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"UTTERLY ABSORBING. BOTH IMPRESSIONISTIC AND INFORMATIVE."

- The Dissolve

"A CINEMATIC GEM."

- The Film Stage

"VIGOROUS AND CHARMING."

- The New York Times

"A TREAT."

- Los Angeles Times

"A Stirring Portrait of Deep Focus in Creative Work."

- Village Voice

"In the grand tradition of Frederick Wiseman, Lipes captures every nuance… resulting in a compelling exposé of the craft from every angle."

- IndieWire

"A potent reminder of the power of the human mind and body at work."

- IndieWire

"An intimate window into a seemingly unobtainable world, a journey that ends up being just as exhilarating as it is elegant"

- Art Info

"TRULY EXTRAORDINARY. Essential viewing for any artist. An intimate window into a seemingly unobtainable world, a journey that ends up being just as exhilarating as it is elegant."

- Regina Mogilevskaya, Art Info

"This film is about more than ballet, and is essential viewing for any artist."

- Art Info

"It’s a look at a creative process that’s intriguing even if you have no special interest in dance."

- Buzzfeed

"A creative process full of details, questions and unexpected changes"

- Film School Rejects/Nonfics

"It’s a quiet, unassuming work of marvelous inspiration."

- Film School Rejects/Nonfics

"Ballet 422 is about as close as many of us will ever get to the creation of a new work of art."

- Marina Harss

"Exhilarating… beautifully crafted."

- Variety

"In the grand tradition of Frederick Wiseman, Lipes captures every nuance… resulting in a compelling exposé of the craft from every angle."

- Indiewire

"A potent reminder of the power of the human mind and body at work."

- Indiewire

"An intimate window into a seemingly unobtainable world, a journey that ends up being just as exhilarating as it is elegant."

- Art Info

"This film is about more than ballet, and is essential viewing for any artist."

- Art Info

"It’s a look at a creative process that’s intriguing even if you have no special interest in dance."

- Buzzfeed

"A creative process full of details, questions and unexpected changes."

- Film School Rejects

"It’s a quiet, unassuming work of marvelous inspiration."

- Film School Rejects

"Exhilarating... beautifully crafted."

- Variety

"In the grand tradition of Frederick Wiseman, Lipes captures every nuance… resulting in a compelling exposé of the craft from every angle."

- Indiewire

"A potent reminder of the power of the human mind and body at work."

- Indiewire

"Must-see. Gripping"

- Indiewire

"You don’t have to love ballet or know anything about it to enjoy Ballet 422, an intimate, compelling inside look into the creative process."

- This Week in New York

"There's an understanding in this film, as in most of the great movies about art's creation, of art as work, and of work as embodying every circular, compromising element of life."

- Slant

"Utterly absorbing."

- The Dissolve

"A documentary that’s both impressionistic and informative—admiring the magic of dance even in its formative stages, while also turning the making of art into a kind of procedural."

- The Dissolve

"Lipes does a great job capturing the details of the creative process, and the result is a satisfying peek into the magic of NYCB."

- Pointe Magazine

"More visually sumptuous than most narratives you're likely to see this year."

- Village Voice

"Phenomenal."

- Dance Spirit Magazine

"Grade: A-. It’s rare that movies capture the cumulative toil of the creative process as profoundly as Ballet 422."

- A.V. Club

"A delightfully immersive look at how a ballet is created."

- NY Post

"Vigorous and charming."

- NY Times

"Mr. Lipes, with an eye for pleasing, natural compositions and a knack for visual understatement, shows a similar sense of decorum."

- NY Times

"For those of us who love good movies about the process of collaborative work done for the love of it."

- NPR

"A delightfully immersive look at how a ballet is created."

- NY Post

"COMPELLING. An aesthetic experience as much as an intellectual one. More visually sumptuous than most narratives you’ll see this year."

- Zachary Wigon, Village Voice

"A TREAT. FASCINATING. Director Lipes is a classic cinéma vérité practitioner in the mold of Albert Maysles and Frederick Wiseman."

- Kenneth Turan, LA Times

"Utterly successful as an intimate look at the process of creative collaboration."

- David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle

"A delightfully immersive look at how a ballet is created."

- Farran Smith Nehme, NY Post

"It possesses an aura of pared majesty. There isn’t an ounce of fat. Director Lipes has an extraordinary eye for detail."

- Chuck Bowen, Slant

"UTTERLY ABSORBING. A documentary that’s both impressionistic and informative."

- Noel Murray, The Dissolve

"In the grand tradition of Frederick Wiseman, Lipes captures every nuance of the rehearsal procedure, resulting in A COMPELLING EXPOSÉ OF THE CRAFT FROM EVERY ANGLE."

- Paula Bernstein, Indiewire

"It’s a quiet portrait of the amazing amount of work that goes into creating an ineffable piece of art."

- Bilge Ebiri, New York

"Powerful"

- The Washington Post

ABOUT THE FILM

From first rehearsal to world premiere, BALLET 422 takes us backstage at New York City Ballet as Justin Peck, a young up-and-coming choreographer, crafts a new work. BALLET 422 illuminates the process behind the creation of a single ballet within the ongoing cycle of work at one of the world’s great ballet companies.

CAST & CREW

Cast:
Justin Peck (Choreographer and Soloist)
Cameron Grant (Pianist)
Tiler Peck (Principal Dancer)
Sterling Hyltin (Principal Dancer)
Amar Ramasar (Principal Dancer)
Albert Evans (Ballet Master)
Mark Stanley (Resident Lighting Designer)
Andrews Sill (Conductor)
Marc Happel (Director of Costumes)
Reid Bartelme (Costume Designer)
Harriet Jung (Costume Designer)

Director:
Jody Lee Lipes

Producers:
Ellen Bar
Anna Rose Holmer

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Photo Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.