ACCLAIMED FILM COMPOSER DAVID BERTOK
DRAWS ON HIS PERSONAL IMMIGRATION STORY
TO SCORE AWARD WINNING FILM “PEACE BY CHOCOLATE”
“PEACE BY CHOCOLATE” IN THEATRES NOW,
SET FOR VOD RELEASE IN THE UNITED StATES ON
JUNE 10TH & CANADA ON JUNE 14TH
Acclaimed film composer David Bertok shares the score for the award winning film “Peace By Chocolate”. Premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, directed by Canadian filmmaker Jonathan Keijser and starring the late great Syrian actor Hatem Ali, “Peace By Chocolate” is based on the true story of Tareq Hadhad who was forced to flee war torn Syria, immigrating to a small town in Canada where he founded a now booming chocolate factory. Originally born in Bratislava, Slovakia in 1981, with his parents facing political persecution for their activism, David Bertok and his family fled to Germany in 1988. With a personal story that parallels that of “Peace By Chocolate's” main character, Bertok was uniquely positioned to score the critically acclaimed film. Listen to the score for “Peace By Chocolate”, available worldwide now.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SCORE
Whether scoring for a full orchestra or creating an intimate piece with a single piano, Bertok has the spectral ability to tap into a project’s soul and lift it off the screen into your memory. His recent works include scoring the feature film “BOTERO”, soundtracking parts of Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” and “Home Game” and Amazon’s “Brittany Runs a Marathon” and “For the Love of George”, and a stint touring Europe in chart topping progressive rock bands in his younger years. He has lent his orchestration skills to the 2018 Deadmau5 release of “Where’s the Drop?”, arranging for 2018 “America’s Got Talent” Semi Finalists Angel City Chorale, collaborating with German Idol winner Marie Wegener and scoring a 60 minute symphonic orchestra work for the art installation “Stranger-Mankind” debuting in Munich in 2022.
Able to pull from his wealth of creative experience and a deep connection with the heartbreak and hope present in every refugee’s story, “Peace By Chocolate” stands alone as the most personally challenging and yet thoroughly rewarding work Bertok has created thus far. “I loved working on a story about immigration, that shines a positive light on the potential and possibilities that can come from cultural exchange and from taking in immigrants and refugees,” shares Bertok. “I became an immigrant at 6 years old after my parents (after being dissidents and working against the communist regime) fled with my brother and me from socialist Czechoslovakia, which was a Soviet satellite state back then, to West Germany. The aspects of leaving everything behind, starting over and building a new life in a foreign country, including learning a new language, was certainly a big part of my formative years. My parents had to defend their decision to emigrate for many years towards both sets of my grandparents, who had the perspective of ‘How could you leave your family and home country?’ rather than ‘We want a better life for us and our kids, in a free country”. I can relate to these dynamics and opposing viewpoints that Tareq and his family faced and were dealing with. Ambition and the aspect of reaching for something, be it peace, family, recognition, personal dreams were aspects we also wanted the score to express.”
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH THE TRAILER FOR PEACE BY CHOCOLATE:
“Peace By Chocolate” began its theatrical run in the United States on April 29th and Canada on May 6th. For more information on “Peace By Chocolate”, visit the film’s official website here.
Stay tuned for further updates in the coming weeks.
Connect with David Bertok:
www.instagram.com/davidbertokmusic
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