BY GUY DIXON, THE GLOBE AND MAIL

If rockers were the cultural gurus of the sixties, and techies like Steve Jobs the nineties version, documentary filmmakers may very well be the new prognosticators of where we’re heading.   Velcrow Ripper is a clear example.  His widely praised documentary Scared Sacred, a tour of war-devastated lands, was less a documentary and more a meditative call to arms. 

So is his second film in a planned trilogy, Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action. While filming Scared Sacred, Ripper found that what got people through horrific wartime tragedy was a sense of personal meaning.

“One of those sources of meaning, was to take action,” he says,”and I began to realize that having a depth of understanding in one’s inner life, and taking action to create change, is a truly harmonious combination. In fact, they are meant to go together.” 

This kind of talk has made Ripper the doc community’s version of a star. He gives lectures and conducts workshops to share his vision of spiritually conscious activism.  Something new is afoot, his films argue, and that’s what Ripper has become a figurehead for: an acknowledgement that spirituality seems to be at the heart of activism. - Guy Dixon, Globe and Mail

PRESS QUOTES

 

OCCUPY LOVE

“Visually stunning, politically incendiary, audaciously inspiring. Occupy Love is a masterpiece.”

–Ethan Cox, Rabble.ca

“What the film shows, triumphantly, is that love can unite as much as greed can divide.”

Vancouver International Film Festival

“A beautiful and brilliant exposé of the love that is fueling the creation of a new reality. It is a love story.”

  Peace of the Circle

A blessing . . . a prayer . . . a call to action . . . a sudden awakening. Shivers ran up and down my spine while my heart exploded with joy! Rivera Sun, author, Steam Drills, Treadmills and Shooting Stars

“At the heart of the film is the message that the ecological, economic and cultural crisis is deepening our love. The challenge is to express our love in more powerful and visionary ways.” – It’s All Yoga Baby

FIERCE LIGHT

"Five Stars. Uplifting!" ~ Green Muze Magazine

 

 "Beautiful, poetic, powerful and important.

Everyone (and I mean everyone) should see Fierce Light.” - FFWD Magazine

 

"Inspiring!  Herein lies the key to humankind’s ultimate survival, and what could possibly be more important?" ~ Seattle Times

 

 "Hugely engaging and visually magnificent" ~ Toronto Sun

 "Dramatic, vivid, startling." ~ The Vancouver Sun  

 

"Achingly beautiful." ~ NewCityFilm, Chicago

“An invocation, a provocation and a benedicition.”

1. -Seattle Audience Member
   

SCAREDSACRED

“This year’s documentary sensation.”  - Viva Mantra – Channel M

”Stunning!”  - Alexandra Gill - The Globe and Mail

“Beautiful…profoundly moving!” - Shelagh Rogers - CBC Radio

“Brilliant…inspirational.” - Vicki Gabereau - CTV

“Defiantly hopeful… powerful!” - Al Franken - NPR

“Poetic…moving…impressive.  Gracefully interwoven images, editing and sound design

lend textural richness well above documentary norm. Ideal for those audiences who wish

Fahrenheit 9.11 had more Koyanisqaatsi in it, and visa versa”.

Dennis Harvey - Variety

BONES OF THE FOREST

”A work of uncommon beauty.”

John Dippong - Moving Images

"Lyrical, visually gorgeous...this prize winner is a must-see."

Hawaii International Film Festival

“Powerful...incredibly beautiful.”

C.B.C. Almanac

"Moody, compelling...in the end I measured everything  (at Hot Docs  festival)

against the meditative allure of Bones of the Forest, which is in a class by itself."

Barbara Mainguy - LIFT Journal

"A Koyanisquaatsi meets Natural Born Killers...

the true stars are the photography, editing and the music.”

Adrian Lackey - Edmonton Vue

OPEN SEASON

“Emotion Charged”

The Vancouver sun

“Open Season puts the viewer right into the middle of some truly frightening confrontations, yet still finds the time to ask some relevant philosophical questions. The result is a film that is part Western, part morality play, and that tells us more about ourselves than we might care to know.”

1. -The Vancouver Sun
   

I’M HAPPY.

YOU’RE HAPPY.

WE’RE ALL HAPPY.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.

“The audacious filmmakers debut feature is a

moving, demented, tragic, surreal, hilarious and bleakly hopeful story.”

John Griffin - Montreal Gazette

“A Koyanisquaatsi meets Monty Python,

or perhaps ‘The Stalker’ by Pee Wee Herman.”

Jim Sinclair - Pacific Cinematheque

“ A contemporary ‘Modern Times’.  One of those rare works which, through it’s eclectic imagery and extraordinary use of sound,

actually expands the language of cinema.”

Kevin McMahon - The Falls

THE ROAD STOPS HERE

“Extremely powerful” - Farley Mowatt

“Abundant proof of the filmmakers ability to handle a difficult  subject

with skill, power and assurance.”

Concerned Citizens for Aboriginal Rights

NO MEANS NO

“Viewers will be impressed by the videos creative style and thoughtful arguments on how our socialization may perpetrate rape behaviour.”

Sonia Semenic - The Montreal Mirror

IS THIS YOUR HOUSE?

“A masterful combination of images and sound to convey disturbing truths.”

-Edges Film Festival Jury Statement