Silent River Soundtrack coming soon, Nov 11, 2022

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Coming soon! The SILENT RIVER Soundtrack!!

The "Hitchockian" horror score to the indie sci-fi film that you didn't expect and never knew you needed....PRESENTED IN DOLBY ATMOS - SPATIAL AUDIO!!!

I wanted to do something different with this digital only soundtrack release to help set it apart from other indie film soundtracks available out there and provide listeners something they can not get on a physical CD. Thus, I am very much looking forward to sharing this score with the world remixed from the original multi-track audio sessions in the Dolby Atmos surround / spatial audio format that truly makes it come to life in a way that I am not so sure we even achieved in the film's 5.1 mix. For streaming platforms that do not yet support Dolby Atmos spatial audio...absolutely fantastic fresh stereo mixes will be available. Almost an hour and a half of score is presented on this digital release. Featured soloists on the score are from AFM session musicians recorded here in Los Angeles. Digital liner notes in PDF format will also be included / available for platforms that support it. The soundtrack will be available for streaming and digital sale on all platforms Nov 11, 2022. (Atmos / spatial audio availability to follow Nov 18, 2022 for platforms that support it.)

New Silent River Trailer for upcoming Theatrical and VOD release

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We have a new film trailer for the Silent River theatrical and VOD release folks. Check it out!

I did the sound and some custom music for this trailer as well.

The film is also available for pre-order on Apple iTunes here: Silent River Pre-order Apple iTunes

The red carpet theatrical premiere will be at Leammle Theaters in Glendale, CA Oct 13th, 2022. more info coming very soon.

HIM & HER will be screening in the Pasadena International Film Festival June 24th

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So thrilled to share that HIM & HER will be screening in the Pasadena International Film Festival in two weeks!

Friday June 24th, 2022 at 7:50pm at the Pasadena Laemmle Playhouse 7.

https://www.pasadenafilmfestival.org/copy-of-piff-2021

We would love to try to fill this 160 seat theater and if we can do so early enough, they will move us to a bigger room to accommodate more seats. This is a GREAT DATE NIGHT film. You will be moved and riveted by the end. I promise. Come on out. Please feel free to share as appropriate. I hope to see you all there.

Silent River featured on The Movie Sneak Podcast Show.

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ART19 (An Amazon Company) has a really great movie podcast show called THE MOVIE SNEAK and in their latest episode, they sit down with three filmmakers for their annual fireside on the current state of the independent cinematic arts. Silent River director Chris Chan Lee is one of their three guests on this latest show. Of his appearance, they say,

“...ahead-of-his-time writer / director Chris Chan Lee chats with us about his acclaimed hard-hitting 1997 coming-of-age drama YELLOW, and his “currently on the festival circuit” SILENT RIVER – which begins as a Sam Shepard-like drama about a man seeking reconciliation with his estranged wife, then branches in mind-bending genre territory worthy of Rod Serling and Richard Matheson. Recently returned from Europe where just a few weeks ago SILENT RIVER picked up a Jury Award at the Paris International Film Festival, we’re honored to have Chris.”

The opening of the show uses an audio clip from Silent River and their discussion with Chris specifically starts at 58:46 into the show. Check it out!

https://www.art19.com/shows/movie-sneak/episodes/844be431-c902-48e7-b65c-e5f3d9de76ee?fbclid=IwAR2Af2qCXkoHsD_8sXowCv1Wrxh84fuE40GiT5f87V69aGDqYei20CAhz-Y

Brian on the "What's The Score" podcast talking about career and Silent River

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I recently had the great opportunity to join Frank R. Wilson on his podcast "What's The Score" to talk a bit about my career and my film Silent River. We start out the conversation with me sharing 3 favorite cues of other composers and why I chose them. And then we talked about 3 cues from some of my past and current projects. Frank has a wonderful film music focused podcast and film scoring fans should definitely check it out. He is a great fan of our industry. The show can be found on all the major podcast platforms (Apple, Stitcher, etc...).

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-the-score-podcast/id1460310663?i=1000558520085

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/whats-the-score/episode/guest-composer-brain-ralston-202622950

DisOrient Film Festival Q&A

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This attached Cast & crew interview was conducted as part of the Silent River screening at the recent DisOrient film festival in Oregon. Director Chris Chan Lee, Actor / Producer West Liang, Actor/ Costume Designer Amy Tsang, and Cinematographer Norbert Shieh gave a great Q&A with the festival director.

While the whole 46 mins is a great glimpse behind the film (like we would have a panel discussion at any festival screening live), if you fast forward to 25:50, Chris Chan Lee specifically talks for a few minutes about our collaboration on the score. The embedded video below will begin at the 25:50 mark. Check it out.

 

Silent River Interview with director Chris Chan Lee includes discussion about Brian's score...

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Silent River director Chris Chan Lee had a great conversation / interview with artist/actor Jacqueline (Jae) Kim about Silent River right after our world premiere at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. In an excerpt from the “Angry Asian Man” blog they talk about the film’s music. (See except below).

https://blog.angryasianman.com/2022/03/silent-river-speaks-getting-into.html

Jae: And finally, well I wanted to talk about color, but music, I wrote this. "It's bold and risking being too much all the time, but somehow it defined a space for us, a vocabulary. In the first third of the film, I thought of Japanese cinema in the era of (Teshigahara's) Woman In The Dunes, to be specific. It became a character in the film that wasn't going to leave. It gave the space weight. It filled Elliot's emptiness while emphasizing it at the same time. Was this intended with the music or was it brought in largely through the composer's influence?

CCL: Brian Ralston, our composer, brought so much to the film. He even did a lot of counterpoint that wasn't necessarily following exactly what was happening, you know, in the proceedings and -- and he helped to illustrate the kind of supernatural aspect of the scenario -- at the Purgatory World. So it was a huge. It was kind of like another character. Absolutely.

Jae: It was bold.

Chris: And he was also extremely strategic because, you know, we're a low budget movie, right? So we can't hire an orchestra and all that stuff. But he knew he was able to enlist a few performers to play live instrumentation, you know, like a cello and viola and stuff, to add that human touch so it did not feel like an electronic score.

Unique interview with Brian on "Composers favorites" podcast hosted by Giovanni Rotondo

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Giovanni Rotondo invited me to participate on Episode 9 of his unique podcast series "Composer's Favorites" over on Film Scoring Tips. What is different about this relatively short 18 min interview is that is it NOT about actual composing or a specific project. It is about getting to know composers and their favorite things outside of writing the notes. We talk about my “favorite rejection”, things I do to celebrate after a project is done, my favorite classical composition (well….one of them anyway) and many others. There is also an extended version of the interview for his patreon subscribers. But most of it can be checked out here below. Thanks for having me Giovanni!

Amazing review of Brian's Silent River score

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In his review of Silent River from the Paris International Film Festival, NerdSpan reviewer Steve Harcourt writes:

“The majority of the film is really built on the soundtrack with long extended shots only gaining meaning from the way the score ebbs and flows underneath. It utilises a mixture of traditional instruments and sound effects to create an eerie soundscape that gives it its general air of unease and sense of being another world. Composer Brian Ralston has obviously spent a lot of time considering how best to accompany the mundane imagery of the motel to give it the edge where we don’t quite know what’s happening......It is definitely worth checking out though for the visual beauty of its shots, and the extremely effective score.”
— Review: Steve Harcourt - Nerdspan.com

Silent River on one heck of a festival tour

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Silent River is doing extremely well on the film festival circuit. Screenings are picking up and the film can be seen in many places around the USA and the world in the coming weeks and months. The upcoming screenings in Chicago and Houston will also be shown off the full theatrical 5.1 surround DCP file in large commercial theaters with the director and producers in attendance for a Q&A after. Check it out if it comes to a festival near you. (note: If it is being screened virtually, sometimes the stream is geo-blocked to certain regions of the country. But every festival is different.) And there are more festivals to come even beyond this current publically announced list below. Stay tuned here or at the film’s official website http://www.silentrivermovie.com !

SILENT RIVER wins "Best Feature for Change" Award at the Paris Int’l Film Festival

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SILENT RIVER just won the "Best Feature for Change" Award at the Paris Int’l Film Festival ! Thank you everyone at PIFF and John Higgins of filmandtvnow.com for championing our films and helping to bring them to viewers. Special big thank you to Jenna Suru the Festival Director and inspirational leader who created such a warm and welcoming environment for all us filmmakers, and providing an innovative platform for everyone to share and experience so many movies as well as dialogue amongst filmmakers and viewers. We had an incredibly memorable time meeting other filmmakers! So many amazing and original films across the documentaries, shorts, and narrative features!

Silent River International Premiere at Paris Int'l Film Festival

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Silent River will have it’s International Premiere this week Feb 10-20, 2021 at the Paris Int’l Film Festival. Coverage from the festival has already begun and an incredible review of the film was released on Filmandtvnow.com.

Reviewer John Higgins wrote…

“Some movies I have encountered over the years have been such an idiosyncratic experience on first viewing but have nonetheless compelled me to watch again and again.

Two examples that come to mind are Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 – A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) – with its’ main protagonist a seemingly faceless monolith transcending time and human existence – and Lucio Fulci’s THE BEYOND (L’ALDILA) (1981)....Now, I have to add Chris Chan Lee’s SILENT RIVER, which for all intents and purposes will throw a few curveballs into the deeper reaches of your mind from the first half, which plays like David Lynch and Andrei Tarkovsky attempting to collaborate on a reboot of Wim Wenders’ PARIS, TEXAS (1984) – and a second half that emerges like a rural companion piece to EX MACHINA and WESTWORLD.
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Fans of Lynch’s extreme surrealist canvasses like MULHOLLAND DRIVE and LOST HIGHWAY will certainly want to check in like the characters at the hotel. For the more linear-minded viewers, grab a few pints afterwards as you discuss the intricacies of Chan Lee’s left-field but ultimately compelling cinematic effort.”
— John Higgins - Filmandtvnow.com