Showing posts with label The Transpersonal Cinema Project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Transpersonal Cinema Project. Show all posts
Miracles are Seen in Light (ACIM 111)
Transformative Media Course for Pandemic Tmes
Announcing our new 14 week online course...
Transformative Media Creation and Reception for Pandemic Times -
Designing and Creating Transformative Media Experiences for Self, Other and World
with Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.
Starting Soon
With most of the planet reeling from this pandemic, we are facing major shifts in ways of being, interacting and engaging with self, others and the world. We at the Integral Cinema Project and Campus Co-Evolve are rising to meet this moment by offering a redesigned version of our popular media course Transformative Media Creation & Reception.
In this special offering, we will be focusing on each of us creating a short video to help people through these challenging times. NO PREVIOUS MEDIA MAKING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED, although experienced media makers are most welcome and will find this unlike anything else they have ever studied. You will be trained in a groundbreaking new approach to help you tap into the calling of this moment, both for yourself and for the collective. You will learn how to listen to what you are called to communicate through your own unique gifts and talents, and develop it into a short media project with the support of the faculty and learning community of this course. You will be using your smart phones for recording new content and using free online stock footage and sound resources.
For those of you at home with families we will be offering you ways to make this process part of your kids homeschooling and a way to bring your family together. For those in extended communities, we will offer you ways to communicate with your fellow community members and even include them in your process.
This course is being offered in association with Campus Co-Evolve and is open to all through a "pay-what-feels-right" model, with a suggested donation for those who can afford to contribute and scholarships for as many others as possible.
NOTE: Course session days and times open to change to accommodate as many participants from different time zones as possible and due to the challenges of the times...
For more information and to sign up for this course visit:
Admissions: https://campus-coevolve.org/admissions/
Dialogues on the Experience of Divine Guidance Video Interview Series
The Dialogues on the Experience of Divine Guidance video interview series is collection of all the psycho-spiritual teachers that have been interviewed as part of this research study.
This series includes in depth interviews with advanced teachers and mystics from the Shamanic, Judaic, Christian, Sufi and Hindu spiritual traditions as well as advanced teachers from A Course in Miracles and Transpersonal Psychology. Divine guidance techniques were used in the preproduction, production and post-production of these interviews and the researcher used the practices of each of the participants tradition before, during and after each interview. The results of this process included the occurrence of synchronicities in the lives of the researcher and each participant.
"The Pond" Meditation Video Now Available Online for Video on Demand
THE POND is a short video meditation for relaxation, personal growth and transformation. Transformative approaches to audiovisual expression are used to capture the presence and atmosphere of the natural environment of a pond and the state of consciousness one can acquire when meditating in this environment. The gentle movement and presence of swimming fish and the interplay of earth, water and light, combine to create a healing and calming energy, while subtle shifts in perspective and consciousness-altering audiovisual elements help stimulate the expansion of both inner and outer awareness.
VOICE IN EXILE Classic Film on Stuttering now available on DVD, VOD and Digital Download at Amazon
VOICE IN EXILE – The Powerful Award-Winning Classic Narrative Film Capturing the Experience of Stuttering – Is now available on DVD, Video On Demand, and Digital Download from Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Exile-Ben-Bottoms/dp/B00BJC8J9C/
“VOICE IN EXILE is the first film on stuttering that tells the story from the inside with all the intensity and power of a real life experience...this is one hell of a film!” – John Harrison, The National Stuttering Association
“VOICE IN EXILE is among the most notable socio-dramas on the subject of people with physical challenges.” - Geoff Alexander, Academic Film Archive of North America
“VOICE IN EXILE is a remarkable little film!” – Mitchell Fink, Los Angeles Herald Examiner
About the Film:
VOICE IN EXILE is an internationally acclaimed award-winning dramatic and archetypal film journey into the mind and emotions of Alan Woodward, a seventeen-year old stutterer, exploring the inner and outer trials, tribulations and fears that stutterer’s often endure. Because of Alan's stuttering, communicating the simplest idea is often impossible. Everywhere Alan goes he faces impatient people who do not understand his severe speech problem. At school, Alan faces snickers and stares that wound him. At night, the horrors of Alan's days invade his dreams, leaving him no peace in sleep. At home, Alan faces loving parents who share his frustration; yet, they are confused and often misguided in their efforts to help him overcome his stuttering. It is Alan's grandfather, a recently retired college professor, who seems to be the only one able to communicate with and help Alan embark on a journey of transformation that ultimately leads to the release of his imprisoned inner voice.
The writer/director of this powerful cinematic work, Mark Allan Kaplan, is himself a stutterer and this film is the culmination of Mark's deep personal quest to express the inner life of the stutterer through film. This quest for expression began with the writing of the script, during which Mark delved deeply into his own experiences and emotions as a stutter and tried to translate them into a dramatic story. The script was further developed with the additional input from interviews with other stutterers, while Mark worked with his committed cinematography, sound, and production design teams to translate the experiential reality of the stutterer into a visceral audiovisual language. Then Mark worked with the actor playing Alan, Ben Bottoms, on both the physical aspects of stuttering and the emotional underpinnings.
As a result of this passionate personal and collective effort, VOICE IN EXILE is a remarkably gripping film that touches viewers on many levels. On one level, it is about a young man's quest to conquer his stuttering. On another level, it is about the inner struggle of all those faced with physical and psychological challenges. On a broader and deeper level, the film speaks to all of us as it addresses a universal theme - the struggle to overcome one's legitimate and unfounded fears...fears that inhibit us, often with disastrous results. A Film By Mark Allan Kaplan Starring Ben Bottoms, Jesse Ehrlich, Richard Sarradet, and Sarah Simmons Produced at the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film Studies
For more on VOICE IN EXILE visit www.voiceinexile.com
“VOICE IN EXILE is the first film on stuttering that tells the story from the inside with all the intensity and power of a real life experience...this is one hell of a film!” – John Harrison, The National Stuttering Association
“VOICE IN EXILE is among the most notable socio-dramas on the subject of people with physical challenges.” - Geoff Alexander, Academic Film Archive of North America
“VOICE IN EXILE is a remarkable little film!” – Mitchell Fink, Los Angeles Herald Examiner
About the Film:
VOICE IN EXILE is an internationally acclaimed award-winning dramatic and archetypal film journey into the mind and emotions of Alan Woodward, a seventeen-year old stutterer, exploring the inner and outer trials, tribulations and fears that stutterer’s often endure. Because of Alan's stuttering, communicating the simplest idea is often impossible. Everywhere Alan goes he faces impatient people who do not understand his severe speech problem. At school, Alan faces snickers and stares that wound him. At night, the horrors of Alan's days invade his dreams, leaving him no peace in sleep. At home, Alan faces loving parents who share his frustration; yet, they are confused and often misguided in their efforts to help him overcome his stuttering. It is Alan's grandfather, a recently retired college professor, who seems to be the only one able to communicate with and help Alan embark on a journey of transformation that ultimately leads to the release of his imprisoned inner voice.
The writer/director of this powerful cinematic work, Mark Allan Kaplan, is himself a stutterer and this film is the culmination of Mark's deep personal quest to express the inner life of the stutterer through film. This quest for expression began with the writing of the script, during which Mark delved deeply into his own experiences and emotions as a stutter and tried to translate them into a dramatic story. The script was further developed with the additional input from interviews with other stutterers, while Mark worked with his committed cinematography, sound, and production design teams to translate the experiential reality of the stutterer into a visceral audiovisual language. Then Mark worked with the actor playing Alan, Ben Bottoms, on both the physical aspects of stuttering and the emotional underpinnings.
As a result of this passionate personal and collective effort, VOICE IN EXILE is a remarkably gripping film that touches viewers on many levels. On one level, it is about a young man's quest to conquer his stuttering. On another level, it is about the inner struggle of all those faced with physical and psychological challenges. On a broader and deeper level, the film speaks to all of us as it addresses a universal theme - the struggle to overcome one's legitimate and unfounded fears...fears that inhibit us, often with disastrous results. A Film By Mark Allan Kaplan Starring Ben Bottoms, Jesse Ehrlich, Richard Sarradet, and Sarah Simmons Produced at the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film Studies
For more on VOICE IN EXILE visit www.voiceinexile.com
"Voice in Exile" DVD Release - Now Available at Amazon.com
The DVD of "Voice in Exile," my dramatic AFI film about a young stutterer, is now available for purchase from Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Exile-Ben-Bottoms/dp/B00BJC8J9C/
About the Film and the Process of Creating it...
Voice in Exile is a dramatic transformative film journey into the mind and emotions of Alan Woodward, a seventeen year old stutterer. Seeing the world, both imagined and real, through Alan's eyes, we share the nightmare that haunts him and his family as he struggles to not let his stuttering stop him from living.
My goal as a filmmaker was to capture the inner and outer world of the stutterer through dramatic, symbolic, archetypal, and audiovisual expression. This was a deeply personal journey for me since I have been a stutterer for most of my life.
The process began with the writing of the script. During the scriptwriting phase I delved into my own experiences and emotions as a stutter and tried to translate them into a dramatic story. I also interviewed other stutterers for additional research. The script was further developed while I worked with my cinematographer and production designer to translate the experiential reality of the stutterer into a visceral audiovisual language.
An audiovisual score was created for the film to explore the use of the expressive elements of space, shape, line, light, color, tone, rhythm, movement, orientation, time, contrast/affinity, sign, symbol and archetype in the capturing of the emotional and perceptual states of an individual who stutters. This score was developed from the my own personal story and experiences, along with the stories and experiences of other stutterer's. The screenplay and storyboards were created concurrently with the visual score, enabling the integration of the visual design throughout the piece. The visual score included divisions for subjective and objective perceptions of waking reality (SPR/OPR); subjective dream states (SDS); and subjective developmental transitions (SDT).
Throughout this process and the rest of preproduction, production, and postproduction, a profound inner battle waged within me. Part of me desired to share these inner experiences with others, while another part of me was terrified of revealing this deeply personal emotional reality.
This personally transformative filmmaking experience also appeared to have a transformative effect on viewers of the film as well. A majority of stutterer's reported feeling as though the film captured their inner lives. This produced emotional release, a reduction in feelings of isolation, and an increase in self-esteem in numerous cases. There was one reported case of the film averting an individual’s attempt at suicide. Families of stutterer's who viewed the material reported an increase in understanding and empathy for the family member who stuttered. Non-stutterer's reported an increase in understanding about stuttering and empathy for people who stutter.
"Voice in Exile" also won numerous awards including the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Silver Medal at the Chicago International Film Festival, and was aired on Cinemax/HBO and A&E Cable Networks.
More Information About "Voice in Exile" is available at voiceinexile.com.
Integral Cinema Project Receives Donation of SHARM Software
The Integral Cinema Project has received the generous
donation of SHARM Studio 4 Software from CyberTeam, Ltd.
SHARM Studio is a professional transformational audio tool
that provides the capacity to create transformative audio entrainment
soundtracks including the creation of original ambient scores along with the embedding of brainwave entrainment binaural, monaural, and/or isochronic tones.
SHARM Studio 4 Screenshot
The Integral Cinema Project is using this software to create
transformative soundtracks for our cinematic experiments, and preliminary
research suggests that the integration of this type of sound with integrally-designed
visual and textual elements can significantly increase the immersive and
transformational capacity of cinematic media.
We are deeply grateful for the support of CyberTeam.
The Radiance of Dorothy Fadiman
Dorothy Fadiman is one of the pioneers in Transpersonal Filmmaking and her film “RADIANCE: The Experience of Light” is considered a classic in the field. RADIANCE is both a cinematic expression of Fadiman’s own personal transcendent experience of Divine Light and a visual/poetic exploration of the spiritual significance of light and “radiance.” Here, in Fadiman’s own words, is the story of how this great work was born:
My husband and I create a simple ritual, we take turns drinking from a goblet, gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes, and each take some excellent acid. It’s the 60’s… We know our dealer, and we trust that we have taken good quality (legal at that time…) LSD. As our inner worlds expand, and deepen, I lay down, l close my eyes and start to breathe deeply, as my heart opens and… I hear a voice…inside my head, speaking to me: “May I fill you with Light?’
I have no idea who or what is speaking to me and in this moment, it doesn’t matter.
Whatever it is, I trust it. When you are in this state, where everything is connected to everything…whatever is happening seems right… and I say YES.
With the word “yes” my entire body begins filling with LIGHT, A BRILLIANT CASCADE …of light. A waterfall of radiance flows through me, every cell of my body is filled with this light. As the brilliance becomes almost unbearably intense…then, Jim reaches out and touches me… Suddenly, it STOPS… His touch pulls me back into the room…. I remember saying “What are you doing?????” It’s a moment I refer to now, affectionately, as “Illuminatus Interruptus,” but, in THAT moment, THEN, I am shocked.
Looking back, I know now that I was not ready to receive any more of light than when it stopped after Jim touched me…I realize now that the intention of this cascade was not only to infuse me with light… which it did, but also for me to be able to bring this light back, into my own world….like I am doing now, to tell people about it.
I spend the next ten years raising two daughters while trying to write a book about light. The dirty laundry piles up for days at a time, the dented grey file cabinets fill with my research about light, when the girls are in school, I sneak away to the basement of the art library at Stanford and spend hours under glaring fluorescent lights searching for images of radiant saints and glowing angels as I struggle to write my book.
Finally, after ten years of trying to complete my mission to tell this story with pictures and words on paper, there is a knock on our door. Literally, standing there, is a filmmaker. He says, “I heard what you’ve been trying to do, to write a book about light. Did you ever think of making a movie???”
With his help, I make my first film RADIANCE: The Experience of Light. Since then I have produced more than 25 films...each, in its own way, infused with the "light". The guidance which appeared to me during the experience of light more than 40 years ago, is with me today, every day.
RADIANCE: The Experience of Light can be viewed online at:
http://dorothyfadiman.com/radiance-the-experience-of-light
or downloaded at:
http://www.archive.org/details/Radiance_The_Experience_Of_Light
ABOUT the FILMMAKER
Dorothy Fadiman has been producing award-winning media with a focus on social justice and human rights since 1976. Most of her films have been shown on PBS and in Festivals throughout the world. For more about Dorothy and her work, visit her websites at: www.concentric.org and www.dorothyfadiman.com
Notes on Transcinema
There are two uses of the term “transcinema.” One is used to refer to films about transgender issues and is usually spelled “trans-cinema;” the other usage, spelled “transcinema,” refers to creative works that use cinematic expression as part of a hybrid creative work, usually a combination of live performance and projected cinematic imagery.
The transcinema movement can be traced back to avant-garde art movements in the 60s and had a resurgence back in the late 90s and early part of the 2000s. This later expression appears to be connected to the introduction of digital media technologies and a greater cultural movement of convergence in media platforms. This movement can also be correlated to Integral and transpersonal cultural and creative trends in that it is boundary transcending (transpersonal) and represents a striving toward an integrated multi-dimensional mode of expression (Integral).
During my research into this area I discovered several patterns that appear to be unique to this form of hybrid cinema. It seems that once you start combining live performance and imagery and sound, audiences gets hooked on it and the absence of one or more of these elements must be used with extreme purpose and prejudice.
There is also a natural expectation of a “third and fourth story” beyond the story of the performance and the story on the screen; there is the story of their convergence (the convergence story) and the container for this convergence (the spatial story).
In addition, the audience tends to expect and anticipate a build in convergence between the live performance and the cinematic projections as the piece unfolds; they also tend to anticipate a convergence climax. Of course, the transcinema artist/team, have the choice to fulfill this pattern or consciously play against it, either subtly or overtly.
Announcing the Integral Cinema Project's Affiliation with the Integral Research Center
The Integral Cinema Project is now affiliated with the Integral Research Center (IRC). The IRC’s mission is to support the advancement of Integral Research (IR) and the global community of Integral scholar-practitioners through a variety of activities including: Supporting Integral research projects through grants and support services; providing a forum and resources for the Integral research community; supporting graduate level education and fieldwork in Integral studies; publishing academic articles and original research through special issues of Journal of Integral Theory and Practice; and by sponsoring the bi-annual Integral Theory Conference.
Integral Research is an emerging approach to mixed methods that is explicitly grounded in Integral Theory and makes use of its post-metaphysical position and its practice of Integral Methodological Pluralism to provide a multi-method approach that weaves together 1st-person, 2nd-person, and 3rd-person methods. IR makes use of multiple methods (qualitative and quantitative) as a way of exploring the multi-faceted and multi-dimensional nature of complex phenomena.
Transformative Creation States
I have been researching what I call transformative creation-states for several years now. By this I mean the use of spiritual, transpersonal, and integral approaches for creative expression to induce altered states of consciousness in order to intentionally convert the creative act into a deeply transformative experience for both the artist and the viewer.
During my research in this area I have discerned several discreet transformative creation-states including creative inspiration-states, catharsis-states, visioning-states, witnessing-states, resonance-states, integration-states, and states of creative grace. I also observed and experienced various group creation states including creative group fields and I-Thou creation states in which members of the creative environment become the “sacred other.”
In addition, during this inquiry I also found a confluence of both structure and flow in the transformative creative process, manifesting within, around, and between any and all of these various transformative creation states. There also appears to be a process in which these two state typologies converge, leading to a transformative creative synthesis of structure and flow.
For example, in my own creative work (film, writing, drawing, etc.), I have found that I can approach the transformative-creative act from a pure flow approach (mindfulness/beingness approach) or from a pure structure approach (e.g., applying sacred rituals and practices or esoteric spiritual structures like Kabbalistic Divine-creation patterns). When I really click into either one of these two creation-state typologies a synthesis appears to occur: The flow-process produces previously hidden structures, and the structure-process leads to a kind of structure-flow experience in which Divine energy appears to move through the structures and, if I am open to it, takes me into a flow through the structures along with it. These experiments have led me to play with a synthesis approach, consciously marrying flow and structure in a sacred-creative dance.
Looking at this triangulation pattern through the masculine/feminine typology lens, the flow-process can be correlated to the feminine, the structure-process correlated to the masculine, and the synthesis of the two can be seen as a union of the deep masculine and feminine.
The Birth of Trans-Opera: The Convergence of Cinema and Opera
A new form of opera emerged recently. For this year’s production of the Barber of Seville, the Florida Grand Opera company blazed new territory by using an animated digital screen backdrop for their production, adding depth, movement, and cinematic immersion to classic opera. This animated digital backdrop added evolving background environments replete with changes in location, light, and weather. It also added shadow characters that interacted with the live actors on stage, from groups of musicians and soldiers to a lone alley cat. Beyond these dimensions, the animated background also appeared to add greater symbolic and thematic depth to the relatively simple story of the Barber of Seville. Then, in the final moments of the opera, something even more wondrous occurred. The actors climbed up the steps of the central set piece and in the digital background, giant animated wings unfolded and began to flap. The juxtaposition between the animated backdrop and the live action actors and set pieces created the effect of flying to the heavens. The audience let out a collective gasp and for a few brief moments the stage was transcended and the audience, actors, and set pieces soared.
This convergence of opera with digital cinematic elements created a new multi-dimensional form of entertainment that could be called “trans-opera.” The birth of this new opera-cinematic hybrid is the work of French Director Renaud Doucet and Canadian Production Designer Andre Barbe, with the technical help of Miami’s Lava Studios. The impetus for the birth of this new approach came out of current financial constraints, and from these limits an artistic phoenix has risen. I feel honored to have personally witnessed this event.
Transpersonal Cinema Project IndieGoGo Funding Launch
The Transpersonal Cinema Project IndieGoGo fundraising site is now open for funding at:
Project Advisor Announcement: James Fadiman Ph.D.
James Fadiman Ph.D. has agreed to be an advisor on the Transpersonal and Integral Cinema Project. James is a celebrated author, psychological researcher, corporate consultant, and an adjunct professor at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, which he co-founded. He is also one of the founders of the transpersonal movement, one of the first lecturers at Esalen Institute, and one of the early pioneers in psychedelics research, along with Ram Dass and Timothy Leary. James’s areas of specialization are altered states of consciousness, creativity, human potential, personal and organizational problem solving, Sufi storytelling, transformative fiction, and transpersonal theory. You can learn more about James at: http://www.jamesfadiman.com/index.html.
Project Advisor Announcement: Bruce Block
Bruce Block has agreed to be an advisor on the Transpersonal and Interal Cinema Project. Bruce is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, where he has taught graduate level classes in visual structure for the past 30 years. His book, “The Visual Story,” now in its second edition, is used worldwide by students and professionals working in motion pictures, television, advertising and video game design. Bruce also teaches visual structure at the AFI and UCLA, and his seminars on visual structure have been presented to companies including PIXAR Studios, The Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon Studios, Hasbro Interactive, Hewlett Packard, Blue Sky Studios, DirecTV and The Binger Film Institute. His credits include production and creative consulting on numerous film projects including As Good As It Gets, What Women Want, The Holiday, Alfie, Stuart Little, The Great Outdoors, Pretty in Pink, The Parent Trap, Father of the Bride I & II, and Baby Boom. You can learn more about Bruce at: http://www.bruceblock.com/.
Project Advisor Announcement: Arthur Hastings, Ph.D.
Arthur Hastings, Ph.D. has agreed to be an advisor on the Transpersonal and Integral Cinema Projects. Arthur is a Professor at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology where he is the Research Director for the Institute and the Director of the William James Center for Consciousness Studies. He is also a former faculty Chair for the Residential programs, former Dean and President of the Institute, and a Past President of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology. Arthur’s areas of specialization are altered states of consciousness, parapsychology, research methods, and transpersonal theory. He has conducted pioneering research on audio brainwave entrainment, channeling, hypnotic trance induction, and the psychomantium experience. You can learn more about Arthur at: http://www.arthurhastings.com/.
TCP on IndieGoGo
The Transpersonal Cinema Project is now on IndieGoGo at: http://www.indiegogo.com/transpersonalcinemaproject
Once complete, the TCP IndieGoGo site will act as a project funding, promotion, and social networking hub for those interested in supporting and/or participating in The Transpersonal Cinema Project.
Once complete, the TCP IndieGoGo site will act as a project funding, promotion, and social networking hub for those interested in supporting and/or participating in The Transpersonal Cinema Project.
Synchronization of the Senses
Renowned Russian filmmaker and film theory pioneer Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) postulated that the unique nature of the cinema produces a holistic and transcendent "synchronization of the senses" through the "integration of word, image and sound, and the accumulation of successive images and sounds [that serve] to construct perception, meaning, and emotion". After years of cinematic experimentation and "a thorough analysis of the nature of audiovisual phenomena," Eisenstein believed that the conscious manipulation of this sensory synchronization could allow the filmmaker to converse with his or her audience on higher, deeper, and subtler levels of communication by more closely replicating the multidimensional sensory stimulation of actual lived experience.
An example of the power of this consciously controlled sensory synchronization can be found in the film Chariots of Fire (1981). In this British cinema classic, the filmmakers combine the images and sounds of the experience of running with an emotionally expressive musical score to viscerally communicate the peak experience of running. When this synchronization of image, sound, and music integrates with the film’s plot, performances, and dialogue, the audience is able to experience the ephemeral and transformative emotions involved in the physical and spiritual struggle for glory.
Transpersonal Cinema Project Website Official Launch
The Transpersonal Cinema Project website launched at http://www.transpersonalcinema.com/
The Transpersonal Cinema Project is a groundbreaking research and production initiative seeking to investigate and advance these powerful transformational potentials of the cinema by integrating the latest theories, practices, and technologies of cinematic media, creativity, human perception, and consciousness.
Seeing the Light
"For the moment, look at cinema as a mystery religion. One enters the darkened place and joins the silent congregation. Then comes the beam of light out of the shadows: the Projector, the Great Projector up there behind us! Turn out the little lights so that the big light can penetrate the darkness! Ah, behold the unreeling of the real reality of practically everything: our dreams, our idiocies and raptures, our nativity, passion and death."
- James Broughton (Seeing the Light, 1986)
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