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Fanny Mendelssohn stood, like so many women of her age and beyond, in the shadow of a man. Sheila Hayman - who is Fanny's great-great-great-granddaughter - attempts to pull her out from behind her more famous sibling Felix and into the spotlight. The result mixes the biographical with the musical and even a touch of manuscript mystery - the latter by far the strongest element - but there's a scattergun feel to the way the material is presented and the pace is sedate.

Hayman provides the film's narration, which though offering up plenty of information isn't matched by the visuals, so that there's a sensation that virtually everything would lose very little if we were only hearing it via the radio. Merely flagging up key words of letters as they are read out feels like a missed opportunity to breathe more movement into the film in the form of re-enactment or,...

Sister of the celebrated Felix, Fanny’s own prodigious gifts were kept as quiet as possible and long remained unknown. A new film, by Fanny’s direct descendent, tells her story

To read the family’s account, you’d never know that Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix’s big sister, was also a composer of genius. Her own son, my great-great-grandfather Sebastian, paints a vivid picture of her in his history of the family: funny, brilliant, affectionate. But not a word about her as a musician.

So it was not until I made a film about Felix for the BBC in 2009 that I began to discover Fanny’s extraordinary gifts; and also, her lifelong struggle between a desire for self-expression and the horror of upsetting the family. What made it even more compelling was that, for Fanny, the struggle was largely with herself. And that was the start of my documentary Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn.

Making Magic

To mark the 25th anniversary of the “Harry Potter” books being published in the U.S., the Empire State Building is set to be lit up in Hogwarts house colors at sunset on Wednesday, Sept. 27.

Viewers outside of New York can watch the building’s Tower Lights shine red for Gryffindor, yellow for Hufflepuff, blue for Ravenclaw and green for Slytherin on the Empire State’s live cam. For those in New York, there will be a magical pop-up cart on the 86th Floor Observation Deck where fans will be able to pick up free copies of the book and bottles of Butterbeer. Costumes and wizard robes are encouraged.

Crypto Scam

BBC One have set a documentary on alleged crypto-scammer Sam Bankman-Fried. Produced by Bitachon365 (“Secrets of Prince Andrew”), the 60-minute doc will air under the BBC’s “Panorama” strand on Sept. 25. A 90-minute cut will be available...

Mercury Studios, the production company behind recent Abbey Road Studios doc “If These Walls Could Sing,” have unveiled their new feature, about composer Felix Mendelssohn’s genius sister Fanny.

Although Felix, who is best known for writing “The Wedding March,” is still world-renowned 175 years after his death, his sister Fanny was also a prolific musician, composing 450 works – including her own wedding music – before she died in her early 40s. “Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn” tells her story.

Sheila Hayman directs the doc, which also stars classical artist Isata Kanneh-Mason bringing Mendelssohn’s works to life. Filming has taken place in Berlin, New York, London, Oxford and Buckingham Palace, where Kanneh-Mason played Queen Victoria’s piano.

“Take a celebrated musical genius, some sibling rivalry, an unknown manuscript, a dash of sass and one sensational revelation and what have you got? ‘Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn,'” reads the logline.

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