ELMER
POSTLE OWL
PRODUCTIONS / little films
Televisual media supporting liberation and choice
TV
Camerawork and Production. From Nov 08- Nov 09,
a weekly 'little film'
'We are sitting here, at 22.30 watching your first
"Little Film." and
we just wanted to say:
WE LOVE IT.
WE LOVE YOU.
CONGRATULATIONS, and we look forward to the next one. RH + HH'
'Meanwhile, another heartfelt
thank-you for your amazing multi+faceted healing gifts. I slipped a bit into
the dark well, yesterday, then emerged by watching a number of your short
films (especially Monk) pulled me out & sent me on an untapped journey of
spiritual poetry videos also!! You offer more than you can know'. DB
'AWESOME
I love how you 'force' me to slow down with these...especially this one (‘The
Impeccable Softness’)...the pace of it and the tenor of your voice. It is a bit
like a concussion, in reverse. If that makes sense. I can feel a non
collision... a enforced braking'
Patrick Houser'.
'I love how you put things together' R Shohet
'I wanted to let you know that I looked at 13 of your little
films last night. Touching. Surprising. Poetry in motion. A delight to the eye'.
Denis Postle
'THANK YOU TO ELMER! FOR POETRY AND BEAUTY AND LOVE!' Binnie
A. Dansby
Thank you thank you thank you
Thank you Thank you
THANK YOU
for the wonderful, WONDERFUL, short films you have given away to all of us.
Celeste Birgit and I sat down
with toast and coffee and hot chocolate and watched Binnie, and then I
wept through the film about the band of brothers. What a gift to
inform us of what is happening. I feel en-couraged, en-heartened in my
own engagement in loving in the world, and standing strong in that
love, connecting. Now I know that somewhere the band of brothers are
standing strong, opening, giving acts of courage, or coeurage from the
heart, I feel so heartened, so much stronger and woven into a wonderful
community.
Annabelle Hands
'I want to thank you for the beautiful little films you send
me and so many others. They are a real inspiration for me.
Thank you for that'.
Tineke De Jong
'I loved your little film about the Men’s Warrior group
at Findhorn – so tender in a men-together sort of way. I’ve also just enjoyed
your film with you questioning your guilt-self in your garden. Particularly
loved your (?) little boy’s commentary and your answer “I’m playing”. A rare
phrase from a father!'
October 29th 2009. All the films are
listed below. PROJECT NOW COMPLETE!
'little films: to be free'
(play new film)
The 'little
films: to be free' project is inspired by Nic Askew's
'Monday 9am' series of films and in particular my friends Robert and Hollie. Here, weekly (at about 4pm on Tuesday!),
I will present a new film
reflecting on 'willingness to be free'. Different traditions of
spiritual enquiry speak about a moment, or a choice point where it
comes down to a basic willingness to be free from the sense of
oppression we can experience. These short films intend to
reflect
on this aspect of choice as it appears in the different
facets of our lives.
I welcome feedback, suggestions and financial
support with this project; see below and enjoy the film. If you would
like
to make a financial donation to the project you may do so here or
please get in touch by phone or email.
Yours sincerely,
Elmer Postle
14th October 2009 'A Good Question' My
son Lucien's question was a good one and the film an attempt to answer
it. The reason for his enquiry was provoked by an attempt to look at
the ground of being, past the temporary distractions.
Duration: 3'13'' Watch the film HERE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7th October 2009 'Inseparable' Spending
the last night in a flat I have now sold brought together the
experience of a beautiful window, a main feature of the place and a
vivid memory of intimacy with the 'goddess' whilst walking across a
local field.
A new film, 29th September 2009: 'The Impeccable Softness' A
public park I visited as a small child holds positive memories, from
before I can remember now as an adult. The growing light of a clear
dawn in the park reminds of my arrival into the world. This short film
explores welcoming the arrival of a 'voice', child's and adult's.
Duration: 4'14'' Watch the film HERE ------------------------------------------------- 'Resting on a Question' Engagement
with the ego; relating to what I want. It feels like the fantasy of the
human race is an isolated earth; an isolated spaceman above it all is
the symbol. But even there we find relationship is what counts,
relationship, in this case, with the revolving planet beneath.
10th September 2009: 'And It's a He' A
healing series of words, a 'turnaround' of a phrase, from 'leaving to
staying', is the theme of this film which also explores the male
polarity of the Christ figure. The film is brought together from
fragments taken in the street and words collected over the week.
3rd September 2009: 'Closing The Road' Attending
a gang murder (by young men of young men) on the streets of London as
TV news cameraman, brings contact with experience that's like a rip in
the psyche. How does this 'world channel' (collective good or bad
dream) story impact on the person in the professional observer role? If the words come too fast, use the pause button to keep the pace to one you enjoy.
Duration: 4'21'' Watch the film HERE -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
27th August 2009: 'Truth Is Dust' Inspired by a line in the metaphysical text 'A Course in Miracles' this is a short film exploring forgiveness and truth.
Particles of dust are like truth being swept and welcomed to the centre
where transformation can occur. This is the first in the series to look
at and include gender politics!
7th August 2009 'Watching Bombs - London 2009' A
night shift at the TV station for the
cameraman, a shift often called 'bomb watch' because it's intended to
cover the unexpected, offers an opportunity for reflection on the place
where
dreams meet with reality.
Listening
to the sound of the jets and their turbines as they toil over the place
where I live inspired me to try to find out what it really was I
thought about them and their presence in my life.
Inspired
by some feedback on earlier films, this film shares an experience of
'frozenness' set against a background of flow and fluidity. Told in a
frank style the intention is to communicate feeling states that
are not verbal.
16th July: two films, 'Thankyou Frog' a
meditation on the way the idea of 'not enough' in a family sense is
related to gratitude, and how gratitude is in turn related to small
creatures!
and 'A Stone'- (so someone says) : a head shakingly deliberate, made up, story about seeing what you want in patterns of movement. Duration: 2'01 Play Film new film 2: HERE
30th June 2009 - two films. 'Refuge in The Deathless 2 of 2'
The
second film with Amaranatho, a Theravadan Thai Forest Order Monk who is
a
friend of mine. This is a film about how 'getting to know more about
death' within ourselves can lead to an experience of freedom. This is
the second of
two films on this theme, the first one is also available below. Duration: 4'59'' watch film here 'Refuge in the Deathless', film one, from the previous week. Duration: 4'00'' watch film here
17th June 2009 'Life Sentence'
A
short film about how being 'put away' can happen to an experience as
well as a person and how the idea about life this informs is worth
enquiry.
10th June 2009
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Inside Out'
Is
a meditation on the way arriving can seem like leaving and how we are
already always here. The insect world offers a magnificent
demonstration of release. Duration 5'46'' watch the film HERE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last weeks film: 'Needs, Wants (and Relative Safety)'
An
'on the street' discussion of needs and what having them met enables
for us. Intuitively 'found' as a film as I went, it is about safety and how looking at the way safety needs are met is a
fruitful area to explore.
Duration: 4'27'' Play Film HERE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
28th May 2009 'A Visit'
This
film is a poetic treatment of an experience of 'making up the world'
around me. Put together quickly, from necessity, it speaks about
sensing for a moment what it's like to create all that I see.
Duration: 3'33''
Play film HERE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21st May 2009
'Birth Art Cafe'
The
film is a short introduction to an approach which offers pregnant
women and new mothers an opportunity to explore their experience
through
artistic expression. The intention behind the process is to create a
welcoming environment for the range of birth related experience.
Through painting and drawing, women face the unknown in the artistic
process and thus prepare for the unknown dimension of birth.
This
is a 'nearly final' version of the film, feedback is welcomed and we
will probably take this version down after a week or two. The music is
by Deva Premal and is called 'Ide Were Were'.
The
film is about an apparent contradiction and a resolution between what
people make and the universe inhabited by mammals other than us, when
they are in their element. Shot during a trip to South Africa, it
brings together and intends to articulate some diverse elements of
Jumbo minded-ness.
A
film about 'Kingfishers' and 'Fisher Kings'. The appearance of a
Kingfisher and my response to it resonates with part of the Parsifal
myth. The event which produced the film 'New Ways With Blades' earlier
in this series was based on a telling of the Parsifal myth. The
appearance of the story as a way to understand awareness of divinity
and our relationship with it is exciting. Turn the sound low so it's
not too distracting...
Heading
off to the country from London, I was detoured to the garage to sort
out my car which had a warning light come up on the dashboard. An hour
turned into three, turned into seven and the original plan was
abandoned. Reading a wonderful book about awareness, I tuned into what
that meant for me right there and then, as I waited.
A
dream of a conversation about a map was followed by a waking thought to
place where this project is on a timeline drawing. The place just
before the middle of the project is reached seems familiar in its
quality of freedom and uncertainty. The film explores this place on the
map.
A
small train goes along a wooden track. A conversation between two
adults about the toy train suggests a metaphorical understanding.
Putting the short film together, the
humanness of the ideas becomes clear.
The
tide goes out, the light comes up, planes fly across, pigeons zoom
about delightedly as other birds sing their magical tunes. A baby is
born too and parents learn to accept a deeper course: it happens every
day. As sure as the tide turns, life is about change once again.
Remember to press the 'HQ' button on the youtube
player!
17th March 2009
'It Happened'
Is
a story about welcoming the spirit and the spirit of welcome. This film
was inspired by being told by friends that they were pregnant. This
wonderful occasion set me contemplating the moment of knowing about
someone's presence and what that feels like.
Remember to press the 'HQ' button on the youtube
player!
11th March 2009
'A True Story...'
Thus named because it's hard to believe! Maybe at
last I am beginning
to understand why giving and receiving are the same thing. Despite the
story, I have had a lot of fun with the experience.
To work creatively with the economic spasm, a
workshop on 'Abundance' highlighted
self-acceptance as my first step. Faced with the beauty of a rose I had
to acknowledge my predetermined ambivalence. This film examines
ambivalence, betrayal and a sense of the infinite.
A
great question came up in a conversation over dinner. What is
the
difference between 'The Shadow' and 'The Ego', and what is
their
relationship? This 'little film' raises this question and suggests that
'wanting things' makes them manifest.
Facing
experience, just as it is, invites it all forth. I am experimenting
with the place in me that wants to push it away and the place
in me
that is willing to welcome the whole. In addition this film makes
visible a private statement of intention in a public place.
What
if the exhortation to 'drop it' was an encouragement to let go of the
story which keeps us from our lives? A wider invitation, in fact, to
trust could come forward. Trusting, though, in a way that's far from a
'soft option'. Trusting in the deeper safety of our existence we find
there is more than the fearsome unresolvable opposites.
This
short film, the second one with Binnie A.Dansby, looks at what it is we
are when the block to our expression is removed. Being born can be a
very convincing argument that being in a body is painful and that the
ego was right! The skill and sensitivity to care for those giving birth
and being born comes out of a willingness to look at the places our
deepest blocks to expression lie.
A DVD of the full interview with Binnie will shortly be available from
the shop in this site.
Idea's
of where we might be free or even poor opinions about ourselves can
seem like safe places, until they start to constrict us. Notions of
freedom can place freedom somewhere other than where we are. Then new
ideas may be helpful; perhaps whats important is a complete
surrender of all notions of
good, bad, success or not.
Exploring; 'willingness to be free' is the theme of this whole project
and the
central exploration in this interview with pioneering therapuetic
breathworker and self development teacher, Binnie A. Dansby. In this
short piece Binnie addresses core questions to do with choice. As she
describes her belief about our essential innocence, safety and
supportedness, the potential of embracing ourselves as expressions of
love is seen.
6th January 2009
'What Is Faith?'
Lying
in bed with a splitting headache for a couple of days I found myself
curious about faith. I noticed how my mind would create stories which
seemed to attempt to make sense of the sensations I was
having. There was a link between these sensations and the
stories,
but is that all?
Curiosity
about the force that turns the seasons at Solstice time and is what we
push against (or with) led me to a noisy road. The intention to explore
what it is that is Change at its most elemental, immediately reveals
examples of what it might be.
This
film started from the idea of contact between people in the ring being
about how good it feels to make contact. The general idea of boxing is
that it's about aggression, winning and brute physical supremacy. It's
surely good that some people put their energy into the ring. This
film is a wondering about the way a 'to win' opposition can seem the
only
way, yet, this opposition is also the place things get born and created.
''Thinking: 'judgement is
finished';
then there's a kiss.''
One
thing follows another. Giving up judgement of what we see,
however
momentarily, and there's an intimacy with something beloved; a person,
an idea - even in the high street! A sweetness instantly steps through the gap..
You
find yourself with a blade in your hand and someone asks you 'what's it
like?': do you point aggressively or do you use it to encourage
another?
Made with the mentoring project 'A Band of Brothers' this short film
looks at issues of male mentoring, support and guidance for youth. The
film leads us to discover how mentoring is a remembering of
what
is of value between men.
PS: I think there
is a longer film about this to be made, especially in relation to the
current knife crime among youth. If you have enthusiasm, support and
resources for this please get in touch.
Duration 8'26"
To play film Click HERE
To play YouTube version Click HERE
25th November 2008:
'a
walk in the garden'
This week
I have been working closely with some teachings on the theme of
forgiveness for an upcoming DVD/webvideo release. The depth of a
question about the reality, or not, of guilt and suffering is the
starting point for this weeks film.
Duration: 3'45''
click HERE to see the film (youtube
version - be sure to click 'watch in high quality')
The new film, 18th November 2008:
'None
of us has got very far..'
This
line from a poem by the Persian poet Kabir (translated by Robert Bly)
inspired me to speak about the infinite! A family is in the
street
negotiating their progress; memories arise of an experience of
being 'beyond the world' and entirely here.
Duration: 3'45''
click HERE to see the film (YouTube
version)
Previous posting 11th November 2008: 'Re-memberance'
This
film is a reflection on Re-memberance and how we bring things together
again. Made during the time of the 90th anniversary of the Armistice in
Europe, I found myself telling a story about poppies..
Duration: 3'30''
The first film in the series:
'a
gentle praise of men and
birth'
begins
the weekly 'little
films: to be free' project. Music is 'Flow' from
the CD 'Mystic Muse'
by Toomas Tuulse with
the poem by Elmer Postle.
How to praise men at the time of their lives where they become
fathers? I wrote this as a response to a request
for a trailer to precede
screenings of birth related documentaries. I was offered the wonderful
music by Toomas Tuulse to use
and this is what came about.
If this is slow to load, play the YouTube version HERE
