The moment we had all been working towards happened last night as we premiered The Cooper: Crafting the Soul of the Cask at Jacob Burns Film Center! Our color coordination (wine red, of course) was on point. We sat in the audience and watched our documentary on the big screen in a room of 200 people. Friends, family, alumni, professors, faculty, and film lovers all came out to support and we couldn’t be more proud. It has been a long journey of meticulous pre-production research and planning, a run and gun week production in Spain, and a three-week post-production mania. But we did it!

The night began with a mix-and-mingle event in the Take 3 Wine Bar & Cafe upstairs where we had samples of wine from the Andalusia region where we shot our documentary for guests to taste. I know we all enjoyed networking with alumni (many of whom worked on past documentaries with this program) and faculty who came out to watch our work. It is always nice to commiserate and celebrate with others who have worked on these intense and rewarding productions at Pace. As the mingling died down, we handed out keychains made out of wood, like the barrels shown in the documentary, and sporting the Pace Docs logo to guests as they entered the theater. Rest assured, my keychain is already on my car keys as I write this!

Once everyone was inside the theater we were lucky enough to have Marvin Krislov, Pace President, and Tresmaine Grimes, Dean of Dyson College, introduce Dr. Luskay and our documentary to the audience. Then it was the moment we had all been waiting for. Lights dimmed. The intro began to play. And we held our breath as we watched the final product of all of our hard work displayed on the big screen. After the credits rolled and applause rang out, we walked across the stage for a Q&A with the audience. The story of how we got the great honor of incorporating Primitivo’s musical compositions in our film was met with reverence from the crowd. The recollection of trials and mishaps that occurred during our production was met with laughter. Finally, we all got a chance to answer a question from Pace faculty member Corinna Sager: what did we learn through our class experience this semester? The short answer: a lot. Whether it be how to communicate with team members, work audio and visual equipment, or work on a real-life production crew, we all walked away from this documentary better prepared to take on our professional goals in the future.

This team worked together tirelessly over the semester and we are very happy with the results we saw last night. Countless people came up to us in a group and individually to say how much they enjoyed the documentary last night and we truly appreciate the support they showed us. Last but not least a big shoutout to Professor Guarneri and Dr. Luskay who have been incredible leaders for us throughout this semester. They have truly given us an invaluable experience by imparting their knowledge onto us both through their words and through their actions. Pace Docs is not possible without them and that does not go unnoticed by any one of us.

And if you are wondering when you will get to see the final product if you weren’t able to attend the premiere, fear not! We will be having a YouTube premiere for both the English and the Spanish versions later this month. Just because we had the premiere last night doesn’t mean our work is done. Members of our team are already back in the editing room today finishing up the Spanish version in time for our international premiere on May 13.

Keep an eye on our socials to stay up to date on future premiere, festival, and award news!