By TONY EVANS
For the Express
Documentary filmmakers are often the most effective storytellers and historians of our time, forming a large part of our collective social conscience. Award-winning filmmaker and chairman of the Tibet Fund, Mickey Lemle has chosen to focus his camera on figures who exemplify extraordinary levels of humanity. These include his Holiness the Dalai Lama, Baba Ram Dass, anthropologist Laurens Van der Post and several Apollo Mission astronauts who were spiritually transformed by Earth from the moon. Lemle's films delve into the minds of remarkable people who have been called to make the world a better place.
"Most movies out there all have the same theme, 'life sucks and then you die,'" said Lemle. "I like to tell stories which ultimately inspire us and make us feel better about being a member of the human species."
As keynote speaker and presenter at September's Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival, Lemle will offer screenings of his work, discussions and workshops on "Spiritual Film-making" to those who want a look behind the scenes and into the workings of a story-teller devoted to spiritual transformation.
"My films are about individual human transformation," said Lemle. "I'm drawn by an intuitive sense and curiosity to the subjects of my films. Some writers write about what they already know and go about building an argument for it. I write in order to learn and to understand what intrigues me."
Lemle's curiosity lead him to the Dalai Lama. When the Tibetan spiritual leader was asked if he hated the Chinese for invading his country, the Dalai Lama answered "No," and continued that he would rather learn from his enemies than hate them.
"I thought, 'Hey I'd like to know how that is done. I can't do it myself'," said Lemle. His 1992 film "Compassion in Exile" was the result of his inquiry into the thinking of the Dalai Lama. It earned an Emmy Award nomination and was shown, like many of Lemle's films, around the world.
Lemle's film "Fierce Grace" showed at the Sun Valley Wellness Festival in 2003. It follows the life of Baba Ram Dass, formerly Richard Alpert, a Harvard professor who became an LSD advocate and spiritual guru to the 1960's counter culture. "With Ram Dass I was inspired by how humble he was. How he falls down on the path and still moves seamlessly into metaphysical discourse."
"Hasten Slowly" is Lemle's bio-pic of the anthropologist, diplomat and explorer Sir Laurens Van der Post, whose fieldwork among the Kung bushmen of the Kalihari Desert resulted in classic film footage of a vanishing way of life. Van der Post was raised in the Southern African bush and was taken prisoner by a samurai wielding Japanese officer during World War II. He addressed his captors on the field of battle with formal salutations in Japanese. His life was thus spared, and he spent the next three years in a prison camp where he established a make-shift university. "Many of Van der Post's students in the camp were awarded diplomas on Japanese toilet paper, and some of them went on to serve in the British foreign service after the War," said Lemle.
In the 1970's Lemle met astronaut Edgar Mitchell whose mystical experience after landing on the moon led him to found the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Another astronaut from the Apollo Mission became a fundamentalist minister and spent the rest of his life searching for Noah's Ark. Others were apparently unchanged after the experience of standing on the moon.
"I was curious why half of the astronauts did not have a life-changing experience up there," said Lemle. "It seemed related to the amount of time they were allowed to actually contemplate the experience and how narrowly specialized they had become in accomplishing the mission. Which makes sense if you think about if. If you are undergoing heart surgery, you wouldn't want a surgeon who is going to step back and begin admiring the miracle of arteries and blood flow. You'd rather he take care of the job at hand."
Perhaps it is the task of filmmakers like Lemle to take that step back and consider the miracles of human experience and show them to the rest of us.
Lemle's workshop will be about many things, including story structure and how to hold the attention of an audience.
"I promise it will be more interesting than anything you might see on cable TV that afternoon," he said.
A weekend with Lemle
In a preview to the forthcoming Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival, September 8-11, documentary filmmaker Mickey Lemle will host a weekend of spiritual filmmaking activities. These include a retrospective of Lemle's key works and Q&A with the Director on Saturday, 12-4 p.m. at the Magic Lantern Theater. Cost: $20. A screening of "Fierce Grace" on Sunday, 6:30-9:30 p.m. at nextStage Theater. Doors open 6:30 p.m. film shown at 7:30 p.m. $10 admission. For more information and to reserve tickets to any of these events call 788-9729 or 720-3599.
Inspiring documentary filmmaker Mickey Lemle hosts a weekend of film related festivities.
