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
Board orders deportation for trucker in horrific Humboldt Broncos crash
The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.
How to keep insects out of your house, according to an entomologist and other experts
Now that temperatures have warmed up even more this spring, you may be anxious at the thought of bugs invading your home or you may already be battling the pests. Here are expert tips on how to keep them away.
Community mourns victims of fatal boat crash near Kingston, Ont.
The three people killed in last weekend's tragic collision between a speedboat and a fishing boat north of Kingston are being remembered Friday.
A woman took her dog to a shelter to be euthanized. A year later, the dog is up for adoption again
Exhausted and short on options after consulting two veterinary clinics, Kristie Pereira made the gut-wrenching decision last year to take her desperately ill puppy to a Maryland shelter to be euthanized.
Group tied to Islamic State plotted fatal Ontario restaurant shooting: Crown
A gunman who is accused of killing a young Ontario man and shooting four of his family members at their small Mississauga restaurant in 2021 was allegedly part of a trio who had pledged allegiance to the listed terrorist group Islamic State, a Crown attorney said in an opening statement in the Brampton murder trial this week.
'Quiet vacationing': Surveys show workers don't use all of their vacation days, play hooky
'Quiet vacationing' is the latest new term to describe the rough edges of office culture, and survey data shows it's widespread among North American workers.
Morgan Spurlock, Oscar-nominated director of 'Super Size Me,' dies at 53
Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar-nominee who made food and American diets his life's work, famously eating only at McDonald's for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died. He was 53.
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.
Avian flu: Catch up on spread, risks, and guidance from health experts
After another case of H5N1 avian flu linked to dairy cows was confirmed in a second dairy farmer in the United States, some Canadian experts say the federal government needs to expand surveillance of the virus north of the border.