Canadian director Larry Weinstein wants viewers of his latest documentary to choose hope over hate

As It Happens6:58Canadian director Larry Weinstein wants viewers of his latest documentary to choose hope over hate

Larry Weinstein wants viewers of his documentary Beethoven's Nine: Ode to Humanity to find hope in the composer's famous symphony — much like he did.

Weinstein says to him, the 200-year-old Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig Van Beethoven is a message of optimism for humanity despite darkness.

The Toronto filmmaker's most recent documentary set out to follow eight subjects — including Ukrainian musicians, a deaf composer and a famous cartoonist — as they tried to better understand the message of hope in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. That is, until tragedy struck in Weinstein's life.

Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — including Weinstein's sister, Judih Weinstein. Rather than pausing work on the project, Weinstein decided to incorporate his own search for humanity into the documentary.

"There's something about the meaning of [the song] that that carried me through," said Weinstein. "It couldn't have been more amazing, the serendipity of these terrible events happening, but while making a film about this and about the optimism and about enlightenment. So I used that as a crutch."

On Tuesday, Weinstein was awarded the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression's (CJFE) Integrity Award for his work on the film. The prize honours people who, according to the CJFE's website, "have acted courageously in the public interest without thought of personal gain, and in doing so risked reprisals in the form of threats to their personal and professional lives."

"In an increasingly divided world, where we seem to only shout into our echo chambers, we felt the way Larry's film embraced Beethoven's Ninth's call to humanity helps us to once again talk, to once again listen, and ultimately, to not allow hate into our hearts," CJFE co-president Michelle Shephard said in an emailed statement. Carol Off, a former host of As It Happens, is a co-president of the CJFE.

Weinstein spoke to As It Happens host Nil Köksal about what it means to receive the award, and the message of peace he hopes viewers take away from the film. Here is part of their conversation.

Larry, what is it about this particular piece of music that guided you through the making of this film, but also through this very personal and deep loss?

This piece of music, the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, is … packed with meaning. And it's something which inspired Beethoven very much toward the end of his life.

He had read the poem [Ode to Joy] by Friedrich Schiller when he was only 15 years old. He knew he wanted to set it to music one day. When he was young, the world was a better place. People believed in progress and they believed in humanism and they believed in science and they believed in reason.

But then eventually those things broke down as the society became more rigid and leaders became more corrupt and autocratic and narcissistic, and religion became more clamped down, more conservative. And that's when … he chose to write this piece of music as a love letter, I believe, to humanity and a love letter to the future.

You had the option from the producers to step away from this project entirely. Why did you decide to stay on the project?

I actually initially thought the project would be a kind of therapy for me, just to keep going, to keep working rather than fall into some abyss.

My producers were wonderful … they were all very understanding. But it was actually my cameraman, John Min Tran, who said, "Larry, I have this idea — and you're going to hate it — to turn the camera on you, to have you as part of the film.… And for you to, you know, talk about the things that have happened."

I didn't want to do this because I've never been in a film of my own and I never even narrated my own work. [But] I thought, yeah, he's right. I've got to do this. I have to do it.

And I was hesitant. But I have to say, once we started down that road, I wanted to do it more and more, sort of as, you know, my own love letter to my sister and … to humanity.

In its commendation, the CJFE says it is giving you the Integrity Award this year because of "how Larry embraced Beethoven's Ninth and its call to humanity serves as an inspiration in helping us once again to talk, to once again listen, and ultimately to not allow hate into our hearts." What is it like to hear that about yourself?

I just felt very unworthy and fraudulent, as we often do when we get accolades. But … it is true that I am trying to push away the hatred, the darkness, which so many people are absorbing.

And I hate dehumanization of either side, whether it's Palestine or Israel, and Ukraine and Russia. I just think that humans are humans and we have to go forward. We have to love one another, embrace one another. So even though I'm almost embarrassed by getting the award, I really do appreciate it. 

Dealing with the enormity of what you've dealt with but still comporting yourself in this way says a lot about you as well. Have you always been of this temperament?

I don't know. The word integrity and ethics was constantly present when I grew up. My father talked about it constantly. We always talked about taking the high road. And so I guess it was there.

I mean, I could have been full of hatred. Like, I don't like the people who murdered my sister, don't get me wrong. But I have to understand other human beings to get through life. 

What do you want people who are watching your documentary [or] listening to this conversation to take away from all of this about your sister and how you want her to be remembered?

She was a very gentle soul who taught meditation. She only lived two kilometers from Gaza, so whenever there were [bomb] attacks, she would go down to the safe room and teach young children about meditation.

But she loved her Gazan neighbors. She used to teach Palestinian children with Israeli children about love and peace and acceptance and progress. And so she became sort of a symbol of the Enlightenment for me. 

And there she is with her husband still in Gaza, buried, hidden. And she's the only Canadian hostage … even though she's no longer alive. So I would like her name to be remembered: Judih.