Producer Alexandra Angélique Leeper on the role of conscious media creators...
If we strip away the veneer of how we want to be perceived by others on social media, we all struggle with darkness, we all struggle with addictions and trauma, and all kinds of imprints from childhood... and the world seems to be falling apart. All of these things are real.
We look to escape them through the media. So, what would happen if we had movies that were being made on a widespread level where we're allowing ourselves to really go in and explore these darker themes, but are infused with hope and light, based in real elements of spiritual transformation?
What I've learned from my many years of yoga practice, mantra singing and various spiritual practices I've explored, is that those elements are very transformational, and that not everyone has access to them. Thus, with Awaken, we are creatively blending together a bunch of tools to help people right now, through the very fabric of the filmmaking elements - a powerful script, exceptional acting and directing and a transcendent music score and sound design. With everything happening on the planet right now, people need something to feel like there's hope.
Even though the world seems to be collapsing, there is potentially a new world that's forming. If we put our focus into that, we might actually find ourselves unifying for the first time, and coming together to build a world we want to see.
That's really the aim of our work, where differences unite us.
Reality is so infinitely complex, right? Because we each have had our own experiences getting to where we are right now, which filters our reality. And then we have whatever culture we grew up in, and whatever religion we connect to... and in the past in the “old paradigm,” if you want to call it that, these dynamics divided us. What I see as a future that is really inspiring and exciting is one wherein these differences actually unite us, because it makes for a much more interesting weaving to come together with these different backgrounds and perspectives, and to realize that one religion or spiritual orientation does not need to compete with another... that they're really coming from the same source.
The more that we can get to that place of unity, not only in our spirituality, but in our media, in our films, music, and in everything that we perceive around us, the more our world will change for the better. And some of these very devastating realities that we've gone through over time will transform into something else, if you want to call it the “New Earth,” or whatever your orientation is. I do firmly believe that we are at a point right now where the old system is collapsing, and we have an opportunity to create something that's never existed before. And that's really what our films are about.
Working in Hollywood specifically, is, from my perspective, a very powerful tool. There's so much attention on Hollywood, and its magnetism has been used commercially, and certainly, artistically... there's many brilliant films out there that have really asked us to look within and explore ourselves. But I just think that we're at a time now where we can't really afford to put stuff out that doesn't attempt to move us towards healing the planet in some way.
Because the clock is ticking… and the one advantage to things being so dire in the environment, and in modern society, is that we don't really have any wiggle room anymore, to not come together. It's pushing us to overcome our differences, and really realize that we all want the same things. Ultimately, we all want to be happy and survive and thrive, and have families and love… and those fundamental commonalities are much more powerful than our different shades of skin, or our different orientations or preferences.
You must meet people where they are...
Our job as conscious media creators, is to get more and more people thinking about it, because it's easy to tune out in the world, through addictions or watching television all day, or whatever other distraction we can find. It's easy to go into a fantasy state or an escapist realm, especially when things are so hard. But if we can go into that imaginary world through film and television and these other media tools, and engage people in that place where they naturally gravitate - the imagination, and then kind of gently lead them towards some other possible direction than they perhaps have traveled before... there’s so much potential to expand consciousness. You must meet people where they are, which is why the film that we're doing first is pretty dark and pretty real. It's very much based on what's happening in the world right now.
But then, we've added some very powerful elements that from my own experience, really do uplift consciousness... through sound vibration, and music. We’ve hired some of the most amazing people on the planet to infuse this dark movie with these brilliant elements of light that have a vibratory effect as you're watching it. Then we’ll continue to develop this technique with the next movie. We have to embody this new reality as much as we can. And when we have the opportunity to give, to share, to break down the old “us and them” mentality, or the old, “wealthy vs. starving artists” ideology… we must. It’s come time to re-create the whole paradigm. That's what we're doing with this movie.
Comments