The PCP Crew interviews Alex Mar of American Mystic, the first movie branded as a Pagan movie to be released to the general public in theaters! The crew discusses their thoughts about the movie with Alex and we all explore the movie at a greater depth. Don’t worry, even though we screened the full movie, we were able to negotiate the right to release the trailer to you as part of this episode so you will have some idea about what we are talking about. Special thanks again to Alex Mar and Empire 8 for making this happen on such short notice!
Regular Hosts:
Amber, Ashlee, Branden, Dave, Joe
Guest Hosts:
Alex Mar of American Mystic
03:53
Inspiration for American Mystic
03:58
Alex’s spiritual background
04:42
Spiritual curiosity
05:24
Embracing traditions far removed from her (Alex’s) own
05:39
Reaction to over exposure of Evengelical Christian movement
05:56
Reaction to media’s “freak show” take on American spirituality
06:26
How Alex chose what faiths to feature
06:48
Interest in American mysticism
07:07
More mystical groups at an economic disadvantage
07:35
Alex’s search for her American mystics
08:22
Humanizing/normalizing of very alternative faiths
08:42
Getting mystics on camera
09:05
Importance of building relationships
10:13
Difficulties of finding people that would go on camera
10:30
Importance of finding people the audience could relate to
11:19
What defines a film as a documentary?
11:48
Alex’s desire to not make a super educational documentary
12:10
Handing the movie over to it’s subjects
12:36
Lack of “outside” voice
12:50
Alex’s experience with judgmental media
13:06
Documentaries as documenting
13:52
Approaching rituals
14:19
Lots of preparation before shooting
14:41
2010 – first year Pagan media allowed into PSG
15:31
Handling the camera shy
16:30
Choice of shots can aid in anonymity
17:13
Proactive approach to filming
17:34
Are there more American Mystic type of movies in the future?
18:15
Maybe, process is very exhausting
18:36
Curiosity stays with you
18:50
Loves learning about people
19:25
Stereotypical “talking heads” in other Pagan documentaries
19:46
Similarities between PCP and American Mystic
20:09
The “Row row row your boat” ritual
20:36
Mainstream reaction to unconventional rituals
20:49
Positive personal reactions: viewers can relate to the “characters”
20:49
Positive personal reactions: viewers can relate to the “characters”
21:03
Kublai and the spoon bending ritual
22:05
Purposeful slow start to the movie
22:18
Importance of seeing characters’ everyday life
23:09
Not all footage is exciting
23:15
Morpheus washing dishes
23:42
Interesting things learned while making the film
23:52
Do Research if you’re curious!!
24:02
These are not definitive, just portraits of people
24:24
Non Pagans might not understand what’s going on
24:42
The Sun Dance
24:50
Physical pain as offering to Spirit
25:29
What it means to go to a medium
25:47
Rarity of people like Kublai wanting to become Spiritualist Mediums
27:02
More of Alex’s experiences with the Spiritualist Church
27:29
Genesee County, New York – Mid 1800s
27:39
Genesee county a religious spawning ground
28:04
Now the million dollar question: did you have any wierd spiritual experiences while filming?
28:39
Alex’s first Pagan ritual
29:03
Attended mainly open rituals
29:11
The Samhain ritual at Stone City
29:46
Alex’s reaction to her first Samhain ritual
30:14
Alex still searching for her own Path
30:58
High level of respect Alex has for subjects in her film
31:14
Cinematography questions
32:03
Bleeding together of stories in film intentional
32:19
Common traits amoung the three stories
32:52
Stories are geographically very far apart
33:01
Alex’s frequent flyer miles are amazing!
33:08
Importance of connecting things visually
33:27
The awesomeness of Editor Andy Grieve
34:32
Letting the viewer draw their own conclusions
34:43
What did you have to cut out and why?
34:58
Example: When Chuck visits his brother in prision
35:19
Can’t film inside prisons on short notice
35:30
Decision based on style and rhythm of film
35:43
More on editing decisions
36:27
Didn’t want viewers to see too much
36:43
Allowing a little bit of “mystery”
36:53
Morpheus’ private ritual
37:05
Getting into the “spiritual mindset”
37:32
Challenges of talking about spirituality
38:00
How much can you convey?
38:15
Soundtrack’s “dream-like” quality
38:25
American Mystics composer, Nathan Larson
38:43
Philosophy behind the score
38:56
Aversion to obvious instrumental choices
39:19
Soundtrack adds power to rituals portrayed
39:36
www.americanmysticthemovie.com
39:42
Chatroom question: Do you have any friendships from the film that continue today?
39:54
Morpheus and Shannon
40:15
Pantheacon 2011
40:54
Chatroom question: how did you get the funding for this?
41:08
For the record: Alex Mar is drinking lightweight compared to her producer Nicholas Shumaker
41:20
Shumaker made the fundraising magic happen
41:30
Some specifically interested in seeing an American Mystic kind of movie
41:57
Were their any negative reactions while filming the Lakota rituals?
42:09
Filming started/stopped at complete discretion of the group
42:33
All faiths are equal in importance
42:57
Importance of telling things from subject’s perspective
43:13
Negative reaction by press for “lack of thesis”
44:05
No call to action, just a plain good film
44:21
Dave needs to do something about these damn Pagans
44:35
PCP the media franchise
44:50
Start your day the Wiccan way with Star Smacks!!
45:16
Lack of thesis a Good thing
45:28
The awesomeness of saying: I’m still learning
45:43
No truth shellacking
45:59
The awesomness of working hard for one’s spirituality
46:32
Portrayal of American young adults in media
46:52
Stone City Pagan Sanctuary flourishing
47:09
The awesomeness of Morpheus and Shannon
47:41
New perspective on younger generation
48:25
Desire to convey a difference in values
49:07
The “super education” approach to talking about religion
49:24
Chatroom question: Were younger people more open to being in the film?
49:33
A very resounding “Yes!”
49:44
The Facebook generation
50:03
Kids today used to “documenting themselves”
50:12
Avia as token Pagan teen
51:34
This decade’s best Pagan documentary?
51:39
This is the most awesome movie ever awesome!!
52:01
Just started screenings in select cities
52:11
Go to facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/American.Mystic to request screening in your town/city
52:24
Special screening at Pantheacon and DVD release party
52:55
DVD will be distributed to Pagan community exclusively for a few months, check your local New Age shops!!
53:20
Expect online distrubution (iTunes, Netflix) in late summer
53:33
Keep eyes on American Mystic Facebook page
53:40
Go say hi to Alex Mar at Pantheacon!! Now!!
53:54
No formal PCP presence at Pantheacon, but maybe in 2012
54:10
Apocolypse is caused by PCP going to Pantheacon
54:36
Thank you Alex for enduring out inane abuse!!
54:55
Star and Peter’s post production counter kicks back to zero…Dammit!!
55:12
Repeat offenders are punished, a lot *cries*
56:06
Star will be the everyone representative at Pantheacon
56:22
Pantheacon on weekend of Februrary 19th
56:53
Starving is bad
57:41
Yeah, we decided to do this ep a week before recording
57:50
Empire 8 Productions ROCKS!!!!
Credits
Post-produced by: Ashlee
List of resources used or mentioned:
American Mystic Movie Website
American Mystic on Facebook
Patheacon
PCP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 US License.
Season 19 Credits:
[DH] Lethal Destiny
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/354802
_-={Everlasting Times}=-_
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/170554
_-={Forces United!}=-_
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/290238
Originally Published: Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Pagan Centered Podcast
Licensed with CC BY-SA 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/
