Allie Light

In a unique twist, award-winning filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf relegate the divas to the background and focus on a limelight-craving group of choristers, the seldom-noticed singers who stand behind the soloists portraying peasants, soldiers and slaves. Weaving together portions of eight acclaimed operas with personal interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from auditions and rehearsals, the film explores the choristers' blurred boundaries between their on and off-stage lives. Through intimate and often comedic revelations, the individual stories of these aspiring singers emerge: we meet a tenor who grew up in the slums of the Bronx and was cured of his insanity through music; a trucker who practices while on the road in his semi; and the singing couple who perform Mozart while raising their toddler. A unique exploration into the allure of celebrity and the resulting emotional roller coaster that arises in the pursuit of fame, In the Shadow of the Stars is a metaphor for anyone who has ever dreamed of becoming a star.

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and lauded by the San Francisco Chronicle as 'wonderfully funny yet equally heart-rending,' IN THE SHADOW OF THE STARS is a hilarious and affectionate look at the path to stardom inside the competitive world of Grand opera. In a unique twist, award-winning filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf relegate the divas to the background and focus on a limelight-craving group of choristers, the seldom-noticed singers who stand behind the soloists portraying peasants, soldiers and slaves. Weaving together portions of eight acclaimed operas with personal interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from auditions and rehearsals, the film explores the choristers' blurred boundaries between their on and off-stage lives. Through intimate and often comedic revelations, the individual stories of these aspiring singers emerge: we meet a tenor who grew up in the slums of the Bronx and was cured of his insanity through music; a trucker who practices while on the road in his semi; and the singing couple who perform Mozart while raising their toddler. A unique exploration into the allure of celebrity and the resulting emotional roller coaster that arises in the pursuit of fame, IN THE SHADOW OF THE STARS is a metaphor for anyone who has ever dreamed of becoming a star.

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and lauded by the San Francisco Chronicle as 'wonderfully funny yet equally heart-rending,' IN THE SHADOW OF THE STARS is a hilarious and affectionate look at the path to stardom inside the competitive world of Grand opera. In a unique twist, award-winning filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf relegate the divas to the background and focus on a limelight-craving group of choristers, the seldom-noticed singers who stand behind the soloists portraying peasants, soldiers and slaves. Weaving together portions of eight acclaimed operas with personal interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from auditions and rehearsals, the film explores the choristers' blurred boundaries between their on and off-stage lives. Through intimate and often comedic revelations, the individual stories of these aspiring singers emerge: we meet a tenor who grew up in the slums of the Bronx and was cured of his insanity through music; a trucker who practices while on the road in his semi; and the singing couple who perform Mozart while raising their toddler. A unique exploration into the allure of celebrity and the resulting emotional roller coaster that arises in the pursuit of fame, IN THE SHADOW OF THE STARS is a metaphor for anyone who has ever dreamed of becoming a star.