Hosted by Joe Teehan
July 23, 2014
July 14, 2014
July 4, 2014
In our modern world of high technology and multi-media grand spectacles, there are many amazing things that capture our attention. But to me, there is nothing as compelling as other’s people’ suffering. It always seems to stop me in my tracks and light a fire under me to try to help, even if just for a moment.
Maybe it’s a meaningful conversation or an understanding nod or a silent hug. Or maybe its time spent focusing internally on a shared sense of unity and goodwill with all living beings. Whatever it takes to reassure struggling souls they’re not alone becomes the goal, because when we connect compassionately with others, we reaffirm our higher nature and contribute deeply to the world’s evolution.
Of course, this kind of evolution has nothing to do with becoming stronger, faster, smarter or fitter individuals. On the contrary, the true evolution of the human species is moving from the pursuit of separate interests to the pursuit of shared interests, because only in oneness can peace, love and a better world for all, without exception, endure.
As a filmmaker, author and peace strategist, my chosen tool for promoting unity is the creation of transformational media content that elevates as it entertains. Currently, I am conducting a screening and Q & A tour where I engage audiences in enlightening discussions about forgiveness and the many healing themes of my film for peace, Admissions.
Winner of 25 international awards, Admissions stars Academy Award® nominee James Cromwell and tells a life-changing tale about what it takes to find lasting peace, even in the most conflict-ridden regions of our planet. I originally wrote Admissions as a response to the suffering of 9/11 and the film’s theme song as a response to the suffering of the Iraq War.
When I screen Admissions for audiences, I talk about the film’s partnership we created with PeaceNow.com, The Global Alliance for Ministries & Infrastructures for Peace and United Nations Culture of Peace working groups. This partnership resulted in a campaign to gather One Billion signatures to create peace departments in governments worldwide. I was fortunate to play a role in the drafting of the official Global Resolution of this movement.
We have also created a unique digital platform called The Gift of Peace, which is a free e-book that dramatically explains the need for peace departments in our world. It bestows a free screening of Admissions, offered in 5 languages, to anyone who signs PeaceNow’s global petition. To date, signatures representing 62 countries have been received.
m2ebook.com/admissionsgiftofpeace/index.html
Similar to Admissions, my new book, Mind What Matters, A Pep Talk for Humanity also addresses life’s most difficult challenges. It features a collection of philosophical writings and stories that offer healing perspectives on how to remain rooted in our higher mind no matter what the world serves up.
www.admissionsfilm.com/mind-what-matters.php
After viewing Admissions, Sharon Stone asked me to write a similar short film for her around bullying which I have now completed and in which she has agreed to play the lead. I also have a full catalog of other transformational projects including short films, features, television shows, public service announcements and musicals. Ultimately, the goal with all my work is to create more unity in the world so people can experience more love, suffer less and enjoy more deeply rewarding lives.
Hosted by Matt Welsh
October 17, 2013
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Hosted by Susan Santiago on "West Marin Matters"
April 15, 2013
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Katarzyna Wiśniowska, Insight Film Festival – March 10, 2013
1. What was your main inspiration behind the story you have created?
I originally wrote Admissions as a response to 9/11. When that tragic event occurred, I felt enormous compassion for the family of humanity because I knew we were entering into another cycle of attack and counterattack that would greatly increase the amount of suffering in our world. This made me want to illustrate a more forgiving interpretation of life’s events so people could more easily find a pathway to forgiveness no matter what the world served up.
To do this, I decided to create a modern parable that not only included a heartbreaking terrorist attack, but also a teaching moment where those involved would have to face each other in the afterlife. Through the use of classic teachings on forgiveness, I hoped to demonstrate that by simply changing our thinking, we could create peace in any situation.
2. How long have you been working on the perfect draft?
When I first wrote the script after 9/11, I sent it to the producer of the film, Gavin Behrman, and he thought it was powerful. But we were busy with other projects at the time and didn’t do anything with it. Then 10 years later, I came across the script again and realized it was just as relevant as when I first wrote it. The subject matter seemed timeless so at that point we decided to get the film made.
Admissions was a unique challenge because there were so many important teachings that needed to be included, but I had to make them sound conversational and natural. I definitely had a message I wanted to send, but I couldn’t let it be too obvious or the audience would be pulled out of the story. It is unique demands like these that make the creation of transformational content so difficult to execute, but also so rewarding.
When writing the dialogue for Admissions, I started with more than I needed. Then, I sculpted it down to the bare minimum that was required to get the point across. Once the script was put into the very talented hands of our Director, Harry Kakatsakis, and the extremely gifted actors in our film, this sculpting continued with the entire team. The actual time spent writing and then editing the script was probably about six months.
3. Where the idea of combining those two uncomfortable topics (political and religious) together came from?
Anything that creates separation makes forgiveness and peace impossible to attain. Unfortunately, religion and politics can often be some of the greatest creators of separation and conflict known to humankind and nowhere on earth is this more clearly demonstrated than the Middle East. Therefore, what I wanted to illustrate with Admissions is that true forgiveness has to steer clear of these limiting factors so it can rise above them and truly bring people together. It requires a spiritual point of view in which one sees past the material world of bodies to the underlying spirit that unifies us all.
4. What is the message you wanted to send to the audience by this film?
The message I wanted to send is that, despite all the seeming complexity of the modern world, there is really only one of two things that is ever happening – people are either expressing love or crying out for love. This means the perfect response every time, in every situation, is to be loving, even on a geopolitical, nation-state level. When this perspective is applied to the Middle East conflict, it becomes much easier to see that both sides have suffered tremendously and are simply crying out for love. Therefore, both need love and understanding in return – not only from each other, but also from the world at large.
Another message I wanted to put out is that the attainment of lasting peace in our world requires the establishment of shared interests. Contrary to popular opinion, the real evolution of life on earth is not from single cell organisms to the complex creatures roaming the planet today. True evolution is the journey from separate interests to shared interests, and one of my goals for Admissions was to illustrate this spiritual process. When the characters first enter the Admissions Room, they appear to have nothing in common because they are from different religions and are on opposing sides of a never-ending conflict. But through the telling of the story and the dialogue they enter into because they have been brought face to face, they eventually discover the other side’s suffering. The sense of loss they share over their loved ones forms a bridge that they can now cross to reach common ground. The common ground that all humans share is that we are love beings. Unconditional love is clearly our natural state because it is what’s most healing and sustaining. Therefore, when people are fighting it just means they have strayed from their loving essence. This doesn’t make them bad people. They just need to be gently redirected back to what they truly are. Once we are able to shift our perception in this manner, we quickly realize that to truly heal the world, everyone must be forgiven and offered the hand of unconditional love, without exception.
5. Describe in one sentence what faith means to you.
Faith to me is the knowledge that on the deepest level, all is love, all is forgiven, and all is one.
Katarzyna Wiśniowska, Insight Film Festival – February 7, 2013
Three people – an apparently Israeli couple (Anna Khaja and Anthony Batarse) and a young apparently Palestinian man (Oren Dayan) meet in an extremely white lounge, which resembles a waiting room in some hospital. They sit confused on the sofa, facing an older gentleman, a clerk (James Cromwell) , in a white suit, who’s looking at them from behind the desk.
Where are they? No specific location has been named and their own names are no longer relevant. They have fifteen minutes before they will find out if their path leads to Heaven or Hell. They cannot understand why they are in this situation together when they’ve believed in different things, lived different lives, and hated each other for years.
The anger takes over and the hatred flows out. They attempt to prove to each other who is right, who made mistakes, all in the presence of the man in white.
So is their path leading them to Heaven or Hell?
Kakatsakis cleverly portrays one of the biggest mistakes of humanity – searching for God, but acting as if we’re God ourselves. No one has given us the right to say who is wrong and who needs to be punished.
We may have an image of heaven and hell and use it to define sin and who deserves to be denounced. So where is the place for God in that?
Posted by Safa Samiezade’-Yazd, Aslan Media on January 22, 2013.
“You can’t want hell for other people without being in hell yourself.” If there were an Academy Award for one-liner delivery, John Viscount’s award-winning 2001 short film Admissions should have clinched it. With 21 minutes, four actors and a single set, Viscount lays out a modern-day parable where the stakes are high to find the wisdom required to learn true forgiveness in a world where “the ones who find it hardest to love need love the most.”
Set in the admissions room of the afterlife, the story at the center of this short film revolves around the Israeli couple Daphna and Eli (Anna Khaja, Anthony Batarse), a Palestinian man Ahmad (Oren Dayan) and the clerk (Oscar-nominated James Cromwell) to whom the three must plead their case for admittance into heaven. As they do, Daphna, Eli and Ahmad begin to realize that their lives are more intertwined that they initially thought, and as they grapple to find meaning and salvation in their deaths in the wake of Middle East conflict, histories compete, alliances are drawn then dissolved, and in realizing that they are part of a greater narrative far too complex to attribute blame to a singular person or deprive yourself of feeling compassion towards who might otherwise be your externalized enemy.
It’s been estimated that over the course of the 20th century, approximately 187 million people have died as a result of war, not including the countless violent deaths as a result of “lesser conflicts” — criminal activity, domestic disputes, even school shootings. Of the twelve deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, six took place since 2007, while two occurred last year alone. “Forgiveness often evades the living,” and nowhere has this been demonstrated more clearly in recent times than in our embracing of assault rifles and concealed weapons, and the confusion gun enthusiasts create in replacing respect for the Second Amendment with paranoia in the second coming of an American civil war. Weapons don’t make a civil society: compassion does. “Murder is a contradiction, whether it’s done by governments or individuals,” Cromwell states in one of Admissions’ most memorable lines, “because it goes against what you truly are. Love neither attacks nor condemns. And when you can forgive those who attack and condemn you, that’s when you know it’s really love.”
In its simplicity, Admissions is a film that will haunt you, replaying itself each time to show that when it comes to the cosmic morality of violent conflict, nothing is as it seems: there is always another story, always another’s pain. And it’s a reminder of the duty we owe to ourselves and each other to never fall for a simplified narrative that forces you to take a singular side. There are no good guys versus bad guys: there are people — flawed, unpredictable, fractured but good-natured, responsive and willing to heal. While it may make a better story to seek out the extremists, its this greater majority of humanity and dignity that will push us forward, realizing that forgiveness and empathy are not just paths to an envisioned afterlife — they are how we save ourselves in the this harsh world.
Aslan Media Arts, Culture and Music Editor Safa Samiezade’-Yazd recently had a chance to correspond with Admissions Writer and Producer John Viscount on what inspired him to write the film, the balance he created in the context of Middle East conflict and the healing conversation he hopes this film will ignite.
Aslan Media: How did the project come about? What inspired you to write it?
John Viscount: I originally wrote Admissions as a response to 9/11. After that tragedy, I felt an overwhelming compassion for the family of humanity because I knew we were entering into another destructive cycle of attack and counterattack. This made me want to communicate a more forgiving interpretation of life’s events so people could more easily find a pathway to forgiveness, no matter what the world served up.
To do this, I decided to create a modern parable that not only included a heartbreaking terrorist attack, but also a teaching moment where those involved would have to face each other in the afterlife. Through the use of classic teachings on forgiveness, I hoped to demonstrate that by simply changing our thinking, we could create peace in any situation.
When I first wrote the script, I sent it to the producer of the film, Gavin Behrman, and he thought it was powerful. But we were busy with other projects at the time and didn’t do anything with it. Ten years later, I came across the script again and realized it was just as relevant as when I first wrote it. The subject matter seemed timeless so at that point we decided to get the film made.
AM: What is forgiveness to you? What is peace?
JV: To me, if you want to live a joyful life, forgiveness must be automatic and unconditional. Forgiveness takes on these qualities from the realization that there is only one of two things that is ever really happening in this world. People are either expressing love, or they are crying out for love. So the perfect response, every time, in every circumstance, is to be loving.
When life is viewed from this perspective, forgiveness and compassion become the natural response to everything you witness. The joy that you then get to experience by removing all grievances from your heart makes you a healing asset to the world. Continuing in this same line of thinking, peace is just the knowledge that on the deepest level, all is love, all is forgiven, and all is one.
AM: What distinguishes Admissions from other films written about forgiveness and peace?
JV: I think what makes Admissions a memorable experience is its high intensity. I wanted to create a setting — the Admissions Room for the afterlife - that was clean and simple, putting the spotlight on the characters and their words. The drama in the piece comes from the dialogue, so I didn’t want anything to compete with that. This is why a super clean shade of white was chosen for the color of the room, so the actors would really stand out in stark relief.
I also felt the room should be small because the close proximity in which the character’s intertwined fates are revealed increases the emotional stakes. They are forced to confront head on, in a very tight space, the way their thinking has lead them to where they are. In this simple, stripped-down setting, there is nothing for them to hide behind.
Another unique aspect of Admissions is that most films would never have a scene in one room that lasted 18 minutes. But because of the setting, and the profound things that are being talked about — things that take the audience on a journey to truth on a whole other level — the film actually seems action packed. This is accomplished with no punches thrown, guns drawn, or even a single change of scenery. Ultimately it’s just a healing conversation, which is what I hope the audience can partake in after seeing the film.
AM: Why the decision to create this as a short film? What place do you think shorts have in the broader medium of film?
JV: The subject matter in Admissions is pretty heavy, so I wanted to get in and get out without beating the audience over the head too much. I think as content creators, it is our duty to use the audience’s time wisely, presenting them with something concise and to the point. This is why I believe short film is a perfect vehicle for modern parables. You can put forth transformational teachings in a format that audiences are comfortable with, reaching those who otherwise may never pick up a spiritual book. Plus, you can do it in a short amount of time so there is a better chance of keeping the audience’s attention. In the future, I hope to see lots of writers using shorts for this purpose. It’s a great medium for content that elevates while it entertains.
AM: How long did it take you to perfect the actor’s lines?
JV: I believe dialogue should be dramatic and have an action all its own. It is entertainment that we are trying to provide, so I think the character’s lines should be rich, multi-layered, and smart. If it sounds like stuff you hear every day, then it’s really not earning its keep on the screen. Boring conversations just aren’t that interesting - in life, or the movies.
When writing the dialogue for this film, I started with more than I needed. Then, I sculpted it down to the bare minimum that was required to get the point across. Once the script was put into the very talented hands of our director, Harry Kakatsakis, and the extremely gifted actors in our film, this sculpting continued with the entire team. The actual time spent writing and then editing the script was probably about six months.
Admissions was a unique challenge because there were so many important teachings that needed to be included, but I had to make them sound conversational and natural. I definitely had a message I wanted to send, but I couldn’t let it be too obvious or the audience would be pulled out of the story. It is unique demands like these that make the creation of transformational content so difficult to execute but also so rewarding.
AM: What was the most challenging character to write, develop and cast?
JV: The Clerk was the most challenging, by far. With that character I was basically creating a spiritual master from scratch. I needed the Clerk to say some very high concept things, but he couldn’t come across preachy. He also had to be likable and even have a sense of humor, while staying above the battleground in the room. Getting James Cromwell for that role was a huge gift because he has the gravitas and authority to actually pull off the lines in the film. In the hands of the wrong actor, those same lines could have come off as trite.
It was also extremely helpful that James is so well versed spiritually because he has the intellectual bandwidth to completely understand what I was trying to communicate. He always had brilliant suggestions, and his delivery took the film to a level it would not have achieved without him. In real life, he is a peace activist so he also understood the importance of the film. But even with all that he has done over his long and distinguished career as an actor and activist, he remains incredibly accessible and down to earth. It was easy to see why he is so well-liked.
Anna Khaja, Oren Dayan and Anthony Batarse, besides being great actors, are also very beautiful people with wonderful, loving hearts. Their considerable talent is obvious to see in the film, and they pulled off their roles to perfection. We were also very fortunate that they believed in the message of the film and wanted to help us get it out to the world. Because of this, they were extremely generous with their time and talent, as was James Cromwell. I’d say the most interesting background note is that Oren Dayan has Israeli parents, so it was very rewarding to see him embrace the role of the Palestinian with such passion and empathy.
AM: Can you talk a little about the balance you found in showing the responsibility both sides play in the conflict?
JV: The balance I really wanted to show is that both sides have suffered tremendously in the Middle East conflict, and both sides need love and understanding. I also wanted to demonstrate that the attainment of lasting peace requires the establishment of shared interests.
When the characters first enter the room, they seem to have nothing in common. But through the telling of the story, they discover the other side’s suffering. It eventually takes the feminine energy of the Israeli wife to begin the healing process, but in the end, the sense of loss they share over their loved ones creates a bridge that they cross to reach common ground.
The common ground that all humans share is that we are “love beings.” This is demonstrated by the fact that unconditional love is what’s most healing and sustaining to us. When people are attacking and condemning others, they have simply strayed from their essence, and just need to be gently redirected back to what they truly are.
It is also important to realize that the oppressed are not the only ones who are suffering in this world. The oppressors are suffering as well because they have strayed far from love. This means if you want to heal the world, then everyone must be forgiven, without exception. If you want to freeze the world in a state of separation, then simply hold on to grievances, and the world’s continued suffering will be assured.
Contrary to popular opinion, the real evolution of life on earth is not from single cell organisms to the complex creatures roaming the world today. Our real evolution is the journey from separate interests to shared interests. Thankfully, forgiveness provides a direct route to that healing common ground and the everlasting peace that is our birthright.
AM: In writing the script, did you try to put forth the agenda of forgiveness that is stripped of political and religious influences or did this just happen organically?
JV: Anything that creates separation makes forgiveness impossible to attain. Unfortunately, religion and politics can sometimes be some of the greatest creators of conflict known to humankind. Therefore, true forgiveness has to steer clear of these limiting factors so it can rise above them and truly bring people together. It requires a spiritual point of view in which one sees past the material world of bodies to the underlying spirit that unifies us all.
In Admissions, Hell is represented by separation and Heaven is represented by unity. By shedding all grievances, the Israelis and the Palestinian get to enter the oneness of heaven and rejoin their natural state. Back on planet earth, we create Heaven and Hell with every thought we think. If we choose to judge and condemn others and leave them out of our circle of love, we have created Hell for ourselves. If we choose to forgive, our circle of love expands and we get to live in a Heavenly state of mind.
AM: What lessons in this film do you personally implement?
JV: Admissions takes place in the afterlife, but the ideas in it are meant to be applicable to the here and now. Essentially they are designed to create a psychological structure for attaining inner peace, so I try to implement all of them in my daily life. One of the reasons I wrote Admissions was to share some of the helpful teachings that I have been exposed to through various belief systems. Sometimes, when I read a passage that just sets everything right, the gratitude I feel inspires me to share the wisdom with others so they can feel the joy that I just experienced. Admissions is full of the helpful nuggets that I have been lucky to discover. It is not always easy, but whenever possible, I try to let them guide me through the vicissitudes of this life.
AM: What impact do you want Admissions to have? What will you consider a success?
JV: My biggest hope for Admissions is that it removes some suffering from the world. If the film can do that for even one single person, I would consider it a success.
AM: Where do you want to take the film from here?
JV: The next step is a college tour for the film that we are currently setting up for 2013. A few colleges have already reached out to us, so we figured we should put together a full tour. The idea is to screen the film at college venues, and then I will lead a Q & A with the goal of facilitating a healing conversation. We are also working on an educational package for schools that will include a discussion guide and class exercises. In my humble opinion, it is never too early to teach college students, teenagers and children the critical importance of forgiveness. In this regard, I was delighted to see that Admissions recently won Best Children’s Film at the Uppsala International Film Festival in Sweden. The fact that folks in that country are entering into dialogue with their children about the difficult subjects that Admissions addresses seems like a very hopeful development for the future.
Hosted by Nina Boski of LifeBites Radio
November 16, 2012
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Posted by Maha Hilal of the Peace & Collaborative Development Network on September 21, 2012.
Film Title: Admissions
Film Director: Harry Kakatsakis
Film Producer: Gavin J. Behrman
Writer and Producer: John Viscount
Film Review by Maha Hilal, PCDN Associate
“When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others.” This powerful quote by Desmond Tutu is exemplified in the film “Admissions,” through the process that unfolds between two Israelis and one Palestinian who find themselves together in the admissions room for the afterlife. As this film demonstrates, forgiveness often evades the living, but these three deceased individuals are given the opportunity to forgive one another after their deaths.
“Admissions” tells the story of two separate lives brought together by the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine. It begins with the entrance of a Palestinian man followed by the entrance of an Israeli couple into the admissions room for the afterlife. Struggling to understand where and why they have found themselves there, the Israeli couple learns that they have died as victims of a suicide bombing and that the Palestinian man sharing the room was the perpetrator of the attack.
This knowledge immediately becomes a source of tension between the Israelis and the Palestinian, highlighting the oft Palestinian perception that Israeli citizens are culpable in their government’s actions and therefore cannot be labeled as innocent and the oft Israeli perception that they are guiltless in their county’s actions and that Palestinian acts of violence can never be justified.
Despite this discord between the three, their shared experience of loss opens the door to empathy and forgiveness, with death being the ultimate facilitator in this exchange. This exchange comes to fruition as the Israeli woman in the couple realizes that death in the case of the Palestinian man was a physical death and that his physical death was preceded by his emotional death on earth, as a result of his sufferings.
While this exchange teaches us something very powerful, many questions still remain: What of the living? Will they wait until it’s too late? What will it take to forgive and live in peace on Earth? In the end, as the film poignantly demonstrates, identities don’t matter and religion doesn’t matter. What does matter, is one’s ability to forgive.
This was a powerful, must see film. For those working on peace and reconciliation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this film teaches us that forgiveness is possible, but that we can and should strive for forgiveness while we still have a chance on Earth. It also teaches us to understand each other’s life experiences in order to build bridges and not enemies. Moreover, through the course of the film, the viewer is shown that suffering is not something that is experienced by only one side in a conflict, but that everyone suffers in conflict and that suffering cannot and should not be quantified or compared. Ultimately, the film demonstrates humanity’s common bond and points to love, compassion, and understanding as the antidote to human cruelty.
Cape Town, South Africa (October 12, 2011) - "Admissions" stars Academy Award nominee and peace activist James Cromwell. The film tells a transformational tale about what it takes to find lasting peace, even in war-torn places like the Middle East. Featuring an Israeli couple and a Palestinian, the modern parable is set in the admissions room for the afterlife. Its purpose is to start a conversation that heals.
The summit in South Africa was sponsored by The Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace, an organization dedicated to establishing ministries and departments of peace in governments across the globe. "Admissions" includes a call to action for viewers to get involved with this important movement that aims to create concrete, structural change in governments to aid in the pursuit of world peace.
According to Saul Arbess, Ph.D., Head of the Global Alliance Interim Leadership Council and Co-Founder of the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative, “the film was a great success and deeply felt by the delegates.” Mike Abkin, Ph.D., Secretary Treasurer and Board Member of The National Peace Academy in the United States, said Admissions was shown “to great effect – everyone was so moved by it. Saul gave a little intro about it, and, at the end, we all sat for a moment in awed silence. Thanks so much for making the screening possible.”
"Admissions" was originally written as a response to 9/11. Alarmed by the rising amount of division and hostility in the world, writer John Viscount felt compelled to put forth an interpretation of life that he hoped would lead more naturally to forgiveness. He did so by creating a different world – the admissions room for the afterlife – that reflected the teachings he had found most healing in his decades of spiritual study. This ethos is summed up best in the film by James Cromwell’s character, “The Clerk,” when he tells Ahmad, “The ones who find it hardest to love, need love the most.”
"Admissions" premieres October 14, 2011 at the Other Venice Film Festival in Venice, CA. The film has been submitted to numerous major national and international film festivals and additionally will be exhibited at select peace and human rights conferences. The filmmakers are also reaching out to members of world governments to spread the film’s message and raise awareness about the peace department movement.
For more information, or to schedule an interview please call Gavin J Behrman at 818-469-2126 or e-mail to info@admissionsfilm.com. Visit www.admissionsfilm.com for additional information including the promotional trailer and press kit.
