tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46179631138738522182024-03-05T19:34:18.791-08:00The Theory of HappinessDeep in the Ukrainian countryside, an exiled Russian commune is developing its own "Theory of Happiness." Can they succeed, or do dreams of utopia inevitably turn into a veritable nightmare?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-41681850973468211002019-07-17T21:33:00.000-07:002019-07-17T21:33:09.431-07:00Still Life with a Suitcase: ExhibitionI'm excited to announce the Toronto premiere of an interactive, cinematic installation about transnational Russian migration as told through objects, where the audience determines how the story unfolds.<br />
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For the Toronto exhibition, I created a series of linoprints retracing his migration journey using imaginary maps.<br />
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Join us for the opening party on July 25, 7-10PM at Charles Street Video at the Toronto Media Arts Centre<br />
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This exhibition runs from July 26-August 9.<br />
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More details here:<br />
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https://charlesstreetvideo.com/event.php?id=598<br />
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/348111243" width="540" height="360" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-50931150344844822722015-08-21T06:34:00.000-07:002015-12-02T13:31:38.384-08:00New soundtrack video and a limited offer on film DVDs!Three years ago today, I had the privilege of producing the recording session of two of Marc Sabat’s compositions, Euler Lattice Spirals Scenery and Jean-Philippe Rameau. <br />
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We recorded for over 8 hours in a beautiful church on the outskirts of Berlin, exhausting ourselves, and the incredibly talented members of the Sonar Quartett. This recording coloured the emotional tone of the film, “The Theory of Happiness” in beautiful and subtle ways. It’s safe to say that the music became another actor in the unfolding drama of the film. I improvised the documentation of the process, and edited it some time ago. This short is included in the DVDs of the film.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/124555218?color=bababa&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="550"></iframe> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://vimeo.com/124555218">Just Sound</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/theoryofhappiness">Gregory Gan</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div><br />
Support your independent filmmakers!<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top"><div style="text-align: center;"><input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="ZX943AATE55JS" /><br />
</div><table style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td><input name="on0" type="hidden" value="DVD Options:" />DVD Options:</td></tr>
<tr><td><select name="os0"> <option value="***Limited offer*** Deluxe Edition: DVD + CD">***Limited offer*** Deluxe Edition: DVD + CD $30.00 CAD</option> <option value="***Limited offer*** Regular Edition: DVD">***Limited offer*** Regular Edition: DVD $20.00 CAD</option> </select> </td></tr>
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There are two versions available for sale:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzkj4Wa0D0asVN-C5xG0LZF2NmbEnKszv-be8wJmYHiecgOY3pZ2-M1WOCx034dy-KVEzrGleTTCZdUy9siVt4bc_xtwigdiY_8WXpBmUA5xS0LQVRgRJNk01aE8gtBU5I65FZ-BUP_P4/s1600/DVD+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzkj4Wa0D0asVN-C5xG0LZF2NmbEnKszv-be8wJmYHiecgOY3pZ2-M1WOCx034dy-KVEzrGleTTCZdUy9siVt4bc_xtwigdiY_8WXpBmUA5xS0LQVRgRJNk01aE8gtBU5I65FZ-BUP_P4/s320/DVD+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a>1) <span class="text_exposed_show">DVD of The Theory of Happiness with a bonus track—the Berlin recording session of <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100000587484620" href="https://www.facebook.com/000masa000">Marc Sabat</a>'s music featured in the film ($20)***</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show">2) A limited edition DVD, which includes the film, the bonus feature, and a CD of Marc's music: Euler Lattice Spirals Scenery and Jean-Philippe Rameau, performed by the Sonar Quartett ($30)***</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show"> </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">***Note that between Aug. 21, 2015 and Sept. 21, 2015, both the regular DVD and the deluxe DVD+CD are discounted. Here's <a href="http://www.theoryofhappiness.com/2015/08/new-soundtrack-video-and-limited-offer.html" target="_blank">the reason</a> why.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show">If you live in Canada, you can send me an e-transfer via e-mail: <a href="mailto:theoryofhappiness@yahoo.com">theoryofhappiness@yahoo.com</a> (and I will cover postage). If you live outside of Canada, please donate via the PayPal button below, and include $5 for international shipping. Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br />
</span> <span class="text_exposed_show">Thank you for supporting my work!</span><br />
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top"><input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /><br />
<table><tbody>
<tr><td><input name="on0" type="hidden" value="DVD Options:" />DVD Options:</td></tr>
<tr><td><select name="os0"> <option value="***Limited offer*** Deluxe Edition: DVD + CD">***Limited offer*** Deluxe Edition: DVD + CD $30.00 CAD</option> <option value="***Limited offer*** Regular Edition: DVD">***Limited offer*** Regular Edition: DVD $20.00 CAD</option> </select> </td></tr>
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<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></form>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-53067017330816036332014-11-30T21:50:00.002-08:002014-12-04T00:33:16.287-08:00New Short Film Available Online! Phantom Couriers: Ghost in the MachineI'm excited to announce that I have recently made a short film, which has been released online on Monday Dec. 1st.<br />
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Ghost in the Machine is a self-conscious documentary about bike couriers in Vancouver shot on a mix of DSLR & 16mm film. It is a cine-poem, linking urban labourers, modes of transport and bike culture through cinematic means. <br />
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<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/113250604?byline=0&color=bababa" width="550" height="301" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/113250604">Phantom Couriers: Ghost in the Machine</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/theoryofhappiness">Gregory Gan</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>If you like the film, please repost or share the link. For a longer description & credits, or to watch the film in Full HD, please see the Vimeo page. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-7571866307943956902014-03-18T18:35:00.001-07:002014-03-18T20:05:29.571-07:00The Theory of Happiness will get its World Premiere at Hot Docs Film Festival 2014!I am thrilled to announce that "The Theory of Happiness" will be part of several films in this year's Canadian Spectrum competition at the Hot Docs Film Festival 2014! I feel very privileged that the film has been accepted into the festival and the competition.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx4GrhA2sMUGU_iapHBXkyYMfRaCS3VOiejJX7O2AJJ6-XejsCR6YXzmPr3YXpmwbV5IyfqrUO1rGrOryimIa9cVg0L4TNEEvi2HdI7C5CNyzQ6M4rBF0SWsJZiJaH_5VE15z2pkKL6BM/s1600/hotdocs_royalmarquee_gold_1.978x4111_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx4GrhA2sMUGU_iapHBXkyYMfRaCS3VOiejJX7O2AJJ6-XejsCR6YXzmPr3YXpmwbV5IyfqrUO1rGrOryimIa9cVg0L4TNEEvi2HdI7C5CNyzQ6M4rBF0SWsJZiJaH_5VE15z2pkKL6BM/s1600/hotdocs_royalmarquee_gold_1.978x4111_0.jpg" height="207" width="520" /></a></div>
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If you live in Toronto or area, check out the screenings, and save the dates!<br />
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SCREENINGS<br />
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<ul>
<li>TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 Sat, Apr 26 7:30 PM </li>
<li>Scotiabank Theatre 7 Mon, Apr 28 1:30 PM </li>
<li>Scotiabank Theatre 4 Sat, May 3 2:00 PM </li>
</ul>
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You can already buy tickets at the Hot Docs box office <a href="http://boxoffice.hotdocs.ca/WebSales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=22853~446634ba-e848-4237-9b3c-72aceddb5263&epguid=b314c44a-eed5-4434-9c2c-cc86c0bf61ee&">online</a>. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-78116008644008126772014-03-03T20:53:00.000-08:002014-03-03T21:07:17.162-08:00New Trailer!I am excited to share with you a new The Theory of Happiness trailer! We are anticipating an exciting announcement in the next few weeks, so check back for news and upcoming events.
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<div style="text-align:center;">
<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/87152072" width="545" height="306" frameborder="1" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/87152072">The Theory of Happiness Trailer 2014</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/theoryofhappiness">Gregory Gan</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-14428784816227932052014-01-15T23:18:00.000-08:002014-01-15T23:18:03.170-08:00Theory of Happiness Picture-locked!I am happy to announce some news concerning the film, "The Theory of Happiness." <br />
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As of December 16th, the film is picture-locked! This brings us one step closer to the finished film, as I am awaiting news from several film festivals, and continuing to work on the finishing touches. This step could not have been reached had it not been for my super-dedicated and talented editor, Terezia Mikulasova. <br />
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This also means that we are at a new stage of work - designing sound and correcting colour, and I have entrusted several people much more competent than myself to bring the film to the final cut. One of those people is Konrad Skreta, with whom I worked with on the previous film, "Turning Back the Waves," and who is a professional sound designer with over two decades in the film industry.<br />
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The projected timeline is about a month from the date of this post (January 15), when I will have screeners ready to send out to film festivals, and to those who supported the film. I hope you remain patient, and soon enough, we will have a finished film to distribute to anyone interested in delving into the darker side of happiness. <br />
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Here is a screen capture of the project, as it is being prepared for sound and colour work: <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhWykfsbWbkLjqNrI09zzjfvoC3lno9z8bEWEelZtD45-1H-XfD7vsgJ1RgZO8F0vsH-DkGXWc6KCQ5dvNbrdSgER9XaSdNDEoERwOyVbo21HUjJ5tG-oBXAMi5aX9_74x2fCXho1L2E/s1600/Picture+Lock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhWykfsbWbkLjqNrI09zzjfvoC3lno9z8bEWEelZtD45-1H-XfD7vsgJ1RgZO8F0vsH-DkGXWc6KCQ5dvNbrdSgER9XaSdNDEoERwOyVbo21HUjJ5tG-oBXAMi5aX9_74x2fCXho1L2E/s1600/Picture+Lock.jpg" height="350" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-4864032139489053242013-12-02T23:45:00.003-08:002013-12-02T23:50:25.843-08:00Radio Interview with Marc SabatTo those of you who have been keeping track of the progress of "The Theory of Happines," you will remember that last summer, I had the privilege to record the film's soundtrack with a remarkable composer, Marc Sabat.<br />
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Tonight, on 4'33", a new music show that I host on CiTR 101.9 FM, I had the opportunity to catch up with Marc over a long-distance telephone chat, Vancouver-Berlin. <br />
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Check out the podcast on the <a href="http://www.theoryofhappiness.com/p/433.html" target="_blank">show's RSS feed</a>, or click on the 4'33" tab above, to listen to several of Marc's recent works, and hear him talk about his theory and inspiration behind the music.<br />
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(Unfortunately, owing to a poor connection, the audio quality of our conversation is not superb; however, the actual musical pieces are not affected by this)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_nWDwJnpMwZw0aEjZN5w5VQ1NbVtXh-WJtICenkEl8NMmBCw3gxZgrJs8Lh5wVDo32Qiq1tSkb1Rd4Z6P-sjfjjFkW3MWcErg59PQrIOivhQLevOWLxh-Vs1Z8RQZjrsu0UAYTbGBKiA/s1600/header.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_nWDwJnpMwZw0aEjZN5w5VQ1NbVtXh-WJtICenkEl8NMmBCw3gxZgrJs8Lh5wVDo32Qiq1tSkb1Rd4Z6P-sjfjjFkW3MWcErg59PQrIOivhQLevOWLxh-Vs1Z8RQZjrsu0UAYTbGBKiA/s400/header.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-4281560442099829742013-10-02T12:41:00.000-07:002013-10-09T03:01:48.325-07:00A new radio program on CiTR, 101.9FM in VancouverFor the last four months, I've been hosting a radio program dedicated to new music in Canada called 4'33" (after John Cage's famous work by the same name). <br /><br />This program showcases "new music" – contemporary classical and experimental music, especially highlighting Vancouver's local performers and composers of new music. Occasionally, I invite guest composers and performers to visit the station and perform live, or talk about their music.<br /><br />You can listen to the program on CiTR, 101.9 Fm in Vancouver, on Mondays, between 6-7pm. Or, you can listen or sign up to the podcast via our RSS feed. Just click on the link below!<br />
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<div style="line-height: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/feedburner/ZKFVo/~6/1" target="_blank"><img alt="4'33"" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/feedburner/ZKFVo.1.gif" style="border: 0;" /></a></div>
<div style="font-size: x-small; margin-top: 5px; padding-top: 0; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/headlineanimator/install?id=dji880v258da07h3jlv00kqhfo&w=1" onclick="window.open(this.href, 'haHowto', 'width=520,height=600,toolbar=no,address=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars'); return false" target="_blank">↑ Grab this Headline Animator</a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-29436214914200980722013-03-02T23:35:00.000-08:002013-03-03T04:52:29.276-08:00Sea of Changes 1/2<h2>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">Please forgive the long si</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">lence: </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">Here </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">are the formal </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">ackno</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">wledgments of </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">all the amazing </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">people who</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;"> supported th<span style="font-size: small;">is</span> film<span style="font-size: small;"> as part of the IN<span style="font-size: small;">DIEGOGO campa<span style="font-size: small;">ign held last summer<span style="font-size: small;">, which allowed us to record <span style="font-size: small;">the sound<span style="font-size: small;">track to the film. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Thank you!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dan & Melissa Galway</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Campaign Director” </span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Elena Tverskoy<br />Alon<br />Kathy & Nick Morrissey<br />Alla Buzina</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Campaign Cinematographer”</span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aylon C. <br />Olga Gan<br />Hana Balaban-Pommier<br />Deborah Rehner<br />Lenardo Lucarella</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Campaign Sound Recordist” </span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Peter Smith<br />Kristyna Balaban</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nick Hilton</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Special Thank You!</span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">Christin<span style="font-size: small;">e</span> Peddl<span style="font-size: small;">e</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Samuel<span style="font-size: small;"> Vriezen</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">And 7 Anonymous Contributors who did not wish to have their names rev<span style="font-size: small;">ealed</span> </span> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">(This list <span style="font-size: small;">is always evolving,<span style="font-size: small;"> so please contact me i<span style="font-size: small;">f I have <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-size: small;">misspelled<span style="font-size: small;">, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">miscategorized, or </span></span></span>omitted your name.<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-size: small;"> I apologize in advance.</span></span>)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-48417395991148507802013-03-02T23:33:00.000-08:002013-03-03T00:46:49.484-08:00Sea of Changes 2/2<h2>
<span style="color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So What Happened?</span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Have no fear, I have been vigorously working on the film "The Theory of Happiness." Of course, the North American model of film production is just slightly different from the European model, so in order to stay afloat and compensate, at least symbolically, those who are helping me with the project, I had to work wage jobs<span style="font-size: small;"> that</span> ranged from barista work, to English tutoring and bike couriering</span><span style="font-size: small;">. I have also started a Ph.D. program at the University of British Columbia, which has kept me busy for the last eight mo<span style="font-size: small;">nths</span>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Neverthele<span style="font-size: small;">ss, <span style="font-size: small;">my <span style="font-size: small;">editor and I have been getting together reli<span style="font-size: small;">giously every Monday (or Tuesday), <span style="font-size: small;">and wo<span style="font-size: small;">rking <span style="font-size: small;">away on the e<span style="font-size: small;">dit. Our sound</span> <span style="font-size: small;">engineers are getting restless, as <span style="font-size: small;">are our colour cor<span style="font-size: small;">rectors, <span style="font-size: small;">etc, etc.<span style="font-size: small;"> But we are getting closer and closer, and come spring time, <span style="font-size: small;">we will <span style="font-size: small;">hopefully reach that elusive goal <span style="font-size: small;">of a picture lock! </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was fort<span style="font-size: small;">ui<span style="font-size: small;">tous enough to find an editor <span style="font-size: small;">who is also an animator! Over the <span style="font-size: small;">past three months, we have been design<span style="font-size: small;">ing animation for <span style="font-size: small;">certain parts of the film, such as<span style="font-size: small;"> the opening titles. <span style="font-size: small;">You will not be disap<span style="font-size: small;">po<span style="font-size: small;">inted by <span style="font-size: small;">the wait. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-58967358161494471912012-04-26T04:06:00.001-07:002012-04-26T04:10:43.993-07:00UBC Seminar and Preview of "The Theory of Happiness"<h4>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be giving a seminar and showing a 25-minute preview of the film-in-progress, "The Theory of Happiness," at the University of British Columbia this Friday, April 27. </span></span></h4>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be presenting as part of a seminar series of the Eurasia Research Group at UBC.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It will be free and if you live in the Vancouver area, and wish to come out, here is the info:</span></span></h4>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3:00 - 4:30 p.m. (sharp) Room: AnSo 2107</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">UBC | Department of Anthropology</span></span></h4>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">2104-6303 N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver</span></h4>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Hope to see you there, and hope you ask me some tough questions!</span></h4>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-36738429429348626382012-04-10T20:11:00.002-07:002012-04-10T20:14:28.813-07:00Please Support My Fundraising Campaign<br />
Today, I have started a fundraising campaign in order to raise funds to record a quartet composed by an internationally-renowned composer, Marc Sabat, who has agreed to record original music for the film.<br />
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Please consider supporting by sharing, commenting, or donating, if you can.
A new trailer is available on the campaign website, Indiegogo.com. You can also check out Marc Sabat's music and website, <a href="http://www.plainsound.org/">plainsound.org</a><br />
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Thank you for your support.
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-52206262328418283612012-03-18T17:03:00.000-07:002012-03-18T17:03:53.956-07:00Composer!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRO8q9HXE2msZH9MAzV2qjSylrBtGLLuUenH-7x8Ti7jrKpedW_4Hh4Vs61bj9KT9B2ee7dsZNiJurdRdrAudq7OPTQa0QVnpPt-iACzTBeQ18aTzN7aIIrN9PY6_3rzuR3LC-9XIFOVw/s1600/Composer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRO8q9HXE2msZH9MAzV2qjSylrBtGLLuUenH-7x8Ti7jrKpedW_4Hh4Vs61bj9KT9B2ee7dsZNiJurdRdrAudq7OPTQa0QVnpPt-iACzTBeQ18aTzN7aIIrN9PY6_3rzuR3LC-9XIFOVw/s320/Composer.jpg" width="221" /></a></div>
I am currently talking about the possibilities of an original score for the film with a distinguished Canadian composer of contemporary music working and living in Berlin.<br />
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When I first heard his music, I immediately knew the match was perfect. His intonations are in perfect synchronicity with the mood that I want to convey in this film, and we are currently trying to figure out which compositions will be best-suited for different scenes, and how we would go about recording them.<br />
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There is a chance that I will go to Berlin this summer, to record a quartet play his music in a church. Until then, you'll have to wait for the reveal.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-537578028394501462012-01-24T14:18:00.001-08:002012-01-24T14:19:33.918-08:00Salt Spring Arts Council<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoa6JfB19QfyA6ePZEg4_bvMMQ-GZYzvKD-mxMnHgAHTople0-RCrxY8RsstQTmpN9AhyYsyS9NZF_YTmWfaKYmYKAv8YKaQRBr_UnRUwusxLxYtx_rZp9U4yZFwg0fL5T1hCqMWOHdTI/s1600/SSAC+Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoa6JfB19QfyA6ePZEg4_bvMMQ-GZYzvKD-mxMnHgAHTople0-RCrxY8RsstQTmpN9AhyYsyS9NZF_YTmWfaKYmYKAv8YKaQRBr_UnRUwusxLxYtx_rZp9U4yZFwg0fL5T1hCqMWOHdTI/s200/SSAC+Logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I am happy to announce that The Salt Spring Arts Council has awarded "The Theory of Happiness" a generous professional development grant.<br />
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This grant will facilitate work with an editor, and assure the completion of a rough cut of the film. I am also pledging a personal donation to match the award, in order to continue my work on the "Theory of Happiness."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-77460221345771627832011-11-17T20:44:00.001-08:002011-11-19T15:03:25.675-08:00On the move and in progress<br />
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Since the last update, my partner and I have left St. John's and have relocated to British Columbia! We have settled to live on a beautiful island, in a forest, with deer visiting our backyard, and a hammock on our deck. In other words, a perfect place to edit a film!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiloof4J5es115ShBfRf0G4wH7hlXZx7CSHfOGAINhZmiI4BtUrRMNQt6bqbuL_MCh4GvD5oFXAPPdGCI_956IuCr0RCKEjQPoSh_tfGUpodM_pK_8xXvuM8dQMEAATvoCWnGqyIKrkadQ/s1600/SSI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiloof4J5es115ShBfRf0G4wH7hlXZx7CSHfOGAINhZmiI4BtUrRMNQt6bqbuL_MCh4GvD5oFXAPPdGCI_956IuCr0RCKEjQPoSh_tfGUpodM_pK_8xXvuM8dQMEAATvoCWnGqyIKrkadQ/s400/SSI.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Our sendoff and the DVD release were a wonderful way to leave the province-our guests were very warm and supportive. We took the train across Canada over a period of a month, staying with friends and relatives along the way, and doing some filming from the window of the train.</span></div>
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During our travels, many people have contributed to my fundraising efforts, and if you have not received a complimentary copy of my last film, please hang on for a little while still - it's in the mail.<br />
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Thank you for your donations, they are very much needed, and appreciated!<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-1089558559963243422011-09-22T06:41:00.000-07:002011-09-22T06:41:12.241-07:00Release of DVD "Turning Back the Waves"Today, is the long awaited release of the DVD "<a href="http://www.theoryofhappiness.com/p/turning-back-waves.html">Turning Back the Waves</a>," a film produced in 2009-10! If you're in the St. John's area, please don't hesitate to contact me regarding the release at <a href="mailto:theoryofhappiness@yahoo.com">theoryofhappiness@yahoo.com</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWalmyKeMezno-c2S0jczc1L4JyK7SY5sIOKR535zp2kbPQXVqmDNbOEvXoyz1WbiHP50lhccD-WXFmj2yGwlTNnz3q0Ebyya-6g6UyCLEc5Alyrfx_gLvxPvMIneRbKsMopdTgRrujkg/s1600/TurningBackWaves-DVDweb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWalmyKeMezno-c2S0jczc1L4JyK7SY5sIOKR535zp2kbPQXVqmDNbOEvXoyz1WbiHP50lhccD-WXFmj2yGwlTNnz3q0Ebyya-6g6UyCLEc5Alyrfx_gLvxPvMIneRbKsMopdTgRrujkg/s1600/TurningBackWaves-DVDweb.jpg" /></a></div>
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Starting today, I will be accepting donations for continuing my work on "The Theory of Happiness." If you wish to pledge over $25 via the Donate button on the left of your screen, you will get a complimentary copy of "Turning Back the Waves" shipped to your address. </div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-86747028083246956442011-08-30T18:12:00.009-07:002011-08-30T18:22:20.103-07:00Updates: Summer 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Turning Back the Waves</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplf80kaaGzHjFqI_eucjn7rLx84nXaOqoZfxnC0izzevUBC0_aZgFLHfCKLVoN_bVuzvuWS7lY3Jw-oZhqjaVHmfVCXx2jmmlKOHQxwHwNQulj2DIsN9TiTZ9F4CKWodkayiG6k7xV2k/s1600/Elena+V.+and+Gregory+Gan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplf80kaaGzHjFqI_eucjn7rLx84nXaOqoZfxnC0izzevUBC0_aZgFLHfCKLVoN_bVuzvuWS7lY3Jw-oZhqjaVHmfVCXx2jmmlKOHQxwHwNQulj2DIsN9TiTZ9F4CKWodkayiG6k7xV2k/s320/Elena+V.+and+Gregory+Gan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a series of lucky (and not so lucky) coincidences, I made a decision to independently distribute the DVD, Turning Back the Waves. I am currently getting the DVDs printed, and will have them available at the beginning of September. As soon as they become available, I'll be able to ship them to anywhere in the world! I will also be asking for a minimum donation in order to support my work on "Theory of Happiness." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bringing me to my next update:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNc81A-mr1Mt8wCwBHtYKTipUqvbJv8QAYm2fyVxtUX4xMejj5qD34UdYewZFf8nq19CqXuo2xn004W29qb5EMKkyExOGtNNs6EJPJpH9g7-fBDqrrBDq365uAm_gRCeoSrIMAcZJjMg/s1600/FCPimage+for+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNc81A-mr1Mt8wCwBHtYKTipUqvbJv8QAYm2fyVxtUX4xMejj5qD34UdYewZFf8nq19CqXuo2xn004W29qb5EMKkyExOGtNNs6EJPJpH9g7-fBDqrrBDq365uAm_gRCeoSrIMAcZJjMg/s200/FCPimage+for+blog.jpg" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Theory of Happiness</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a result of a week-long collaboration with an accomplished </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">editor, Chris Darlington, working in St. John's, the project is now at the stage of a rough assembly. This, of course, is just scratching the surface. (Don't forget about making it to a picture lock, a final cut, working with graphics, getting a composer for the soundtrack, doing sound mix and design, colour correction, submitting to festival and getting distribution). Currently, I'm also writing narration for the film. </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-40571468736499130392011-05-29T15:59:00.001-07:002011-05-29T16:01:04.230-07:00Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Grant<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRuhB3ETB7EmDKnXHEO8TBj6iygqvOUp7U8qSx8xsBUUhkjVcRctdib4qL-PHT4uxJut7h5K5K0ZKcn4bTfmYH-Dk-HpdS7IgrNHoMODkmhTCgLSO8rhHqVMjLiIXWoLwkXL3rwQR03EQ/s1600/NLAC_logo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="53" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRuhB3ETB7EmDKnXHEO8TBj6iygqvOUp7U8qSx8xsBUUhkjVcRctdib4qL-PHT4uxJut7h5K5K0ZKcn4bTfmYH-Dk-HpdS7IgrNHoMODkmhTCgLSO8rhHqVMjLiIXWoLwkXL3rwQR03EQ/s200/NLAC_logo.gif" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thanks to a generous grant from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, work on "The Theory of Happiness" will now be assisted by a professional editor. Also, an excellent producer has stepped on board to see this film through. In the last few months, several applications have been submitted asking for support from various cultural agencies in the province. As soon as I hear back from them, updates will follow.<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-67801698450259506352011-04-11T07:43:00.000-07:002011-04-11T07:43:12.718-07:00Theory of Happiness: Extended PreviewThe film is picking up momentum with people coming on board to help me finance, produce and edit the final picture. Finally, here is the extended preview that I have put together while working on this project in Belgium.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="309" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/22222897?byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff" width="549"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/22222897">Theory of Happiness (Preview)</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/theoryofhappiness">Gregory Gan</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
Feel free to comment on the post, or <a href="http://www.theoryofhappiness.com/p/get-in-touch.html">send me an e-mail</a>. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-20477759698014984542011-02-19T15:57:00.002-08:002011-02-25T17:45:31.576-08:00Seminar and Film Preview<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUhikRBFdIOPY-8dG06KDfv5zFzdzWa3KsFLv52-CGRze0EUxRzbVlu1sIC29M87lOVX1mwAhbHWSrkTGc3PqBV2sg3P5XMFGgXQzCbqqjdqkwuZOP1FnE0A1j552ohBq7PoxXu0FKQPM/s1600/Questionnaire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUhikRBFdIOPY-8dG06KDfv5zFzdzWa3KsFLv52-CGRze0EUxRzbVlu1sIC29M87lOVX1mwAhbHWSrkTGc3PqBV2sg3P5XMFGgXQzCbqqjdqkwuZOP1FnE0A1j552ohBq7PoxXu0FKQPM/s400/Questionnaire.jpg" width="326" /></a>Thank you everyone who came to my seminar this Tuesday.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of the presentation, I gave a questionnaire to determine how the audience rates on the Pyramid of Happiness. Everyone failed.<br />
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I am including the questionnaire here, along with the text of the seminar. In my next post, you will be able to see the trailer to the film.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Where Do You Place on the
Pyramid of Happiness?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Notes of a
Filmmaker/Participant-Observer in a Radical Ukrainian Sect<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Gregory Gan</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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On
the palm of the earth, stands the city of the sun. <o:p></o:p></div>
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No
bad weather or bandits, the city is immersed in the world of kindness<o:p></o:p></div>
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A
world of love; the kingdom of wisdom, in the city of the sun<o:p></o:p></div>
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Look
closer friend, who is your friend and who is your foe?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Who
obscures the sun by clouds, creating darkness, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Wake
up!<o:p></o:p></div>
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If
you want to live there, creating sunny days of life, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Look
for your neighbours in the city of the sun.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Only
a real person will be your friend forever, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Happiness
will spark for all friends, in the city of the Sun. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
This is a translated quote from the
song, City of the Sun, composed by Yura Davidov, the founder of the sect,
“PORTOS,” The Poetical Altruists for the Development of the Theory of Universal
Happiness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 32px;"><b>Introduction</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
So
imagine an idyllic village outside of Khiarkov, Ukraine hosting the modern-day
Theoreticians of Happiness. Imagine a country road along a scenic pond bordered
by ivies. Children play on the road, villagers throw in fishing lines. At the
end of the line, a muddy entrance to a dilapidated property. A large pyramid is
painted on the garage. A dog on a chain barks at the entrance. A garage, a
shed, a pile of pipes and metal scraps. Every structure has a name. The shed,
“Archimedes,” the latrines, “Stalin and Yeltsin,” the main house, “Terem,” an
ancient Slavic term for “Hearth,” the upturned truck cabin, “A Dog’s
Happiness,” because underneath, there are bowls of dog food. This is a farm
that raises pigs and has a herd of 35 cows. They distribute milk to
neighbouring villages. Their goal is Universal Happiness. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I
enter the main house, passing through the tiny, soiled kitchen smelling of gas
and enter into the main room. The space is decorated with banners and slogans
from floor to ceiling. The slogans read, “Death to Thievery,” “Honour the
Heroes of Labour”, “First think of your country, then think of yourself.” I see
this slogan on my ceiling every
time I open my eyes in the mornings. I share my bedroom with three other
men. We sleep in our clothes, smelling of manure. Flies abound, and rats
scratch at the walls. Not that there is much sleep to be had. We work long
days, 14-18 hours, not to mention our mandatory attendance at nightly meetings,
which often take us past midnight or 1 a.m. We get up at 4 a.m.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
This
is how members are introduced into the structure of the organization. Smoking,
drinking and swearing are prohibited. There is a dress code, a vest to carry
all the essentials; a cell phone, to immediately connect with other members; a
notebook, to write down progress reports on all the deeds that we have done
throughout the day, the week, our lifetimes. A flashlight, a hat, a
long-sleeved shirt, pants; no shorts, so as to remain decent, because sexual
relations are also prohibited here. The temperature is hovering just above 40
degrees Celsius. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
We
are prepared because in times of war, one must always be ready for battle. And
we are fighting an ideological war against the tyranny of those with a lower
degree of Happiness. Those who try to poison the masses with alcohol and
tobacco. Those who are in power, and who attempt to dictate how we should lead
our lives. But we are vying to be Real people, Great people who are going to
enter into history and who will live eternally. Our happiness is classified
according to the number of good deeds we have done in our lifetime, with the
subtraction of all our mistakes. We can see our placement, our ranking in the
hierarchy of the organization, as well as the ranking of every individual on
earth on the Pyramid of Happiness. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
So
how do you rate on the Pyramid of Happiness? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
If
you have filled out the questionnaire that I have passed out at the beginning
of the seminar, exchange it with your neighbour, and they are going to rate
your level of happiness. I will play a few clips to answer some of the
questions posed in the questionnaire. The person who appears in front of the
camera is Tamara Kostuk, the current leader of the sect and the main character
appearing in the film. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>Background and History<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Two
summers ago, while making my last film in Moscow, I met the members of the
organization at a political rally. They were friendly and personable, and they
handed me a giant volume of poetry, graphics and illustrations entitled “The
Theory of Happiness.” Coincidentally, I have it right here. One participant who
stands out in particular was Ulia Privedennaya, who was a defendant in a
complicated court case, being persecuted by the Russian government for the
formation of an illegal, armed organization, for violating minors, and for
carrying unlicensed weapons. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
The
organization was founded in Moscow by Yura Davidov in the late 1980s. Its basic
ideology hinges on the premise that there are a few Real or, Great People ,
rating at the top of the Pyramid, who will become part of eternity, and the
rest are classified as non-humans, rating at the bottom. The Great few include
Jesus, Aristotle, Albert Einstein, Tomas Companella, Mahatma Ghandi, Vladimir
Lenin, and Mikhail Gorbachev. A quality of eternity is attributed to each
mentor based on his or her attempts to create a brotherhood, a utopia, or a
universal principle. Laws of nature determine the way that objects interact.
Thus, laws of nature are also applicable to how humans interact. If we do not
follow these laws, nature punishes us. Every new revolutionary law that is
introduced; meets resistance. And like Galileo, who was persecuted for
proposing that the earth revolves around the Sun, the new social order proposed
by Davidov must meet resistance before being accepted as an idea of true
genius. This guru recruited participants promising them a utopian dream.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
They
were young university and high school students, mostly women, who agreed to
participate in building the City of the Sun. The youngest participants were
just 14 when they entered the organization. They are now in their late 30s. In
the early 1990s, over 150 members as well as paid workers, lived and worked in
an industrial hangar in a village just outside of Moscow. They sustained
themselves on delivering food to neighbouring Moscow suburbs. But they also
conducted charitable activities; distributing free food to war veterans and
educating troubled youth who escaped from the homes of alcoholics and drug
abusers. They would hold collective activities, such as the yearly exercise,
“100 kms in 24 hours,” where each participant had to make a 100 km run. They
walked on charcoals, boxed, practiced karate, organized film projections,
attended political rallies, and carried out brainstorming sessions to learn on
how to resolve the crisis looming over the nation. Or so the story goes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
In
December 2000, RUBOP, the Russian Institution for Fighting Organized Crime,
invaded the City of the Sun lead by Yura Davidov in the village of Mashkovo.
According to the court case, they had confiscated mines, grenades and rifles.
They had arrested all the participants. Davidov and four other members were
immediately charged for forming an illegal, armed organization, for violating
minors, and for conspiring against the state. Each person served over five
years in various prisons or psychiatric institutions. Yulia Prividennaya was
being persecuted under the same case, risking a prison sentence of 12 years. It
was widely accepted amongst the Moscow dissidents that the affair was entirely
fabricated by the Russian authorities, and that due to the group’s naiveté,
they had unwittingly becoming political prisoners.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>Myself as a Filmmaker. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Last
year in March, the project “The Theory of Happiness” was accepted to a master-
class in Brussels, Belgium called Sound Image Culture, that was being conducted
by Flemish artists and anthropologists. The program was geared towards helping
ten participants in the process of making a personal, subjective ethnographic
film. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
My
previous ethnographic work focused on women’s narratives during profound social
transformations in Russia at the time of the perestroika. It was my goal to
convey a particular, democratic ideal espoused by my participants. However, in
this film, the goals of the organization I was going to portray seemed contrary
to my very base beliefs. Despite my best attempts of cultural relativism, when
I first met P.O.R.T.O.S., I felt a mixture of pity for their idealism, and
indignation at their motivation behind a self-imposed Spartan, communist club.
As a starting point, I was not planning to study this group with blind
fidelity, but rather, with a goal of achieving an understanding of where we
want the film to be. They knew I was not about to make a promotional film, and
I believed everyone could benefit from the perspective of an ethnographic
filmmaker who has also agreed to volunteer on the farm. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
During
our workshops in Brussels, we discussed how all cinema measures the distance.
It measures the distance between the filmmaker, the participants and the
audience. At one extreme, we have the type of supposedly “expository”
documentary, where the filmmaker is absent and the narrative is didactically
imposed on the audience; at the other, a navel-gazing approach where the
filmmaker becomes a central character, obscuring his or her participants. Both
of these seemed unsatisfactory for the style of film I wanted to make. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I
wanted to find methods that allow for negotiation at the level of filmmaking to
take place in order to create a dialogue between myself and the participants.
The way I did this was by handing a second camera to my participants, and by
allowing myself not only to appear on camera, but to be a participant as well.
This way, all the conflicts of the film were going to first run through me.
After all, the only power the filmmaker has is that of generosity — of allowing
his or her vulnerability to appear either behind or in front of the
camera. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
But
I was also concerned about several comments I had received before the shooting
began. Interestingly, I was asked why I was making this film about happiness. I
would answer now that I was curious, intrigued, I wanted to test myself, to
taste the absurd, to pursue a larger idea that I saw behind the film subject. I
was also warned that that my subjects are dangerous, and that I should protect
myself psychologically. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
And
last summer, over a period of three months after leaving my Flemish haven, I
began shooting the film in Russia (documenting the unfolding court case), and
the Ukraine (living and working on the farm, as a condition for filming). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>Analysis.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
So
how did it happen that these Theoreticians of Happiness came to be? How did
Davidov gain followers with his illusions of grandeur, his ecclectic,
graphomaniacal, schizo-discourse of jumbled poetry, non-sensical graphs and bad
illustrations? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Davidov
was born during the epoch of the “Thaw” in 1956, the beginning of the process
of de-Stalinization, and a liberal era that attempted to redress many
injustices committed by the Soviet state. His father, according to the sect,
was a political prisoner of the GULAG. In popular imagination, especially
amongst the intelligentsia, political prisoners were considered martyrs of the
Soviet state, who suffered innocently for a just cause. Young Davidov studied
engineering and became a junior commissioned officer in the Soviet army
handling technical equipment. After working for some time in the army, Davidov
became increasingly secluded, found sporadic employment and focused most of his
time on writing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
According
to Alexei Yurchak, <i>“During late socialism, especially in the 1970s and early
80s, it became increasingly common among some groups of the last Soviet
generation, especially children of intelligentsia families…,to give up more
sophisticated professional careers for occupations that offered more free time.
The more extreme and telling examples of such jobs included boiler room
technicians (kochegar), or street sweepers (dvornik). These jobs kept them busy
for only two to three night shifts a week, leaving them plenty of free time for
socializing, or for pursuing other interests.” </i><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Yura
Davidov, the founder of the sect, wrote most of the texts for the “Theory of
Happiness,” while employed in menial jobs during the early 80s. This type of
hermitic isolation allowed him to pursue many interests, studying, for example,
Buddhism, or reading everything from Pythagoras to Companella. But the pursuit
of eccentric interests is a double-edged sword. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
In
the late 80s, Davidov was in his mid-30s. He was undoubtedly a charismatic
leader who was able to convince students to abandon their former lives, their
families and friends, to enter into the organization. He was seen as a martyr
and a dissident, winning the hearts of young people astonished by the social
and political upheavals of the perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet
Union. Davidov wins the trust of Tamara Kostiuk in 1990, and she joins the
organization at 17. Tania Lamakina drops out of university and joins a year
later when she is 19. The same year, Andrei Petrov, thrice married and divorced
at 23-years-old, joins the organization. The same year, Zhenia Privalov leaves
behind his wife, a young daughter and a factory job. A year later, Nadia
Chetaeva, 14, leaves her family and joins the organization. Now, these young
people are not so young, and occupy the highest ranks in the organization.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Next,
I want to talk about several ways of conceptualizing this project. Currently, I
am exploring three conflicts that I would like to bring out in the final film: <o:p></o:p></div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Primarily, I see a tension between larger power
structures and the inner-circle of sect members. I want to explore the way
situated actors reacted to the collapse of the Soviet Union in perversely
reproducing its ideology and principles on a scale of a small, radical
organization. However, I argue that despite its extremism, the sect
reflects a very contemporary social crisis, which allows for alternative
lifestyles to take on grotesque and violent forms. I see this phenomenon
as an analogy to the present-day political crisis in Russia. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Secondly, I see a critical conflict between the
ideology of the organization and reality outside the gates. Here, I am
thinking of the basic hierarchy of sect members, and the way sect members
conceptualize the outside world, which includes sect workers, sect
sympathizers, neighbours, strangers, and enemies. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Thirdly, and on a personal level, I explore the way
members of authoritarian structures attempt to psychologically manipulate
the sense of identity of their participants in order to subordinate them
to the organization.<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
The sect members think of
themselves as the last vestige of the ideology of the Soviet Union. They
valorize Lenin, hope for Ukraine and Russia to reunite according to the Soviet
model, and incorporate many symbols of the communist past, such as songs,
rituals and sayings into their vernacular. Contradictorily, they also espouse
the ideals of the perestroika – glasnost’ (which is discontinued censorship
from the state), democracy, parliamentarianism, and praise Mikhail Gorbachev,
the leader of these reforms. How can these coexist? Well, let’s just say
they’re illusory, but they allow interesting things to be observed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.3pt 56.65pt 85.0pt 113.35pt 141.7pt 170.05pt 198.4pt 226.75pt 255.1pt 283.45pt 311.8pt 340.15pt; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span>There
is glasnost’ in the organization. In other words, the leaders can tell their
subordinates exactly what they think of them, and every fact or infringement
must be reported to the higher-ups. There is democracy. This means that each
member gets to vote, although the number of votes assigned to each member is
done according to how they place within the hierarchy of the organization.
Tamara gets 29 votes. I get 0.3 votes. There is also parliamentarianism, where
there are supposedly two political parties comprising of sect members, which
compete against each other. And indeed, all the central ideas of the
perestroika abound, but they have become pastiche. They are perverted and
skewed; reinterpreted to serve the needs of the power structure of the
organization. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
And
actually, the incorporation of Soviet symbolism and aesthetic is an interesting
strategy to establish historical continuity between the past and the present.
Many have noted a type of historical amnesia amongst the widespread Russian
public. It has been argued that the state has an absolute monopoly on symbols
of the Soviet past. This method of rewriting history to serve dominant
discourses is extremely effective especially because enacted by an autocratic
government. Any measure of restitution or redress for former crimes of the
state is stifled, instead, it has now become punishable by law to negatively
comment on the Soviet Army’s involvement in the Second World War, for example.
And history textbooks commissioned by Vladimir Putin, state that the GULAG, a
system of Soviet concentration camps, was a historical necessity. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
In
the Soviet epoch, exodus, or the emergence of alternative forms of living were
seen as a form of subversiveness to the socio-political apparatus of late
socialism. Paolo Virno, for example, understands exodus as the coming into
being of an alternative public sphere, autonomous from state administration or
control from the side of capital. This is simultaneously a gesture rejecting
the former system, and the implementation of a new community. However, the
gradual disappearance of the
public sphere in Russia in the 1990s, and increasingly corrupt and barbaric
market capitalism, allowed for radical alternatives to emerge and become
tolerated. I contend that an alternative public sphere could not exist in
Russia. Forms of resistance always pick up grim and somber undertones, since
official opposition is not tolerated within the autocracy of the current
administration. Democratic activists are arrested and imprisoned; members of
the opposition are not allowed to register for elections. Any form of resistance
becomes clandestine, subversive and isolated, and picks up radical, extremist
forms.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>Conclusion<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>1.</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> During my stay in Moscow in July, Ulia’s trial was
picking up momentum in the press and in the public eye. PORTOS members became a
permanent fixture at all the political rallies. Simultaneously, they were
drawing support from the brightest and the most visible human rights activists
in Russia. Ulia was defended by Mikhail Trepashkin, a former KGB member and a
prisoner of conscience. Amongst the supporters of the sect were, Sergei
Kovalev, the founder of Human Rights Watch in Moscow, Amnesty International,
Michael Schwitz, the Moscow correspondent for the New York Times, and Ludmila
Alekseeva, who besides Solzhenitsyn is the most prominent dissident of the Brezhnev
era. PORTOS held support rallies attended by over 200 people, a dubious affair
in Moscow, seeing how most demonstrators end up under the baton of militia
officers. They organized press conferences with international press coverage.
The verdict was to be announced on July 28th. That morning, Ulia had to pack a
bag of essentials that she may have needed to bring to prison, if the verdict
was returned “guilty.” On this date, I was filming Tamara in the Ukraine. She
received a phone call at 10:30 in the morning. The voice on the line said Ulia
was found guilty, but under a different statute, and her punishment was only
4.5 years probation. Tamara reacted to the news that her colleague and friend,
the first participant she had recruited to the organization 21 years ago has
been let off the hook with the words, “Bastards! Damned pigs. Those jackasses
aren’t going to put her behind bars? They ruined such an experiment.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b> 2.</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The ideology of the organization is always in
opposition to the outside world. A simple example can be seen in the
relationship of sect members with their hired help. Hired workers come from
various parts of the Ukraine to the farm to make ends meet. They are paid from
33 to 50 griven per day, which translates to about $3 Canadian. They are
recruited through newspaper ads to live on the territory of the farm and work
for a period of several weeks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Their
working and living conditions were deplorable. Up to ten men slept in a shed of
approximately of 12 by 20 feet, and made of mud floors. There was no running
water in the house, and the latrines were set up right outside the main door.
Women stayed in a separate house, with the bathtub of their bathroom serving as
an improvised milk refrigerator. At the peak of the season, there were over 15
hired workers. There were several hay collectors; two caretakers and a night
watchman who fed the animals, a shepherd, a cook, and a milker. After their
work period elapsed, workers almost never returned. The big problem here, is
that workers almost always smoke, drink and swear. If they are caught, they are
deducted their daily wage. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Let’s
go back to the Pyramid of Happiness. According to the ideology, those who
poison themselves with nicotine or alcohol, are leading a destructive lifestyle
and only thinking of their individual interests. And if they spend their time
drinking and smoking, when will they think of the interests of the nation? Sect
members consider them non-human, in contrast to those who strive to be Great
humans, and who wish to enter into life eternal. Every month, workers of the
farm would have to take part in a line-up; an organized meeting where they
would be awarded prizes, or dealt punishments. The winners - those who have
contributed the most to the labour and organization of the farm, are able to
sit down for the duration of the 3-4 hour meeting, and are awarded various
treats, such as fruit, desserts, and tea from a samovar. The losers have to
remain standing, and accept punishments for breaking the discipline. They would
have to wear a butterfly net on their heads; hold a giant plush monkey and
listen to reprimands in the form of speeches or Soviet propaganda songs. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
I
had made friends with almost every worker during my time on the farm,
periodically sneaking away and smoking cigarettes with them. Amongst the
workers, I found my confidantes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b> 3.
</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">I have become a member of a sect. And
PORTOS is a sect in the classical definition: It is characterized by the
following psychological elements: members 1) have a shared belief system, 2)
sustain a high level of social cohesiveness, 3) are strongly influenced by the
group’s behavioural norms, and 4) impute charismatic (or sometimes divine)
power to the group or its leadership. In its political organization, I see the
difference between a commune and a sect, in that the former attempts to
distribute power horizontally, whereas the latter has an absolute hierarchy of
where each individual can be placed. Ontologically, they attempt to find simple
formulas to complex, or irresoluble questions. Socially, they are outcasts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
At
the time that I was filling the questionnaire, Tamara would often get up around
5 a.m., and spend an entire day trying to educate me on the ideology of the
organization. And when a senior member talks, it is against the rules to
interrupt. Tamara was able to talk for hours, and many days, from early morning
until late at night, I remember having spent listening, and occasionally
filming her monologues. When I could express myself, it had to be for longer
than 10 minutes, since according to the sect, every thought lasts for at least
10 minutes. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Farm
work was usually demanding, and lasted from dawn until night time. My work
included loading manure onto a flatbed truck; working in the fields to cut and
carry hay to the farm on a tractor, or spending the day walking the herd of 35
cows to pasture to graze. But the most dangerous aspect of my experience by
far, was mental and psychological cohersion. Overworked and underslept, it was
easy to slip into a state of apathy - while I was constantly on edge because I
had to feel in control, simultaneously, I stopped responding spontaneously to
situations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
In
this state, I was often told that I wasn’t alone in the world. That there are
always friends amongst PORTOS members who will do anything for me. I was often
chastised or berated for making “mistakes,” although more passively than other
members, because it was explained to me that that is how I could become a real
person. My response was to use the one weapon I had - my camera. Often, I
relied on it more than anything, in allowing to distance myself enough to think
that I just had to get through this for the benefit of the film. I saw people
around me lose every facet of individualty under the dogma of the sect,
enthusiastically regurgitating phrases pounded into their heads. Whatever
originality was in their statements was fed to them through Yura Davidov’s
writings and teachings. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Since
PORTOS members follow the logic of natural laws, they prescribe to ethical
norms according to the law of justice. This law follows the logic of 1st grade
division. When someone does a good deed, and another person answers with
another good deed, the result is also good. Just like dividing a positive
number by another positive. If one does a good deed, and another commits a bad
deed in response, the result is a negative. According to the logic, if someone
answers a bad deed with another bad deed, this amounts to good. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
And
that is how I found out about the system of punishments. Moreover, since the
left hemisphere of the brain corresponds with our mathematical, rational and
intellectual functions, and the right hemisphere is responsible for our
emotional, creative impulses, anytime we make mistakes, it is the right
hemisphere wanting an instantaneous high - this is why people smoke, drink and
have sex. In order to be great people, we have to foresake these instantaneous
highs, but everyone makes mistakes, so the right hemisphere must be punished.
PORTOS members carry out self-flagellation in the form of slaps on the face.
The number of slaps range from single-digits to the hundreds. Moreover,
higher-ranking members can discipline lower-ranking ones. After a while, Tamara
stopped sugar-coating my reality. I saw men crawling on their hands and knees
in front of her. She told me that 200 whips of a jumping rope is not uncommon
for a punishment. Davidov too, was a champion of disciplining his followers.
And here, the numbers get truly frightening. 500 blows on the buttocks, 200
hits on the face with a whip. Davidov also used public rape as a punishment,
known to everyone in the sect and the village.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
And
then, a tragedy happened. Early one morning, as I was getting ready to film
Andrei, the organizer of the farm, a worker ran in to tell us that another
worker, Aleksandr, had fallen into the well while cleaning it. We ran to try to
save him. Andrei launched down the well on a stepladder without any safety. I
was throwing him ropes, but he started gasping for air. He had passed out on
top of the worker in an 8m well. Other workers tied ropes around me, and I
climbed down with a garden hose clenched between my teeth. There was nothing I
could do - there was no air inside the well, it was poison. When rescue workers
came, they pulled out two lifeless bodies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
That
night, I bought two bottles of vodka for the workers. We got together behind
the cowshed, and conducted a Russian farewell ritual. With the words, “Kingom
of Heaven to them,” we raised our glasses without clinking them, and then
silently toasted the lives of two of our friends.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
This
was all a result of the sect’s negligence of the farm property. There were open
manholes, planks with nails in them, broken hinges and gates at every corner of
the farm. The well that was to provide water for the animals, stood beside a 2
metre pile of cow manure. The gases seeped into it. Later, I learned that
someone dies on the farm every year. A 16 year-old boy got electrocuted last
year. The year before that, another well accident. Sect members mask these
events by usually creating a story that some drunk vagabond stumbled onto the
farm territory. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Whenever sect members talked of
Aleksandr, it was in a similar vein. And Andrei, their colleague and
collaborator for the last 20 years, they explained, had made a lot of mistakes,
and nature had finally punished him. Nonetheless, he had lived and entered life
eternal. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Of
course, after the funeral arrangements, farm life continued as if nothing had
happened. No grief, no talk of the deaths. I understand this simply as the
result of a perverted ideology that has transmuted into the idea that
principles and goals of the collective are more important than the value of a
human life. In other words, a true Soviet invention, Bolshevism. Before showing
the trailer of the film, I wish to conclude with a statement made by Slavoj
Zizek: “We have a perfect name for fantasy realized, it’s called nightmare.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
So
where do you place on the Pyramid of Happiness? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;">©</span>Gregory Gan<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">(Please
ask for permission if you would like to reproduce this text in whole or in part)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-22690233227088391782011-02-06T23:51:00.004-08:002011-02-11T11:48:19.101-08:00Film Preview & Seminar: February 15thI will be giving a seminar on my last film, entitled "Where do you place on the pyramid of happiness? Notes of a filmmaker/participant-observer in a radical Ukrainian sect."<br />
<br />
The seminar will be held on Tuesday, 15th February from 4:30-6p.m. in Queen's College Room 4028. All are welcome - please invite others who may be interested.<br />
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<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffbf; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; direction: ltr; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: auto; z-index: 99995;">
</div></center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4617963113873852218.post-34976679716480193952011-02-01T13:25:00.000-08:002013-03-02T23:23:13.060-08:00Gregory Gan Films<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">This is a website dedicated to my ethnographic film work, featuring two feature-length films that I wrote, produced and directed. You can use the tabs, or the links on the left, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">to navigate to various pages describing these projects.</span></span></div>
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