If you read my South By Southwest coverage this year, you may have noticed it had a LOT of gaps in coverage, mostly because I made the mistake of waiting in line too long to cover some of the much bigger movies. RESYNATOR was one that I just couldn’t fit into the schedule but after now seeing it, I am making the promise to attend and support more movies like this at all festivals!
Program Notes: Winner of the 2024 SXSW Documentary Audience Award. Surely you’ll never see a more poignant and touching documentary about…electronic music technology. Director Alison Tavel’s father Don, who died when she was only 10 weeks old, was something of a question mark during her childhood; family lore held that Don had “invented the synthesizer,” though the history books mentioned only the name Robert Moog. (His bright idea was to make the synth keyboard-driven, analogous in impact to adding a mouse to the PC.) Later, driven to dig deeper, Tavel found those books hadn’t told the whole tale. She discovered, literally in Grandma’s attic, the black box, dubbed the Resynator, Don had built. As a roadie for Grace Potter, Tavel had a bit of an in to the music biz, so starting there she set off to retrace his story. Jon Anderson of Yes, Peter Gabriel, even Paul McCartney had expressed early interest—but what went wrong? Find out as Tavel totes the prototype Resynator from one enthusiastic music geek to the next, even as far as Colombia, as she untangles two intertwining mysteries: the secret of her father’s invention and of her father himself. (Credit: Gavin Borchert)
Reaction: I was absolutely heartbroken to have missed this at South By Southwest after learning it won the audience award for the Documentary section, and I even want to thank SIFF for picking this one up as this is not one to miss. Grabbing me right from the first moment, RESYNATOR is a fascinating documentary with a deep, personal connection to its material that you can feel right away. Alison Tavel is all throughout the documentary as she goes through an intense, personal discovery of her father’s past, but it’s also such a unique and passionate story I feel anyone could connect with. What I was so happy to see was a great mix of vintage footage interviews and also current footage that feels immediate and personal as well as hugely entertaining, and it’s a special thanks to Ms. Tavel who is a born filmmaker through and through. Absolutely one not to miss at SIFF (or at any festival that comes near you) and I wish the movie a strong future down the road.
