Glass's music keeps films moving

Composer Philip Glass will perform, speak, and screen clips from his contributions to film on Friday at Mass MoCA.

The film industry is full of big egos, and composer Philip Glass, who has written dozens of scores for films, is well aware of how some insiders feel about his role.

"The thought is that you are not supposed to remember a score," said Glass, who will be speaking at Mass MoCA later this week. "Film composers should be heard and not seen."

Glass, 71, does not see things this way. "If you think of [Alfred ] Hitchcock, you remember the Bernard Herrmann scores," he said in a telephone interview. "If you think of "The Pink Panther," you can't help but think of [Henry ] Mancini. If you think of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" you can't help but hear the music."

And if you happen to see, say, Errol Morris's "The Thin Blue Line," or Peter Weir's "The Truman Show," or Martin Scorsese's "Kundun," Glass would not be disappointed if you thought of him. He is the man behind the music in these movies, as well as some 60 other films and videos. "It sounds like I am fearfully busy. I am," he said, speaking quickly and breathlessly in an interview he's declared will run only 15 minutes. "But the real number is closer to 40. What happens is that people want a score from me, which I don't have time to write, and I suggest they license music that is in fact my music but not original for them."

Glass, considered one of the most influential composers working in film, is indeed a busy man these days.

He just finished a sonata, and before that a piece for two pianos, four hands. He's got a new violin concerto in the works plus a full ballet for the Netherlands Dance Theater, and he still performs on piano with the Philip Glass Ensemble. One appearance he's squeezing in is a Friday event at Mass MoCA called "Phillip on Film." Glass will be performing, speaking, and screening clips from his contributions to film.

"I am doing fewer movies than I used to," said Glass. "I've only done two scores in the last two years. As a preference I only do one a year." He didn't start writing film music until he was in his 40s, but that hasn't inhibited his range or output: His scores span the genres of narrative features, experimental films, documentaries, and commercial features. Among his credits are such classics as Godfrey Reggio's Qatsi trilogy, which includes "Koyaanisqatsi" and "Powaqqatsi"; he also rescored the 1931 classic horror film "Dracula."

Glass says he likes to enter the film process as early as he can, even while the filming is still going on, since he believes the music is integral to the process. "Put simply, the music of a film should be closely aligned to the structure of a film and in fact should articulate it. It should move you through the film," he said, citing the example of "Dracula." "Without the score it is a clunky 1920s staging: The transitions are awkward. You almost get lost in the moments between the scenes. They become so vacuous and empty. Break, scene, break, scene. When I did the score, I closed up all the empty sections. The music is propelling the film."

Is there anything uniquely Glassian about his scores? "I don't know," he said. " 'The Illusionist' is quite a romantic score, in a way. 'Kundun' is very, very dramatic." Still others, he said, "are world music-y. I'm like the fish in the bowl trying to describe what the world is like. Don't ask me: I'm in the bowl!"

Is there a film he wouldn't write music for?

"I haven't come across one yet," he said, then amended his answer. "I probably wouldn't do what they call adult movies."

By now, 17 minutes have elapsed. Does he ever go out to the movies?

"Of course not," Glass said.

Conversation over.

"Philip on Film," at Mass MoCA in North Adams on Friday at 8 p.m. Call 413-662-2111 or visit www.massmoca.org

On Thursday at 7:30 p.m., the museum will screen a Scott Hicks documentary about Philip Glass, "Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts."

SCREENINGS OF NOTE: The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival is known for presenting distinctive fiction, documentary, and animated films and videos related to human rights issues. From Wednesday through next Sunday, the Museum of Fine Arts is presenting six films from the festival. These include "Traces of the Trade" in which filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her ancestors were one of the largest slave-trading families in US history; and "USA vs. Al-Arian, a Norwegian film that follows a university professor's battle with the legal system over his pro-Palestinian beliefs.

The series also includes Friday's Boston premiere of Youth Producing Change, a program of nine short films directed and produced by youth around the world, presented by Adobe Youth Voices.

One of them is from 19-year-old Boston filmmaker Rene Dongo, a film major at Emerson College. His film, "The Countdown," reflects on the impact of Sept. 11 and features Boston native spoken word artist Sofia Snow. There will be two screenings of the Youth Producing Change program, at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., followed by a discussion by the filmmakers. The 10 a.m. screening is free for school groups, though pre-registration is required (ypcboston@hrw.org). For information about the program call 617-369-3306 or visit www.mfa.org/film.

The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem will also screen a selection of films from the Human Rights Watch festival, on Saturday and next Sunday. Visit www.pem.org or call 978-745-9500.

The folks at Open Screen are holding the fourth annual Best of Open Screen at the Brattle Theatre Tuesday at 7 p.m. It's the rough equivalent of an open mike night, except with filmmakers of the underground/student/fringe variety. Expect to see 12 short films in a lineup of everything from homemade Super 8 films to music videos to animation. www.bostonopenscreen.com

The late Egyptian director Youssef Chahine might not be a household name in America but his career extended over six decades and included 37 feature films. Ten of them will be presented in a series devoted to his work at Harvard Film Archive Friday through next Monday called "Youssef Chahine, the Cosmopolite of Egyptian Cinema." Visit www.hcl.harvard.edu/hfa.

Linda Matchan can be reached at l_matchan@globe.com.