An ordinary man, sure, but through his eyes, an extraordinary tale of perseverance, survival, and life. As the film opens, 94 year old Jack Beers rips a phone book in half. As if that weren’t inspirational enough, he rips in half again. Holes In My Shoes is his story, born almost a century ago to very humble beginnings, and while performing some interesting feats, has remained humble himself.

In the 20’s as a young lad, he became one of the early “strong men” whose career was cut short through misfortune and business practices of the day. This alone would be a worthy story for a documentary in itself, but Holes In My Shoes just keeps going. Career changes, societal changes, war – it all provides background to Jack Beers’ story of how perseverance kept him moving forward.

While many people at the age of 94 have amassed a number of interesting stories to tell, Jack Beers has had a life that in and of itself is an interesting story. The DVD case tries to make it sound as if this man’s life is inspirational, and to a certain extent it is, because no matter how bad you may think you have it, Jack Beers has survived through something similar if not worse. I didn’t find his story inspirational so much as fascinating. Watching Holes In My Shoes was almost like sitting down with your grandfather and listening to his life story for the first time.

Is Holes In My Shoes worth watching? Frankly, I think so. This documentary provides a perspective on how things have changed over the last 100 years, from cars to our behavior as a society. I may not have felt uplifted by the story, but certainly enriched. I also have a greater appreciation for what it took all the skyscrapers in New York City.

There are no special features, which is probably okay. I had expected unedited interviews with those that know Jack Beers, the filmmaker included. Still, at 90 minutes the pacing is good and we get a great snapshot of a life’s story that in and of itself is a special feature.

http://www.dignews.com/reviews/holes-in-my-shoes/

Sacred Love-Making

This sensitive, discreet, and beautifully filmed DVD on the Taoist art of love features Karinna Kittles-Karsten, author of the best–selling book Intimate Wisdom: The Sacred Art of Love and a certified Taoist educator, who apprenticed under world-renowned Eastern masters, including Mantak Chia. Here, she teaches sacred lovemaking to tow obviously affectionate and thoroughly average couples – one married for four years, and the other for twenty years – who candidly discuss their concerns and hopes for their intimate relationships, and then share what the new techniques have brought them.

Taoist love secrets and rituals teach more than how to please a partner, they enhance individual wholeness as well.
-Kristine Morris, Spirituality & Health Magazine, July/August 2009

Fierce Light

“Fierce Light was created to empower people,” says filmmaker Velcrow Ripper. “The philosophy that guides my work is the transformation of our world, one person at a time.” The current wave of spiritual activism is fueled by what Dr. Martin Luther King called “love in action,” and its power is being felt worldwide. People in Africa, Washington, Mexico, Sri Lanka, and South Central Los Angeles are being moved to take an uncompromisingly nonviolent, yet strong, stand on issues that range from equal treatment under law and environmental degradation to the availability of healthful and safe food, and community empowerment.

Featuring Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Pulitzer prize-winning author Alice Walker, Buddhist peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, environmental activist and author Julia Butterfly Hill and many others, Fierce Light is a moving demonstration of what is possible when human beings, faced with problems crying for resolution, give their very best and join together to shape a new kind of activism, based in the spiritual teaching that we are all one and that any revolution, to be radical and authentic, must be a revolution of the heart.
-Kristine Morris, Spirituality & Health Magazine, September/October 2009

It’s been exactly eight years since the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, and 9/11 seems like a perfect date for Northwest Film Forum to host an all-weekend appearance by documentary filmmaker Velcrow Ripper and his inspiring film, “Fierce Light,” which chronicles the increasingly global movement of spiritual activism.

In many respects, the film represents a culmination of response to 9/11 and its earthshaking aftermath — a global embrace of nonviolent protest and united humanity (proposed by Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., among others) as a response to rampant warfare and political oppression. It’s a celebration of those whose actions speak louder than words, and an occasionally heartbreaking portrait of violent force against this peace-loving momentum. As we witness the triumphs and tragedies of many prominent activists, we also see that a bold, uncompromising quest for truth can sometimes prove fatal.

The film is dedicated to Ripper’s friend and fellow media activist Brad Will, who was killed in Mexico in 2006 while videotaping protests against Oaxaca state Gov. Ulises Ruiz. But Ripper’s central example of spiritual activism — and the connecting thread of his soothing and frequently meditative film — is the creation, destruction and ultimate rebirth of the South Central Farm in Los Angeles, where residents of the city’s most violent neighborhood created a communal organic-food farm despite the constant threat of eviction by greedy developers.

While including passionate testimony from devoted activists such as author Alice Walker, actress Daryl Hannah, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and, most poignantly, environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill, “Fierce Light” is also a globe-trotting record of Ripper’s personal quest (following his previous film, “Scared Sacred”) to transcend specific religious faith and embrace an all- encompassing vision of unified humanity, with the civil-rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s as its solid foundation.

The message of “Fierce Light” is not as focused as it could’ve been (it’s essentially a loose compendium of inspiring examples to follow), but that doesn’t make it any less urgent. Herein lies the key to humankind’s ultimate survival, and what could possibly be more important?

By Jeff Shannon
Special to The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2009841994_mr11fierce.html

Certainly the best documentary I saw at the Waterfront Film Festival recently was a collection of inspiring stories that made up “A Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action.” Filmmaker Velcrow Ripper (”Scared Sacred”) globe trots around the world looking at a vast range of people protesting various social issues and examines the notion that social action is most effective when it is deeply rooted in some form of spirituality. The documentary has received awards at numerous film festivals and it is slowing rolling out into theaters this summer with a positive, grassroots buzz growing.

The movie was motivated by the tragic loss of a co-worker in a protest in Oaxaca, Mexico. After that loss, Ripper delved deeper into the connection between faith and activism and the documentary shows footage as varied as celebrity Daryl Hannah sitting in a tree protesting the destruction of farm land in California that is to be turned into a warehouse site, to conversations with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In each vignette, the point is made that compassion and a desire to peacefully connect with others is the means to true, lasting change.

Kris Rasmussen, Beliefnet
http://blog.beliefnet.com/idolchatter/2009/06/a-fierce-light-calls-for-actio.html

If you ever doubted that a TV show about Palestinian Arabs living in Israel could be funny, you must see “Arab Labor” immediately. Shown at last year’s San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, this hilarious series created by Arab Israeli Sayed Oashua could be considered the Middle Eastern “Everybody Loves Raymond.” The plot revolves around Amjad, a secular Muslim journalist trying to assimilate his family into the Jewish world. He buys a car with messed-up gears so he won’t get stopped at the checkpoint. He gets into misadventures with his Jewish buddy, Meir, who at one point mistakenly believes he’s been kidnapped by Arab terrorists. Amjad’s matzo-loving father is a wheeler-dealer who is teaching Amjad’s daughter to play online poker. And Amjad keeps losing bets with his savvy wife about finding their girl a proper kindergarten (ranging from an Islamic school to a Reform Jewish school to the pretentious Freedom School). Just wait for the seder at his daughter’s classmate’s house and the ensuing dinner Amjad gives in an effort to impress the classmate’s family. The adventures of Amjad are priceless.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/26/PKST18MGU9.DTL

In Religulous, Bill Maher was on a satirical quest to find God and understand religion while laughing at the extraordinary claims by the religious. The advertising guru, Simon Cole, took a completely different approach in his documentary film So Help Me God. It’s not a comedy, but rather it is a drama – portraying a real spiritual quest to find God.

Instead of laughing at the religious and what they say, he listened and asked questions trying to understand God. Going from one religion to another, from one denomination to another, he begins to realize that the question is not only where God is, but who’s God is the right one. Everyone is convinced their God is the one, but how can you truly believe it if there are so many religions in the world?

It was delightful when occasional, genuine humor would distract you from the truth. While talking to Presbyterians about homosexuals one of the older guys, probably in his 70 said,

Don’t you love that all these fundamentalists quote the King James Version; and he was as queer as three dollar bill.

You can’t help but laugh.

If you want something refreshing, something personal, and powerful – watch So Help Me God. As an atheist you will see religion from a different perspective and as a theist you will enjoy Simon’s search for God. It’s very healthy to search for the unknown as it takes courage, especially when the unknown defies the mainstream status quo.

A personal master piece that will leave your mind in a deep thought contemplating about your own spiritual state of mind. You owe it to yourself to watch it.

http://www.examiner.com/x-14681-Rochester-Atheism-Examiner~y2009m7d21-So-Help-Me-God-film-review

SCREENED AT THE 2009 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL: Intangible Asset Number 82 seems to have become a fascinating movie almost by accident. Certainly director Emma Franz would have covered much of the same material if things had gone according to plan, but when life hands you a road movie, you roll with it.

Simon Barker is a jazz drummer, and a great one; likely Australia’s best, and one of the best in the world. Part of the reason for that is that he takes interest in and draws inspiration from music from all around the world, and lately he’s become fascinated by a drummer from South Korea, Kim Seok-chul. The friend who gave him the recording hated it, but Barker was entranced by the work of this shaman. He made several trips to Korea to try and meet the man, but Kim is old and somewhat reclusive. One day Barker gets a note from a teacher, Kim Dong-won, who says a meeting may be possible. Barker comes to meet Dong-won, who is impressed not only with Barker’s skill, but with his respect for the culture. He initiates contact with Seok-chul, but it will take some time; in the meantime, he takes Barker on a tour of South Korea to show him traditional Korean music and culture first-hand.

It’s a fascinating trip from the very first stop, where we learn about pansori, a traditional form of Korean music, from practitioner Bae Il-dong. It is jarring, to say the least, perhaps seeming more like atonal shouting than music to western ears. Il-dong lives in a shed near a waterfall, where he trained himself for seven years. Practicing by the waterfall strengthens his voice, so that he can get through the marathon eight-hour singing sessions that a pansori singer needs to tell a story. Film-wise, it’s a great place to start, as it really drives home just how different traditional Korean music is from traditional Western music, while getting us into the countryside and establishing what a strong tradition music has in the culture.

Franz may have rearranged the order of some events in the editing room, as there are some later points where it appears Il-dong has joined Barker and Dong-won on their trip. That’s fine, though - better than fine, really, because the point of this movie isn’t so much to chronicle as to teach, and the filmmakers are able to structure Intangible Asset Number 82 in chapters, with each title (”Energy”, “Yin-Yang”, “Relaxed Power”, “Breath”) giving us new insights illustrated by performance and demonstration. We see Barker integrating what he learns into his own work.

For all the educational aspects, part of what ties the movie together is that it is a road movie. Intangible Asset Number 82 wasn’t going to be dry at any point - though Barker does not have a great voice for narration - but seeing Simon Barker and Kim Dong-won become friends over the course of the movie despite Dong-won’s initial reservations gives it a more universal grounding that may make what is often some rather technical music discussion a little easier to swallow. And while I wouldn’t suggest that all documentaries need to be structured as a narrative, there is something very satisfying at how Barker’s eventual meeting with Kim Seok-chul would come at the end of a quest. This is a man whose contributions to (and representation of) South Korea’s culture has been recognized as a treasure by the government (hence the movie’s title); it should not be easy for an outsider to find him.

“Intangible Asset Number 82″ is a somewhat specialized film. As clearly as it presents its information and as well as it is organized, one likely needs a pre-existing interest in finding out about other cultures and/or music (beyond “I like listening to/playing music”, maybe even academic) to really get into this; even then, there are parts that may be slow going at times. For those that have that interest, though, it’s a quite rewarding way to spend an hour and a half.

You can read the original review by Jay Seaver here.

Watch Intangible Asset No. 82 on VOD site at My Film Blog.

Rating: 3 out of 4 Stars - Recommended!

Brion Gysin (1916-1986)—painter, writer, performance artist, and countercultural guru—is hardly a household name, but Nik Sheehan’s documentary clearly demonstrates that Gysin was influential on some better-known authors, musicians, and filmmakers. FLicKeR opens with a conventional biographical sketch that is primarily dependent on photographic stills and overlaid narration, but fairly quickly expands to incorporate a collage of newly-filmed interviews (featuring acolytes such as Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, and Kenneth Anger, as well as friends and acquaintances), archival footage, and artwork, while covering topics that include Gysin’s collaboration with William S. Burroughs (which resulted in the “cut-up” composition technique of scrambling images and words) and Gysin’s belief that he was “channeling” the 10th-century Persian Old Man of the Mountain, also known as the King of the Assassins. But the central thread running throughout the film concerns Gysin’s construction of the so-called “dream machine,” a contraption (using a light bulb, turntable, and cardboard cylinder) designed to create a hypnotic strobe effect that, according to Gysin (who collaborated with British mathematician Ian Sommerville), could bring a person—if they stared intently enough—into a higher state of consciousness without using drugs. An insightful look at a figure perhaps more notable for his oddity and effect on others than his individual accomplishments, this intriguing profile is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)

Rating: 3 out of 4 Stars - Recommended!

Directors Mironel de Wilde and Julien L. Balmer’s Through the Eastern Gate profiles three young Westerners who chucked it all for spiritual enlightenment in India and Turkey. According to Sister Yeshe Chodron, “Everything you want, you’ll find in India. It’s a place of extremes: heaven and hell.” At 17, the Australian Yeshe became a Buddhist nun, while Californian Aziz Abbatiello found his calling as a Sufi semazen or whirling dervish, and Finlander Ronela Vainio practices Tantric yoga. Yeshe experienced a terrible sense of loss after the death of her father, and turned to drugs and alcohol, but nothing filled the emptiness until she discovered Tibetan Buddhism. After her confirmation in the Catholic Church, Ronela not only felt “flat,” but no closer to Jesus. Both women were looking for change after these transformative experiences (Aziz, on the other hand, had been raised as a Sufi). Each of the three here credit a particular guru or swami—whose comments are also included—for teaching them how to follow their chosen path, and all feel as if they’ve found the “Answer,” although obviously each has found an “answer” that brings purpose to their individual lives. An engaging look at a trio of modern spiritual explorers, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)

by Whitney Borup
February 2, 2009

The enthusiasm of “Nollywood Babylon” is infectious. Focusing on the widely unknown (in the U.S., at least) Nigerian film industry, this documentary speeds its way through seventeen years of their film history. Starting in 1992, the video market in Lagos has provided financial opportunities for hundreds of actors and directors making thousands of films. Clocking in at about 2500 films a year, Nigeria has the third largest film industry (the first and second being the U.S. and India, respectively). Seeing the passion that these artists share for films showing the real experiences of Nigerians, and the love of Nollywood itself, is inspiring for independent filmmakers everywhere, struggling to get their little pictures made.

The star of the film, the Nollywoood director Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen (known as “Da Guv’nor in Lagos), had made 157 movies when “Nollywood Babylon” started filming. By now I’m sure that number has increased drastically as he directs two more during the four-month period the documentary crew was filming. Lancelot is a quirky, very serious, loveable character. Watching him scream at his grip in one scene and then comfort his actress after an emotionally draining performance, you can see just how much he cares about this business.

I only wish the film made an effort to slow down a bit more than its star. The directors, Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal estimated some 9000 cuts, and that seems to exclude the cuts made within the Nollywood film clips themselves. This MTV-style editing makes watching the film a little bit like wiping out under a giant wave. The new information hits you full speed, and you’re left with a mouth full of sand and an unsatisfying feeling of accomplishment. Each Nollywood poster shown in a split second has a wealth of information just beyond our grasp and the effect is a bit nauseating. The style matches the subject, but in this case a moment of silence, or even a single extra second spent on each shot would be very much appreciated. Perhaps the responsibility is placed on the audience to sit up, pay attention, and do our own research later.

http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=11508

by Jay Seaver

SCREENED AT THE 2009 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL: “Intangible Asset Number 82″ seems to have become a fascinating movie almost by accident. Certainly director Emma Franz would have covered much of the same material if things had gone according to plan, but when life hands you a road movie, you roll with it.

Simon Barker is a jazz drummer, and a great one; likely Australia’s best, and one of the best in the world. Part of the reason for that is that he takes interest in and draws inspiration from music from all around the world, and lately he’s become fascinated by a drummer from South Korea, Kim Seok-chul. The friend who gave him the recording hated it, but Barker was entranced by the work of this shaman. He made several trips to Korea to try and meet the man, but Kim is old and somewhat reclusive. One day Barker gets a note from a teacher, Kim Dong-won, who says a meeting may be possible. Barker comes to meet Dong-won, who is impressed not only with Barker’s skill, but with his respect for the culture. He initiates contact with Seok-chul, but it will take some time; in the meantime, he takes Barker on a tour of South Korea to show him traditional Korean music and culture first-hand.

It’s a fascinating trip from the very first stop, where we learn about pansori, a traditional form of Korean music, from practitioner Bae Il-dong. It is jarring, to say the least, perhaps seeming more like atonal shouting than music to western ears. Il-dong lives in a shed near a waterfall, where he trained himself for seven years. Practicing by the waterfall strengthens his voice, so that he can get through the marathon eight-hour singing sessions that a pansori singer needs to tell a story. Film-wise, it’s a great place to start, as it really drives home just how different traditional Korean music is from traditional Western music, while getting us into the countryside and establishing what a strong tradition music has in the culture.

Franz may have rearranged the order of some events in the editing room, as there are some later points where it appears Il-dong has joined Barker and Dong-won on their trip. That’s fine, though - better than fine, really, because the point of this movie isn’t so much to chronicle as to teach, and the filmmakers are able to structure Intangible Asset Number 82 in chapters, with each title (”Energy”, “Yin-Yang”, “Relaxed Power”, “Breath”) giving us new insights illustrated by performance and demonstration. We see Barker integrating what he learns into his own work.

For all the educational aspects, part of what ties the movie together is that it is a road movie. Intangible Asset Number 82 wasn’t going to be dry at any point - though Barker does not have a great voice for narration - but seeing Simon Barker and Kim Dong-won become friends over the course of the movie despite Dong-won’s initial reservations gives it a more universal grounding that may make what is often some rather technical music discussion a little easier to swallow. And while I wouldn’t suggest that all documentaries need to be structured as a narrative, there is something very satisfying at how Barker’s eventual meeting with Kim Seok-chul would come at the end of a quest. This is a man whose contributions to (and representation of) South Korea’s culture has been recognized as a treasure by the government (hence the movie’s title); it should not be easy for an outsider to find him.

“Intangible Asset Number 82″ is a somewhat specialized film. As clearly as it presents its information and as well as it is organized, one likely needs a pre-existing interest in finding out about other cultures and/or music (beyond “I like listening to/playing music”, maybe even academic) to really get into this; even then, there are parts that may be slow going at times. For those that have that interest, though, it’s a quite rewarding way to spend an hour and a half.

http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=18463