This new documentary film follows Jon Batiste as he balances career highs with his partner Suleika Jaouad’s cancer diagnosis.
The film opens as Batiste is preparing for a one-night only performance at Carnegie Hall to present “American Symphony,” an orchestral piece intended to modernize the form.
American Symphony chronicles the emotional heights and depths of Batiste’s and Jaouad’s lives, creating a different kind of love story between two incredibly talented and creative people.
Batiste is a pianist and singer known for composing modern, eclectic crossover music, fusing jazz, soul, gospel, and New Orleans R&B. He’s won five Grammys, including Album of the Year for We Are (2021), and won an Oscar for co-writing the music on the Pixar movie Soul.
Jaouad is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, which chronicles her experience of being diagnosed with leukemia at just 22 years old.
“Long before we were in a romantic relationship, Jon and I shared a creative language. We both see survival as its own kind of creative act,” Jaouad says in American Symphony. “It’s what helps us alchemize the different things that come up in life and transform them into something useful, even meaningful.”
In this deeply intimate documentary, musician Jon Batiste attempts to compose a symphony as his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, undergoes cancer treatment.
American Symphony is a deep reflection on art and the healing power of love and creativity.
For the film, Batiste composed an original song, “It Never Went Away.”
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