About
The Film
From a garage startup to 27 Gold and Platinum Records, A QUIET REVOLUTION explores the genre-bending history of a record label that developed a new sound and musical movement. In a world of accelerating technologies and a relentless frenetic lifestyle, listeners found music that allowed for contemplation, introspection and harmony.
Windham Hill became a genre unto itself and was as much a lifestyle as a music—a soundtrack that would resonate for its fans the same way a Motown song or Beatles tune would resonate for an earlier generation.
Windham Hill was a blend of classical, folk and jazz. Billboard magazine struggled to pigeon-hole the sound, settling on soft jazz, and eventually the label’s albums topped the New Age and Contemporary Jazz charts. Millions of listeners connected to the music and Windham Hill became one of the most successful independent record labels on earth, single handedly creating the market for modern instrumental music.
Half a century later, the Windham Hill sound appears on playlists as a new generation of listeners and musicians embrace the music. The ethos of the music is still relevant as listeners seek peace, tranquility and ways to look inward in a fast-paced, distracted world.
The Message
During the 1980s-90s, the technological revolution, career and family pressures, and the pace of life was ever increasing. Popular music similarity picked up the pace with electronic dance music, disco, grunge, and punk rock. This rhythm-based, adrenaline fueled music was exciting and energetic, but provided little room for the listener to reflect and look inward. Rather than scream and shout its frustration, Windham Hill took a gentler approach dipped in pastoral ambiences and introspective moods.
The music of Windham Hill was the ‘Quiet Revolution’ that provided a sound and ethos to help heal a turbulent and distracted society. The music posited a sound built not on anger, rage and dissonance, but contemplation, introspection and harmony.
What do you have to say? Is it honest? Is it connected to something that will resonate with other people on an emotional level?
- Will Ackerman, Windham Hill founder
It was music that spoke to the soul and the intellect… inviting you in to a private, introspective world, one where sounds were shaped with meticulous care and melodies unfolded like a lotus.
- John Dilberto, National Public Radio producer
In certain songs I like that ring-out. That ring-out is like the sound of the great plains that go on endlessly and you can see all the way to the horizon in eastern Montana.
- George Winston, pianist
Filmmakers
Director
Tal Skloot is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and editor with a credit list of over twenty-five feature-length documentaries that have won multiple Emmy awards and other recognitions. His work is broadcast nationally on PBS and on multiple streaming platforms.
His recent documentary credits include 4 WHEEL BOB, about wheelchair-hiker Bob Coomber and his attempt to cross the Sierra Nevada and FREEWAY PHILHARMONIC, which follows freelance classical musicians struggling to find a permanent orchestra chair. Both films aired nationally on PBS and screened at film festivals in the U.S. and Europe.
Tal has also worked on major narrative feature films and television series released by 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd., New Line Cinema, Lionsgate and Orion Pictures.
Cinematographer
Derek Knowles is a filmmaker and cinematographer working in creative non-fiction. His work has been supported by the Tribeca Film Institute, Kartemquin Films, the Berkeley Film Foundation, and California Humanities, featured as a Vimeo Staff pick and on Short of the Week, and has appeared on The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, PBS, Frontline, and Aeon, as well as festivals around the world.
Associate Producer
Asali Echols is a Bay Area filmmaker and film editor, whose work has screened in festivals across the country and worldwide. Her directing credits include the animated documentary The Violin Upstairs (2019) and the award-winning short documentary Lion on the Mat (2021). She's edited award-winning feature documentaries, including 2e: Twice Exceptional (2015), Navajo Math Circles (2016), and High as a Kite (2020). She helped produced the Simons Foundation's 32-part oral history series Science Lives, and edited and produced the You Got to Move short video series about activism in the South.
Donate
As a partner, we’d like to collaborate with you as we release A QUIET REVOLUTION to audiences across the country through our National Outreach Campaign. Our release will reach a broad audience and achieve our mission objectives through the following initiatives:
- Festival & Theatrical Release to build audience and engage national press
- Screenings at concert halls and music venues
- Screenings and Q&As at music festivals
- Digital release commercially through iTunes, Amazon and Netflix
- National television broadcast reaching millions of viewers
Contact
This story means a lot to me. I’ve played fingerstyle guitar my whole life, and like many fans, the ethos of Windham Hill became a deep part of my musical journey.
I would love to work with you to tell the story. Please email me here.
— Tal Skloot, director
