All the Way Through Evening

All the Way Through Evening
Directed byRohan Spong
Written byRohan Spong
Produced byAdam Farrington-Williams
Rohan Spong
Duncan Hewitt
Brad Heard
StarringMimi Stern-Wolfe
CinematographyRohan Spong
Edited byRohan Spong
Music byRobert Savage
Release dates
  • December 1, 2011 (2011-12-01) (New York premiere)
  • November 29, 2012 (2012-11-29) (Australia)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUSA / Australia
LanguageEnglish

All the Way Through Evening is a 2011 documentary film that chronicles pianist and concert producer Mimi Stern-Wolfe as she prepares for her annual concert of music written by New York City composers lost to HIV/AIDS. Dubbed The Benson AIDS Series (after her friend and longtime collaborator Eric Benson), Stern-Wolfe's concert contains music that recalls the arrival of HIV/AIDS and the devastation left in its wake.

Directed and photographed by Australian Rohan Spong, the film follows Stern-Wolfe as she engages various players to rehearse and perform the musical works of late playwright Robert Chesley and posthumously recognized composers Kevin Oldham, and Chris DeBlasio. The film includes the latter's seminal piece 'Walt Whitman in 1989', with a libretto by Perry Brass, which imagines the great American poet Walt Whitman surveying the Lenox Hill Hospital amidst the peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City. Interspersed amongst Stern-Wolfe's preparations and performances are interviews with the composer's friends, family, lovers, and collaborators.