Ken Kimmelman's Lounge Discussions

For all you animation producers, artists, who love jazz, I'd like you to know about my latest project about the great Duke Ellington--an animated feature to encourage a love for jazz in persons--young & old, and to also oppose racism. Information about it is in the following pitch proposal--enjoy!

RIDING ON DUKE’S TRAIN is a mingling of fact and fiction. Told in flash-back, it is about eleven-year-old Danny Bolden, an African-American boy living in the backwoods of Georgia with his beloved Granny, in the mid 1930s. Danny loves music and is learning to play the trumpet. His life is suddenly and dramatically changed when his Granny dies, and he is left an orphan.

Facing an uncertain future Danny decides to take his chances; he leaves his home and heads north to seek a new life. On his way, he has a harrowing experience with the KKK and miraculously saves a young man’s life. Then, one moonlit night, he comes upon a beautiful silver train. Entranced by this almost ethereal vision he sneaks aboard. Danny soon discovers he’s on Duke Ellington’s private train carrying the legendary jazz composer and his famous orchestra. Ellington and his talented musicians take Danny under their wing and make him part of their touring family, with Ellington’s lead vocalist, Ivie Anderson, who acts like a big sister to Danny, and who he has a crush on.

Through Danny’s wondrous eyes, we meet Ellington up close and learn about Duke’s passion for music, his care for knowledge, his generous nature and his undying, creative energy. Duke shows Danny how to copy music for the band and he learns to play on the great Cootie William’s old trumpet. Danny travels across the U.S. with the orchestra, playing small and large venues, such as the Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, and the Apollo in New York. The boy is bowled over by the sights and sounds he encounters.

When Duke’s orchestra travels down south, Danny finds himself in a hair-raising racial situation from which he is narrowly saved. On his first ocean voyage Danny accompanies the orchestra on their triumphant 1939 European tour. While Duke and his musicians are hailed in Paris, Danny falls head-over-heels for a young Parisian girl and marvels at the sights of the city from the back of her scooter. On their way to Scandinavia, Duke and the orchestra are detained in Nazi Germany, where Danny and the band members are pursued by the Gestapo through the streets of Hamburg and are miraculously rescued by young German jazz enthusiasts. The European tour winds up with Duke’s majestic concert in Sweden celebrating his 40th birthday. Book-ending the story is a flash-forward to Danny, now on in his years, and living, playing and teaching music in Ireland.

There is artwork and a screenplay available.

Ken Kimmelman, award-winning filmmaker, is president of Imagery Film Ltd., and a consultant on the faculty of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation (AestheticRealism.org), a not-for-profit educational foundation in New York City. He produced films for the United Nations against prejudice and apartheid. He is the recipient of an Emmy Award for his anti-prejudice public service film The Heart Knows Better, airing nationally on CNN & ESPN. The New York Yankees have shown it since 1995. He also received a 1998 Emmy Award for his film contributions to Sesame Street. And as a director on the animated TV series Doug, he was nominated twice for an Emmy in 1992 and 93. He also was a director on The Wild Thornberries, Daria & Clifford’s Puppy Days.

Mr. Kimmelman’s film, Thomas Comma (2010), the animated adventure of a lonely comma looking for the right sentence, won numerous awards, and airs on PBS stations. Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana (2006), based on the 1925 Nation magazine prize-winning poem by Eli Siegel, was also the recipient of numerous awards, and can be seen on PBS. His award-winning public service film against homelessness What Does a Person Deserve? airs nationally on CNN.

In 1968 he produced and directed the documentary People Are Trying to Put Opposites Together about Eli Siegel, the American poet, critic, and founder of Aesthetic Realism, which was televised in New York on WNET-TV Channel 13. He also produced films for NBC, political films, theatricals, TV commercials, and a film for New York City Opera’s Beatrix Cenci, performed at Lincoln Center. He was a director of the animated TV series Clifford’s Puppy Days, Daria and The Wild Thornberries. He is currently in collaboration with Lou Gossett, Jr. and Jazz at Lincoln Center on an animated feature-length film about Duke Ellington, and is in development on several documentaries: “Fascinating Rhythm: Dr. Jimmy Slyde,” about the great tap dancer, and a TV series titled “American Women Undercover.”

Ken Kimmelman taught film and animation at New York University, and the School of Visual Arts, and teaches Film Studies at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation. These film lectures, “If It Moves, It Can Move You”: Opposites in the Cinema, are soon to be published. He is on the Advisory Board of the high school of Art and Design. In 2013, he was invited to give film presentations in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa. At the Modern Language Association’s annual conference in 2011, he gave a ‘Special Presentation’

titled Aesthetic Realism and the Literary Cinema of Ken Kimmelman. In the Artists Talk on Art series given at the School of Visual Arts, he presented Aesthetic Realism: The Opposites of Technique and Feeling in Film. He also gave film presentations at the Masters Program at Syracuse University; the City University of New York; Stanford University, and Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. His talk Can Contempt Be Animated? was presented at libraries, schools, and other institutions. He has been a guest lecturer at the Manhattan School of Music, and City College, New York. His articles, including a film review of Schindler’s List, have been published in journals and newspapers across the country. His work was part of the 2006 Whitney Biennial Peace Tower. His book, If It Moves, It Can Move You—Opposites in the Cinema, will be published in 2019.

As a lecturer on the answer to racism and bullying he has spoken at children’s museums, libraries, schools, and colleges, and at national conferences from New York to Oregon. Mr. Kimmelman is also a founding member of Housing: A Basic Human Right (housingaright.org), and participated in presentations against homelessness at many colleges and organizations.

Ken Kimmelman is a two-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and animation artist, who made films for the United Nations against apartheid and prejudice; public service films against racism and homelessness, and films for Sesame Street. He was a director of the animated TV series "Doug", "The Wild Thornberries", "Daria", "Clifford's Puppy Days", and more. He also gives presentations against racism, homelessness and animation in schools, colleges & libraries. His book, "If It Moves, It Can Move You--Opposites in the Cinema," based on the philosophy Aesthetic Realism, will be published this year.

He is currently in development on a very stirring animated feature titled "Riding on Duke's Train," based on the novel of the same title by Mick Carlon. The screenplay has won numerous awards in film festivals and a trailer will soon go into production. The story, set on the cusp of World War II, is about eleven year-old Danny Bolden, an African-American boy living in the backwoods of Georgia with his beloved Granny. His life is suddenly and dramatically changed when his Granny dies, and he is left an orphan. Danny decides to take his chances; he leaves his home and heads north to seek a new life. After a harrowing brush with the Ku Klux Klan, one moonlit night he comes upon a beautiful silver train. Entranced by this almost ethereal vision he sneaks aboard. Danny soon discovers he’s on Duke Ellington’s private train carrying the legendary jazz composer and his famous orchestra, who take him under their wing and make him part of their touring family. The adventure begins!

The style will be in the tradition of "Paperman," using Meander CGI .