How I Film: A Declaration of Interdependence
By: Ken Paul Rosenthal
What can the world present to me outside of a climate-controlled sound stage, unfettered by the dictates of a script, and uncluttered by expectations? Where will I harvest that dialogue? How does the sentient earth invite me to cultivate a more conscious exchange?
The world is my ally. The world is my alleyway.
I seek a more participatory relationship with the animate landscapes and city surfaces within hiking and biking distance of my front door. A quivering tree branch beckons like a finger; a splash of light winks at me from a shimmering puddle; restless shadows on a building side are passageways for my curiosity. These configurations of textures and gestures distinguish themselves by virtue of their fundamentally ephemeral nature; they are borderless, mutable, shape shifting entities. Engaging them is a process of deep listening with my eyes. I hear them call me from within my field of vision, and I respond by tenderly pointing my attention in their direction.
The world is my ally. The world is my alleyway.
Leaves and chain link fences rustle in anticipation of an indeterminate score as I raise my camera lens like a conductor's wand. Then I roll the focus ring from side to side, and cast my curiosity back and forth through deep space until an image suddenly manifests from thin air. The images that enter my camera are offered to me. I often bow to my subject after I've received an image because making film this way is an act of gratitude. And a dance. Not forcing my ideas onto my subject keeps me from stepping on its toes. The world keeps spinning and light slips quickly! Each image is written on the wind and can evaporate as immediately as it appears. I am a kite, shifting and composing my self and my camera in relation to the mercurial mood of my subject.
The world is my ally. The world is my alleyway.
The world and I play one another like instruments – a graceful, empathetic, and harmonious orchestration of light and sight. As image after image coalesce like notes in a musical passage, my muscles and bones begin to vibrate like cello strings. The edges of my flesh and the borders of my heart disappear. No longer a vessel for anger or a mechanism of madness, I am humbly suspended in Wonder, Contentment, and Compassion. I feel indefinably large and intimately woven into all matter – into the Divine. There is no self. There is no film. Only the pure, unfiltered, sustained breath of the ineffable.
Ken Paul Rosenthal is an independent filmmaker and educator whose lyrical, character-driven documentaries explore the spectrum of difference. These stories of trauma, healing, and redemption are presented against a backdrop of urban and natural landscapes, archival social hygiene films, re-authored home movies, and animated text. His early hand-made films feature alternative photochemical and bacterial processes, direct manipulation techniques, and multiple projection performance…
Rosenthal's in-progress film Julia Vinograd: Between Spirit and Stone tells the story of iconic Berkeley street poet Julia Vinograd, who emerged from the 1960's Free Speech Movement fighting state oppression with bubbles instead of bricks. In his spare time, Ken stages an emotional wellness pop-up, Your Empathy Stand (Y.E.S.) in public parks, freely offering active listening to one and all.
You can find more about Ken at — https://www.kenpaulrosenthal.com/
You can also check out more about his current documentary project here—https://www.betweenspiritandstonethefilm.com/
"The world is my ally. The world is my alleyway."
alleyway. the imagery.
thank you!
Damn! Thank you for the introduction to Ken Paul
Rosenthal, his work and eye view of this life.
Perceptions of rich depth. Deep dive of writings and films. Thank you. I am quite pleased to meet his ways