A joyous hometown premiere at Chicago International Film Festival

Chicago music lovers had waited for years for this moment: the local premiere of “For the Left Hand” – at the Chicago International Film Festival. No wonder the Oct. 17 event quickly sold out. You could feel the anticipation as filmgoers streamed into the Gene Siskel Film Center. The audience reflected several chapters of Norman Malone’s long life and included former students and colleagues, friends from the jazz scene, South Side neighbors, music aficionados and, of course, cinephiles.

But the film played differently in Chicago than it has in any other city: Audiences laughed at the subtlest bits of visual humor, fell to a swift silence at the film’s dramatic turning points and burst into spontaneous applause at one of Norman’s onscreen performances. When the film ended, Norman walked to the grand piano at the side of the stage while the audience applauded robustly. He played an excerpt of Brahms’ transcription of Bach’s Chaconne, arguably the most towering solo work for left hand alone. The grace, understatement and elegance of this reading were apparent.

Then Norman shared the stage with filmmakers, fielding questions from festival senior programmer Anthony Kaufman and the audience. How did this whole filmmaking process begin? “I was minding my own business,” quipped to Norman, whose life changed when the Chicago Tribune wrote about him and precipitated the film project. What does Norman think about when he plays the last notes of Ravel’s monumentally difficult Piano Concerto for the Left Hand? “Thank God I made it!”

After the brief Q-and-A, Norman’s fans swarmed the stage, taking selfies with him, exchanging email addresses and phone numbers, and otherwise making personal contact with a man and musician they could not get enough of.

More audience questions came up during the festival’s encore screening on Oct. 20 at AMC River East. Where did Norman find the strength to carry on despite all the challenges he has faced? Said Norman: “I’m a survivor.” One of his former students described what Norman’s choral teaching meant to young singers. “For me and my friends, his room was a place of solace.”

View more images from the Oct. 17 event. All photos courtesy of Zbigniew Bzdak.