MOVIE

Twinkle Dammit!

2020 · 70 min · Documentary

In 1971, Margaret Leng Tan was the first woman to earn a Doctorate degree from the Juilliard School. Since then, her five-decade career has made the musician a figurehead of avant-garde music, owing predominantly to her incorporation of the toy piano in her performances. We meet Leng Tan at the age of 71 as she embarks on an iconic collaboration with George Crumb, one of the last remaining avant-garde composers of his era. "Twinkle Dammit!" gives access to the rarely-seen creative process between two musical geniuses, peeling back the public-facing surface of the world's greatest toy-piano-virtuoso to explore the private obsessions that have lead to a life committed to the avant-garde.