Velcrow Ripper's Blog (43)

ADVANCE LOOK AT VELCROW RIPPER'S NEW FILM!

Dear Friends,

I'm excited to share with you the new demo video for EVOLVE LOVE - the third and final installment in the Fierce Love Trilogy. The journey began with Scared Sacred, ignited with Fierce Light, and arrives, in 2012 with EVOLVE LOVE.

This weel I launched a Kickstarter campaign for "EVOLVE LOVE: Love in A Time of Climate Crisis," my new feature documentary…

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Added by Velcrow Ripper on November 10, 2010 at 10:42pm — No Comments

New Years Evolution

Happy New Years!

I love this transition time - it’s a great time to shed old snake skins, and move into new possibilities. A great time to renew commitments and abandon the ones that no longer fit. A great time for looking back, with gratitude, on the past year. My dear friend Carly Stasko loves to ask herself: what are the three things I am grateful for today? She does this at meal times, but on New Years, she looks back over the year and asks - what are the three big things I’m… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on December 31, 2009 at 9:23pm — No Comments

PRAYERS FOR BAT NHA

“If we want to end the war in the world, we need to end the war in our own hearts.”

I made this short film in support of Thich Nhat Hanh, and his sangha in Vietnam, who are in crisis right now. Please support them, and share this video widely.

Thich Nhat Hanh's monks and nuns of Bat Nha Monastery are facing religious persecution in Vietnam right now, from the communist government. Threatened by the rising popularity of Thich Nhat Hanh's form… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on November 13, 2009 at 7:30am — 11 Comments

ON THE ROAD WITH FIERCE LIGHT

Well it's been an exciting year of travelling around the world, helping Fierce Light shine. The responses have been so tremendous, and moving. Every audience is different, but again and again people are deeply moved by the film. Last weekend I was in Charleston, at the Sophia Institute. On Friday night the packed screening at the American Theater offered up a standing ovation. The next day, the SHINE YOUR FIERCE LIGHT workshop was charged with energy and compassion. The insitute has been host… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on October 7, 2009 at 1:37am — No Comments

FIERCE LIGHT WORKSHOP AND SCREENING IN SAN FRANCISCO, SEPT 26 & 27

FIERCE LIGHT SCREENING - SAN FRANCISCO

One night only, next Saturday Sept 26. Don't miss it!!!! Also, Fierce Light workshop with Velcrow RIpper September

ATA Gallery, 992 Valencia (@ 21st)

San Francisco, CA

"INSPIRING! HEREIN LIES THE KEY TO HUMANKIND'S ULTIMATE SURVIVAL, AND WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE MORE IMPORTANT?" ~ Seattle Times

"A POETIC CALL TO HEARTFELT ACTION." ~ Common Ground

"AN INVOCATION, A PROVOCATION AND A BENEDICTION." - Seattle… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on September 21, 2009 at 7:30am — 4 Comments

FIERCE LIGHT DVD LAUNCH TONIGHT IN TORONTO AND VANCOUVER!!!!

Hello Toronto and Vancouver Friends -- tonight FIERCE LIGHT DVD LAUNCH!

FIERCE LIGHT: When Spirit Meets Action

AUGUST 24 7PM

AT 5th AVENUE CINEMA VANCOUVER

AND THE ROYAL CINEMA TORONTO

Full info at:

http://www.fiercelight.org/events

SPECIAL EVENT!

$25 TICKET INCLUDES:

Q and A w Velcrow Ripper (Toronto) and JUDY REBICK (Vancouver)

A copy of the FIERCE LIGHT DVD with over an hour of… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on August 24, 2009 at 7:46pm — No Comments

FIERCE LIGHT WORKSHOP IN TORONTO - SATURDAY AUG 22

SHINE YOUR FIERCE LIGHT

Unleash the power of spirit in action

A workshop with Velcrow Ripper

This fierce workshop with spiritual activist, and award winning filmmaker Velcrow Ripper explores the power that is released when spirituality is combined with action, tapping into what Gandhi called "Soul Force", what Ripper calls, "Fierce Light." It is the power of the spiritual warrior - heart centered and fierce at the same time.

Featuring dynamic "engaged… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on August 21, 2009 at 4:48pm — 3 Comments

REVOLUTION OF THE SPIRIT IN BURMA

Here's a short film I made, featuring Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, and Alan Clements, the first American to ordain as a monk in Burma. It is one of the Fierce Light DVD extras. You can find out more about Fierce Light at… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on August 20, 2009 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment

Remembering Hiroshima Day

Lanterns of Memory

Featuring Hiroshima survivor, Kae Goh Ogura

With text by Martin Luther King Jr.

Directed and photographed by Velcrow Ripper

Filmed in Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 2001

Here's a short film I did called "Lanterns of Memory" about this day, August 6, sixty-four years ago, when we dropped the Atomic bomb on HIroshima.…

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Added by Velcrow Ripper on August 7, 2009 at 12:30am — 9 Comments

FIERCE LIGHT HELD OVER AND EXPANDING!

Dear fierce friends:

Congratulations – we did it!!! Fierce Light is held over in Vancouver and Montreal, and expands to two screens in Toronto Friday! Thanks to all of you who've played a part in Fierce Light having an outstanding first weekend!

Now we need to build momentum, and prove to the cynics out there that a film about hope, compassion, and possibility is needed in this time of crisis. Let's crash the gates of the gatekeepers!

Audience responses have… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on May 21, 2009 at 7:24am — 3 Comments

Defiantly Hopeful

In the face of a world in crisis, I dare to care. In the face of materialism, consumerism, and me me me - ism, I recognize that I am because you are, that without you and you and you - plant animal mineral macro micro organism human- I would not exist. That we are all part of a brilliant multi hued tapestry, that we all add to the warp and weave and woof, that we all have a fierce light.

In the face of irony, cynicism, jadedness and despair, I choose hope.… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on May 20, 2009 at 9:44pm — No Comments

FIERCE LIGHT INTERVIEW ON THE MOVIE NETWORK

http://tinyurl.com/o8e2j5

Nice little interview with clips from Scared Sacred and Fierce Light on The Movie Network (TMN)

Added by Velcrow Ripper on May 19, 2009 at 5:08pm — No Comments

Simplicity

For the accomplished warrior, belief is not a form of strategy, nor is it borrowing the stories of previous warriors from books and stories. Trying to theorize and borrow ideas doesn't seem to help. The notion of belief, or view, here is based on complete simplicity. Your view is not affected by liberalism or conservatism, nihilism or eternalism, at all. Your view is straightforward and simple; it is almost a cosmic domestic view. It is the notion of complete simplicity. When you meet a person,… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on May 18, 2009 at 4:28pm — 1 Comment

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SPIRITUALITY

THE PUNK ROCKER WITH INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SPIRITUALITY

-Guy Dixon, The Globe and Mail

May 14, 2009

If rockers were the cultural gurus of the sixties, and techies like Steve Jobs and Nicholas Negroponte were the nineties’ watered-down version, documentary filmmakers may very well be emerging as the new prognosticators of where we’re headed.

Velcrow Ripper, the 45-year-old filmmaker with the part-punk, part-New Age pseudonym who lives on the Toronto Islands,… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on May 17, 2009 at 10:29pm — No Comments

FIERCE LIGHT MOVIE TRAILER

FIERCE LIGHT: WHEN SPIRIT MEETS ACTION

From the Director of Scared Sacred & The Producer of The Corporation

A Feature Documentary by award winning filmmaker Velcrow Ripper

"A SPIRITUAL KALEIDOSCOPE OF HOPE AND JOY. UPLIFTING!" ~ Green Muze Magazine

"HUGELY ENGAGING AND VISUALLY DELIGHTFUL." ~ Toronto Sun

"A POETIC CALL TO HEARTFELT ACTION." ~ Common Ground

IN THEATRES ACROSS CANADA MAY… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on May 9, 2009 at 11:00pm — 20 Comments

A Beautiful Stew

"The Chefs of G~d

are cooking up a special stew

Just for you."

~ Rumi

Who are you? I mean really.

Sounds like a simple question, but have you ever actually asked? I've posted on the subject before, and maybe once I know the answer, I'll… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on April 25, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Spirit Meet Action

“The whole human species is on trial now. These next few decades will determine whether or not our species is a locust species or a bumblebee species. We’ll either scour this planet to the bones and destroy our own civilization and most other species, or we will find a way to bring ourselves back into harmony with our mother, with the earth.” - Van Jones

We live in a time when things are getting better and better and worse and… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on April 21, 2009 at 8:00pm — 1 Comment

Elegant Simplicity

Satish Kumar grew up in India. At the age of eight, despite his mother’s objections, he decided to leave home to join a wandering order of Jain monks. His hair was pulled from his head, one strand at a time. He tied a white cotton mask over his mouth, which was to remain in place the rest of his life, to prevent him from accidentally breathing in an insect, and thus taking a life. He was given a small feather duster, in order to whisk the path before him, to protect the… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on April 15, 2009 at 8:00pm — No Comments

A Respectful Rebel in an Orthodox Land

Sitting in a cave in Meteora Greece, a few days after Fierce Light has screened at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. A soft rain has driven me off the purple, yellow white flower speckled mountain trail. Like Mount Athos, Meteora is a land of towering ancient greek orthodox monasteries. Unlike Athos, women are allowed here, and there is even a convent, named St. Stefanos.

Although I am not a Christian (I was raised a Baha'i, used to call myself a sufi buddhist… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on March 27, 2009 at 10:00pm — 1 Comment

A Pilgrims Progress

Thessaloniki, Greece

Today I introduced Fierce Light at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, here in Greece. I recounted my last visit to this lovely sea side city, back in 1999, when I was shooting Scared Sacred, the film about my journey to the ground zero’s of the world, searching for stories of transformation in the face of crisis. At the time I was facing my own crisis. First my girlfriend at the time decided to leave the project, and… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on March 22, 2009 at 10:30pm — No Comments