Alumna Scores New Film About Young Caregivers of Disabled Vets
Maria Lineva conducts an ensemble of Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra students at the Kennedy Center in a preview event for Sky Blossom in November 2019.
Image courtesy of Vino Wong/Sky Blossom Films
Sky Blossom: Diaries of the Next Greatest Generation, a new documentary highlighting young caregivers of disabled veterans, features an original score composed by alumna Maria Lineva B.M. ’18 and performed by the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra.
Directed by award-winning MSNBC journalist Richard Lui, Sky Blossom focuses on five young protagonists from Latino, Black, Asian, Native, and White American communities, from every region in America—the Midwest, South, East, West, and Pacific Islands. The Academy Award–eligible film hopes to bring awareness to the 24.5 million children and millennials who live double lives, working jobs while caring for their loved ones as young caregivers.
Lineva wrote original leitmotifs for each of the five families in the film, taking inspiration from each family’s story and hometown. “I was honored to compose and orchestrate music for a full orchestra so early in my career,” said Lineva, who has arranged music for Nile Rodgers ’18H, Toninho Horta, and others. “While composing, I was focusing on thematic development for each individual family. I wanted to have a unique sound that would emphasize [how] their stories [are] full of resilience, hope, and unconditional love.”
Maria Lineva's score invites us into boundless times and spaces of amazing, yet simple, acts of caring—moments that our cameras weren’t there to capture.
—Richard Lui, director, Sky Blossom
Lineva, who studied contemporary writing and production at Berklee, worked with the world-renowned Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra on the music for Sky Blossom. Julius P. Williams, professor in the Composition Department, conducted the three-day scoring session that resulted in the film’s incredible soundscape. Lineva also collaborated with four assistant composers—Zev Burrows B.M. ’15, Hwang Jing B.M. ’88, Omer Lahmany ’15, and Ying-Ting Luo B.M. ’17—who helped develop the score and its orchestration.
"Maria Lineva's score invites us into boundless times and spaces of amazing, yet simple, acts of caring—moments that our cameras weren’t there to capture," said Lui. "My mother would play the piano and violin when we would care for my father, who had Alzheimer’s, and the music would bring him back from his dementia. The Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra's music helped highlight that music remains a major part of my caregiving experience, and I still take my mom to the symphony [so she can] remember her love of music and my father."
Watch the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra performing the score:
About Sky Blossom
Sky Blossom was screened at over 30 film festivals, and Variety magazine named it a contender for the 2021 Oscars. The nonprofit film represents over a million dollars of in-kind and pro bono work, with support from companies such as Comcast NBCUniversal, Walmart, AMC Theaters, and Deluxe, all seeking to raise awareness of the country’s millions of military caregivers.
Sky Blossom will be available to purchase on DVD and digital platforms on May 25, will be screened in theaters nationwide on May 26, and broadcast on MSNBC on May 29 at 9:00 p.m. ET. For more information, visit Sky Blossom’s website.
Watch the film's trailer: