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“Holy Rascals" is a documentary film that will tell the story of renowned Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s quest for a different modern way of thinking about religion and human spirituality. A trained rabbi, Rami no longer is able to identify solely with his Jewish faith. He now blends beliefs and teachings of Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Taoism, Hinduism and Native-American spirituality with those of Judaism.
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Though Rami has traveled and lectured extensively on an interfaith circuit for over 25 years, our journey starts where he lives, in the small town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. There, he teaches religious studies at Middle Tennessee State University to mostly fundamentalist Christian students. His opening comment, “I know I’m going to hell, we can get that out of the way” invites irreverence and open inquiry. A prolific writer, Rabbi Rami and co-author Mike Smith the pastor of the local First Baptist Church are writing a second book together. Their relationship is indicative a much larger grassroots movement of inter-spiritual learning and connecting that is growing rapidly and under reported in America. This film offers a window into that world.
Rabbi Rami claims that the old story about the "sky-god" and his chosen people (be they Jews, Christians, or Moslems) is no longer relevant. Theologies of all faiths can be seen as myths rather than facts, psychology rather than theology. He thinks religion as most of us know it provides mankind with idols to worship that simply reinforce people's egoic biases rather than helping them see reality as it is. He asserts that no one religion is the truth.
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"We need a new story," says Rabbi Rami. He thinks it is unfolding through the lives of certain individuals he fondly calls "Holy Rascals." This group of spiritual men and women see God as a reality and the universe as God's body - a unity of spirituality and science.
Rami’s teachers come from all of the major, traditional religions. |
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They offer new cosmologies, of inclusivity, boundary crossing and inter-spirituality. Several of them are elders, wisdom keepers, and all of them are living examples of how one can both embrace and transcend traditional religion. Rami’s gift is introducing a broader audience to some of today’s best teachers on the cutting edge of inter-spirituality. They model behavior and attitudes that can guide us as more and more people around the world recognize our interconnectedness. These teachers include Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Reverend Matthew Fox, Sister Jose Hobday, Andrew Harvey, Seyedeh Nahid Angha, Joan Borysenko and Prasanna.
According to Rabbi Rami, and all of us making this film, humor is one of the most powerful tools mankind has for liberating ourselves from the idolatry and fear that dominates so much of contemporary religion. One of Rami’s students, and fellow traveler in spiritual quests is the actor, John Cleese. In addition to being the voice of God for some animation, he and Rabbi Rami will have a conversational barbeque of sacred cows.
Our approach to this film is layered. The backbone is a series of two camera interviews in classic “60 minutes” style. However, during many interviews, the second cameraman, Bill Jersey, BJ, the director of the film, leaves his post behind the camera to join the on-camera discussion. BJ was originally added in to the film “to question Rami as Rami questions his teachers.” While doing this, BJ ends up exploring his own deepest beliefs. He is more of a skeptic and spitfire than Rami, and his interactions are always lively. After 40 plus years of making documentaries, BJ also takes it upon himself to represent what a PBS audience wants to know. Our reference for putting the director in the film is “Sketches of Frank Gehry” made by Sydney Pollack. Sometimes our film will look backward via archival footage that illustrates the context of the lives of interviewees, though our primary thrust is looking forward via the visionaries you will hear speaking. Because our subject matter often includes considerations of the heart and soul, we are turning to visual poetry to help us express and point to the ineffable. We are hoping that the very talented David Anderson of Schofield Films will create animated sequences using both traditional and 3D computer graphics for transitions underneath spoken poems. We will also employ the stunning still photography of our Director of Photography, Edis Jurcys. In his travels around the world, he has collected a body of work that we can use to illustrate or counterpoint conversations. In one more layer, producer and ex-camera-person, Cathy Zheutlin is shooting “the making of” behind the scenes. Thus, in the tradition of Goddard, the process of making the film is a conscious aspect of the audience experience.
Our approach to this project is always evolving as we do more filming, observe the world around us and continue to learn.
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