Bios & Contact Info A Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story
"A Friend Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story" was created byFilmmaker Lane Wyrickover a 7 year time period, and the award-winning feature length documentary had its World Premiere in June 2008 at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City.
Wyrick closely collaborated with Composer Peter Bloesch who created the magnificient music score which was recorded by Seattle Music with a full-size live orchestra.
Lane
Wyrick is a Film School graduate from the University of Iowa. During
his college years, he worked extensively in both video and 16mm film production and
was the first place winner in the Midwest Regional Competition of the
Student Academy Awards for his experimental film “Culture Shell”. He
was also awarded the Princess Grace Foundation Scholarship for his
40-minute 16mm comedy “Life is Eterminal”.
After
graduating with high distinction in 1990, Wyrick spent four years in
Los Angeles working as a production assistant and in various other
capacities on feature film productions including “True Lies”, “Man's
Best Friend”, “Dead Connection”, as well as on several television
projects, music videos and commercials. In 1994, Wyrick worked as head
of an Illinois-based Multimedia & Interactive Design Department.
Wyrick
returned to his hometown of Iowa City in the fall of 1995 and formed Xap
Interactive, Inc., a digitally-based video, film, and DVD production
company to offer a venue for his creative and entrepreneurial aspirations. Through Xap
Interactive, Wyrick produced a wide variety of projects from event videos,
DVD-based touchscreen information systems, surgical procedure videos,
commercials, corporate videos and documentaries.
He is now working full-time at Quality Medical Publishing in St. Louis where he is Director of Video Production and Editing where he produces medical and surgical videos around the country for web and DVD distribution, while he is continuing to find innovative ways to reach audiences with the following three productions. To find out more, visit www.LaneWyrick.com.
The Nazi Drawings Documentary
In
November 1999, Wyrick completed “The Nazi Drawings” documentary, which
is the first major short documentary by Wyrick, who served as
director, cinematographer, and editor on the project. The documentary explores the history and passion behind artist Mauricio Lasansky's powerful graphic series depicting the horrors of Nazi atrocities, and has a very strong anti-violence message.
The Nazi Drawings
has won numerous awards including the Mid-America Emmy Award for Best
Documentary, and Best Documentary & Best Director in the New York
International Independent Film Festival, and was broadcast
across the nation on PBS stations during Holocaust Remembrance Month in
2005 (to learn more, please visit www.NaziDrawings.com).
Another major production by Wyrick is XapVision Nature Scenes - an original DVD production
featuring nearly three hours of beautifully filmed, relaxing and
engaging scenes and sounds of nature.
Wyrick spent three years filming literally hundreds of scenes of nature using a high-end digital production camera to capture the beauty and detail of the natural world. He then compiled what was originally four separate DVDs into one "super-length" DVD that is nearly three hours long, and now available for purchase online.
The XapVision Nature Scenes DVD was first designed for Hospitals, Hospice Organizations, & Nursing Homes, but it has now become a major hit with the general public as an enjoyable and unique DVD that provides a "window into nature" and can be enjoyed by people of all ages (more info at www.NatureScenes.com).
After being approached by Academy Award
Winning Screenwriter Barry Morrow in 2001 with the idea of creating a
documentary about the real Bill Sackter, Wyrick spent several years
researching, gathering photos, film & video footage, and
discovering the heart of the story.
After the premiere at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City, "A Friend Indeed" has gone on to be the #1 Audience Favorite in five consecutive film festivals.
"A Friend Indeed"
has been inspiring new audiences with public screenings, DVD sales, and now is pursuing a national television audience on PBS stations around the country.
For more
information on filmmaker Lane Wyrick please visit www.LaneWyrick.com
Peter Bloesch - Composer
website: PeterBloesch.com ______________________
Peter Bloesch (pronounced
“blesh”) grew up in a musical family, and was grounded in the
study of piano, cello, and composition from an early age.
After many years of focusing on concert music composition,
Peter moved to Los Angeles to pursue film composing. At
the University of Southern California, he studied graduate-level
composition, orchestration, and conducting, when he participated in
USC's prestigious “Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television” Advanced
Studies Program. Only around ten people per year are admitted
from all over the world into this highly-specialized program, which is
taught by the leading film and television composers in the
industry.
While in Los Angeles, Peter had the opportunity to study and
work side-by-side with some of the top names in the film music
business, including Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Bruce Broughton,
Joe Harnell, Alexander Courage, and Henry Mancini. In 1992 he won
the “BMI Pete Carpenter Fellowship” award, which allowed him the
opportunity to work directly with television legend Mike Post on such
television hits as “L.A. Law,” “Silk Stalkings,” and “Law &
Order.”
During his years in Hollywood, Peter kept busy with a wide
range of film music projects, including scoring independent films,
coordinating and conducting recording sessions, and providing
orchestration for a variety of film scores, including the movie “Dark
Horizon,” which was commissioned by Sony to promote their HDTV
technology.
Since
his return to Iowa, Peter has remained very active in composing and
arranging. He was thrilled to score Lane Wyrick's film "A Friend
Indeed - The Bill Sackter Story," and found it to be an exciting and
rewarding experience — not only did it provide him with an opportunity
to create an emotionally powerful film score that is inspiring and
uplifting, it also allowed him to make a contribution toward the
important legacy of Bill Sackter, a person who continues to inspire the
best in all of us.
In addition to scoring films, Peter is also active in
writing concert music and church music, as well as creating large-scale
Holiday Pops arrangements for chorus and full orchestra. He was
commissioned by The Cedar Rapids Symphony to write a number of
arrangements for their highly-acclaimed Holiday Pops concert series,
and these pieces are now being actively marketed to major orchestras
across the country.
Peter regularly receives commissions to compose concert
music for various groups, such as Red Cedar Chamber Music, a
critically-acclaimed chamber ensemble known for championing new
music. Additionally, he has written a variety of music for the
church setting, including a number of congregational hymn arrangements
that feature orchestral accompaniments.
