Hearing unusual interferences coming from radio vacuum tubes one night during World War I, French musician and educator Maurice Martenot (1898-1980) dreamed of an instrument that would turn the new element of the times, electricity, into music. From early French films and Hollywood classics such as Lawrence of Arabia to the romance of Amélie Poulain or the epic There Will Be Blood, the sound of the Ondes Martenot has infiltrated the soundtracks of our time. Shot in Canada and France, Wavemakers features reckless engineers, rockstars and repairmen: an ensemble of fascinating characters in their quest to revive a sophisticated instrument that is anything but obsolete. Mixing direct cinema, musical moments and never-before-seen archival material, this film journey uncovers the Martenot as a missing link in the cultural history of the 20th century, a fantastic – if a little cursed – legacy.
