Brothers Hypnotic

Premiered April 7, 2014

Directed by

Reuben Atlas

Eight boys were forged into a band as children by their father. Now as young men, they must test their father's ideals against their own vision.

Preview

EXPLORE THE FILM

About the Documentary

The eight young men who make up the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are all sons of Phil Cohran, a legendary Chicago trumpeter who turned his back on commercial music to pursue astral jazz (with the “cosmic philosopher” of jazz, Sun Ra), proto-funk, and a passionately Afrocentric lifestyle. Cohran’s ultimate avant-garde work, however, may have been his own sons, who were raised communally on Chicago’s South Side with Cohran and their two mothers, complete with homemade clothes, veganism, and alternative holidays.

Starting at age four, the boys also joined the family band, learning to play the trumpet, tuba, drums, French horn, cornet, and trombone. Rehearsals began early each morning but, unlike the Jackson Five, Cohran’s sons were not bred for pop stardom. Instead they were taught to “create sounds to fuse with the body and heal the soul,” and to serve as an inspiration for the community.

Cohran’s “boys,” as seen in Reuben Atlas’s Brothers Hypnotic, are now young men in their 20s and 30s, and when they raise their horns, they make transcendent music that ties currents from jazz and funk to soul and hip-hop. But although working together as their father had hoped — whether playing in Times Square, negotiating with managers and record labels, or jamming with Mos Def and Prince — they find the unwavering ideals bred into them by their father repeatedly tested.

The film follows the octet as far away as Ireland as they tour and work to carve out their own renown around the world.

The Filmmaker

Reuben Atlas

Reuben Atlas is an independent filmmaker and lawyer, selected for DOCNYC’s inaugural 40 Under 40 list and as a Impact Partners Producers Fellow. He produced and directed with Sam Pollard, Acorn and the Firestorm, about the impactful and controversial community organizing group, ACORN. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, was supported by Sundance, ITVS, Black Public Media, and the IDA, and broadcast on PBS' Independent Lens. He also co-directed with Jerry Rothwell the Netflix and Arte funded, Sour Grapes, about a counterfeit wine conman. His first film, Brothers Hypnotic, about the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, which featured Prince, Phil Cohran, and Damon Albarn, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, broadcast internationally and on PBS' Independent Lens and is distributed by Factory 25. He previously worked at Legal Aid in Paterson, NJ, in counseling at a maximum security prison, as a bartender in the Netherland Antilles, and for a Cuban newspaper in Costa Rica.

Full Credits

Documentaries Available to Watch Now

Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
Racist Trees
If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis
Beyond Utopia
Breaking Silence
A Town Called Victoria
Three Chaplains
El Equipo
Silent Beauty
Sam Now
Matter of Mind: My ALS

Learn more about the documentary

Meet the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Filmmaker Reuben Atlas Shooting Brothers Hypnotic

Reuben Atlas Gets Down to Brass Tacks with Brothers Hypnotic