
“The Ballad of Fred Hersch operates with much the same logic as a jazz session, […] any audience can appreciate its simple honesty, bravery, and beauty” – Unseen Films
SELECT PRESS
10 Essential Arts and Culture Documentaries at DOCNYC | Stage Buddy | November 14, 2016
DOC NYC 2016 Women Directors: Meet Carrie Lozano and Charlotte Lagarde |Women and Hollywood | November 11, 2016
Nathanael Hood on The Ballad of Fred Hersch | Unseen Films | November 9, 2016
Four Full Frame Films Highlight the Heteronormative Pressures LGBTQ People Face Around the World | INDY News | April 6, 2016
Video Q&A after premiere “The Ballad of Fred Hersch” at DOC NYC 2016 with Fred Hersch, Charlotte Lagarde and Carrie Lozano