The great Vince Guaraldi is best known for his iconic compositions and performance from Charles M Schultz’s beloved Charlie Brown Christmas Special (1965). He continued to write exciting and clever music for 16 more ’Peanuts’ TV specials over the next 12 years of his career, as well as the score for Chuck’s first feature length movie: A Boy Named Charlie Brown. The Dean Thiessen 5-tet is paying homage to the Christmas-spirit origins of his career as well as the most catchy ear-worms in the years that followed. After the set, there will be a brief intermission, then enjoy the movie.
Dean Thiessen – piano
Bonnie Northgraves – trumpet
John Nicholson – flute
Bella Fedrigo – bass
Tyler Murray – drums
About the film: A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Bill Melendez, 1969, 85 min)
Charlie Brown enters — and wins! — the school spelling bee contest and is sent to compete in the nationals… The first Peanuts movie makes the most of the opportunities afforded by the big screen format: it’s a much more sophisticated piece of visual storytelling than the TV specials. Vince Guaraldi contributed the instrumental score (much of it drawn from the TV pieces), while John Scott Trotter and Rod McKuen also contributed songs. All three composers were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, though they lost to the Beatles’ Let It Be.
A practically perfect screen equivalent to the quiet joys to be found in almost any of Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strips.
Vincent Canby, New York Times
A triumph cinematically, packed with stunning visuals and supplemented by an outstanding musical score.
Patrick Galvan, Our Culture
Co-Presented with
Dec 20
7:00 pm
VIFF Centre, VIFF Cinema
Open to youth!
Book Tickets
Saturday December 20
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Charles M. Schulz
Producer
Lee Mendelson, Bill Melendez
Screenwriter
Charles M. Schulz
Editor
Robert T. Gillis, Chuck McCann, Steven Cuitlahuac Melendez
Original Music
Vince Guaraldi
Also Playing
The Leading Ladies Perform Duke Ellington's The Nutcracker Suite
Join us for a unique Nutcracker experience: a live jazz rendition of Duke Ellington's take on Tchaikovsky's music, followed by the premiere of an inspiring doc about how even Covid 19 couldn't stop New York ballet's finest from staging the Xmas favourite.
Dean Thiessen Plays Vince Guaraldi + Charlie Brown
In 1965 jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi created the perfect soundtrack to Charles Schultz's beloved Peanuts. Dean Thiessen's 5-tet pays tributes to Guaraldi's catchy tunes, followed by a screening of the first Charlie Brown feature film.
Coffee House Folk + Inside Llewyn Davis
The Coens' catty portrait of the 60s Greenwich Village scene is the best movie about folk music, bar none. Before the movie, enjoy solo sets from four local singer-songwriters: Rodney DeCroo, Tim Readman, LJ Mounteney and Andy Hillhouse.
The Flamenco Guitar of Yerai Cortés + Por Derecho (On Their Own Right) Live
Winner of the Goya Award for Best Documentary, this is an exquisite and surprisingly intimate portrait of the brilliant young guitarist Yerai Cortés, preceded by an hour of passionate flamenco music, song and dance performed by Por Derecho.
Orwell: 2+2=5
Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck reimagines 1984 in this urgent essay on power, language, and control. With narration by Damian Lewis, it’s a chilling portrait of how Orwell’s warnings became our reality.
Cover-Up
Oscar-winner Laura Poitras and Emmy-winner Mark Obenhaus turn their lens on legendary journalist Seymour Hersh in a riveting film that unpacks how one reporter exposed the truths behind My Lai and Abu Ghraib — and what it takes to hold power to account.
Image: © The New York Times