B.C. composer with debilitating condition realizes dream of scoring movie
When Ari Kinarthy embarked upon this quest, he never could have imagined where it would ultimately lead.
Since he was a child — living with a rare genetic condition that stopped his muscles from working — Ari had been fighting to find ways to have fun.
“It feels very frustrating,” Ari says. “To be left out of activities that my friends can do and I can’t.”
After losing the ability to play video games with a hand controller, Ari searched for years to find a solution and eventually found technology that allowed him to control the action on screen with the movement of his breath.
“I can play almost any game out there,” Ari says. “My friends can join me and we can have a great time.”
But finding a pleasurable pastime couldn't compare to the unexpected discovery of a true passion for making music.
“I really just want to impact people deeply,” Ari says.
Despite spinal muscular atrophy progressively weakening his muscles, the adaptive technology and music therapy was strengthening Ari’s talent for composing.
He released two albums of original instrumental music, studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and is open to accepting commissions to compose.
“Now my dream is to write music for film,” Ari says.
A re-imagined quest – followed by Ari receiving an unexpected message from a stranger who offered to realize that dream.
“I thought it was a scam,” Ari recalls with a laugh.
It wasn’t. It turns out the directors at the award-winning Salazar Films had heard about Ari’s work and wanted to collaborate with him.
“He wants to be regarded as an artist with a disability, not a disabled person who’s an artist,” director and producer Jeff Petry says. “And I think the film (we made together) really focuses on that.”
"Ari’s Theme" is set to have it’s world premiere at the Hot Docs Film Festival.
The film within a film documents how Ari overcomes adversity to compose the soundtrack for the movie. It features original music that celebrates his most impactful memories and — facing a condition that will shorten his life — fuels him to leave a meaningful legacy.
“The audience gets to actively partake in the mission of the film itself,” Jeff says.
And Ari gets to realize his ultimate quest was not just to find play games or discover a musical passion — but to realize his life’s purpose. And for our triumphant hero, that’s to inspire.
“You only have one life,” Ari smiles. “And it’s best to live it to the fullest.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
More seniors are using homeless shelters. Here's why, according to experts
One of the country’s homeless shelters has seen an uptick in the number of people through its doors, including more older adults over 50.
The death toll in Kharkiv attack rises to 14 as Zelenskyy warns of Russian troop movements
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday that Russia is preparing to intensify its offensive along Ukraine's northern border, as the death toll rose to 14 in an aerial bomb attack on a large construction supplies store in the city of Kharkiv.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels freed over 100 war prisoners, the Red Cross says
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday released more than 100 war prisoners linked to the country’s long-running conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
Man or machine? Toronto company finds a way to determine how real audio clips are
The Toronto-based research arm of life sciences technology firm Klick Health has found a way to analyze voices in a manner that’s so granular, it can tell whether it's a person or an artificial intelligence-powered machine.
No sign Canada has a plan to reach NATO defence spending target: U.S. NATO ambassador
The U.S. ambassador to NATO says she has seen no indication that Canada has a plan to reach the NATO spending target of two per cent of GDP on defence.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.