Following the Ninth is an unusual documentary film about a single work of music that has inspired millions ever since it was first performed: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 .
Filmmaker Kerry Candaele traveled to five continents and 10 countries, exploring the global influence of the work and how its messages of freedom and brotherhood continue to inspire people today.
"I have been passionate about Beethoven's Ninth since first discovering the wonders of Beethoven's music in my early twenties," Candaele said. "But not until later would I find that this battle cry for freedom, his insistence within the Ninth that all people must find a connection to our common humanity, had a fascinating history around the globe in various struggles in the fight for human dignity."
When the Chinese military invaded Tiananmen Square in 1989, the protesting students played the "Ode to Joy" as their anthem of liberation. In the same year, Leonard Bernstein conducted the Ninth Symphony at the Berlin Wall, where people were in the process of tearing down that hated symbol of oppression and separation.
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