Spiritual Healing: A New Frontier A Film by Dena Barnett Running Time: 55 minutes Written and Directed by: Dena Barnett Produced by: Dena Barnett Narrated by: Dena Barnett Edited By: Robert Campbell
Synopsis Filmmaker Dena Barnett's encounter with Jewish spiritual healing as a portal to an inquiry not only into her own cultural roots and spirituality, or lack thereof, but on a grander scale her ensuing quest for answers on the nature of spiritual healing, which inevitably leads to a probe into the nature of consciousness.
About the Film Every Friday before noon hundreds of faithful, visiting from all over the world, gather by the burial site of Rabbi Moshkovitz, the last spiritual leader of Stamford Hill, the largest concentration of Chasidic Jews in Europe, at the Jewish cemetery in North London to seek blessing and healing. Here the caretaker told filmmaker Dena Barnett about the Rabbi's gravestone or ohel and the weekly healing pilgrims. This is the same cemetery Barnett's ailing father sent her to in search of her great-grandfather's grave, a Rabbi. At that time she had already cared for her father for four years and had felt increasingly helpless and frustrated with the Western healing model as well as with its bureaucracy. Having been raised in a secular Jewish household, absent of much spiritual or religious dialogue, the cemetery visit became a portal for Dena, not only for her Jewish heritage, but perhaps more importantly towards a greater awareness of the nonphysical aspect of life and its impact on healing, the world of consciousness, unseen phenomena and healing events that do not fit within the Western healing paradigm. In her own words: "I was curious. I wanted to know, understand how spiritual healing could promise so much to so many people. What is spiritual healing, and why does it divide so many people? And who is a spiritual healer?" As Larry Dossey, M.D. and author, who has been on the forefront of contemporary thinking on distance healing since the 1980s, has said, "Spiritual healing is the most ancient form of healing known to humankind. It takes many forms and is expressed in various ways. The recent entry of scientific evidence into this arena is of monumental importance. Dena Barnett's film explores how the spiritual and the scientific complement each other, and how spiritually based conscious intentions can seamlessly enrich scientific modes of healing. The medicine of the future will recognize this harmonious fusion, as materialistic science increasingly recognizes the role of consciousness in our world." Today, despite plenty of criticism for healing therapies that don't fit within the Western allopathic model, interest keeps growing for alternative therapies in general, and spiritual and distance healing in particular. But there is a big hurdle, the one we impose on ourselves through a restricted belief system which prevents science from opening up to these new frontiers. In her documentary, Dena will take you on a mind changing journey with healers, doctors, scientists, researchers, and healees to explore this new frontier, at the same time the oldest form of healing, and explore how spiritual healing might not only enhance our healing successes, but possibly even catapult our healing abilities and the healing arts to new heights.
Dena Barnett Producer Dena Barnett is an independent British film producer with over twenty years experience in film and TV production and the arts. She graduated from Nottingham Trent University with a degree in Contemporary Arts, and qualified as an English and Drama teacher. In the 1990's she formed two cross arts companies with her partners, and produced and raised funding for two arts festivals in partnership with Nottingham Council. Dena was a researcher in Arts & Entertainment and Factual Documentary at Carlton TV, as well as assistant director for the international feature film 24/7 with Bob Hoskins. Dena also freelanced for the BBC and Channel 4. Barnett began work on her first documentary film, Spiritual Healing: A New Frontier, in 2015. Now living in Italy, Dena also has a second film in development. Producer's Statement "I was curious. I wanted to know, understand how spiritual healing could promise so much to so many people. What is spiritual healing, and why does it divide so many people? And who is a spiritual healer?"
UK Crew Graham Fowler Cinematographer After beginning his career as post boy at Shepperton Studios, Graham Fowler moved up through the ranks to 1st Assistant Director. He then moved into cinematography, beginning with short movies and promo videos. Subsequently, he formed GF Films, his own production company in the heart of Soho London, and was commissioned to light and direct TV commercials, shorts and documentaries, for which he won several notable awards. In 2000, Fowler was Director of Photography on the feature film SW9, a gritty hard-hitting film shot entirely on location in Brixton - a feat in itself! In recent years, he has been involved in many productions as Director and DOP, mainly shooting in Kenya, the Middle East and Far East, and winning numerous awards for his work. Graham co-produced, and was Director of Photography, on Run For Your Wife with Ray Cooney.
John Luton Director, Editor John Luton entered the film industry in distribution in Warner Bros. London office. He moved to the production side as assistant cameraman, then assistant film editor, subsequently moving up to editor, then supervising editor in charge of postproduction at major London production companies. Luton edited over 1,000 commercials, including 26 New York/Venice/Cannes award winners. He also directed commercials and corporate films for blue chip companies, and wrote many of the scripts. John created and scripted the top-rated drama series, Trick or Cheat for Norwegian TV. He wrote the original screenplay for the feature film Dead Man Running, starring Tamer Hassan, Danny Dyer and Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson, and co-directed (with Ray Cooney) the film version of his smash hit stage play Run For Your Wife with Ray Cooney. John authored the thriller, Psycho-Analyzed: How Hitchcock Tricked The World. He is a long-standing awards voting member of BAFTA and a member of the Editing Chapter.
Giacomo Cannata Videographer Cannata is a highly experienced senior photographer and videographer who is comfortable directing, editing, applying all post-production effects to studio and location-based still and video shoots.
Italy Crew Daniele Pisanni Set Photographer Daniele Pisani was drawn to communication through images and music since childhood. While not the always an enthusiastic student, Daniele earned a master's degree in History, Critics and Movie Production Management at the University of Florence. He began his career working for Diva Futura, then moved on to production assistant for two films. Since then, he has been successful as an independent consultant on music, art and photography projects.
Marco Ballerini Director, Editor, Drone Pilot Marco Ballerini is an Italian Director and Project Manager, who studied cinema and theatre at the University of Bologna, and New York University's Film Institute. At a young age Ballerini began working as an assistant for feature films, television commercials and music videos. He produced and directed documentaries for several UN agencies, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and worked as a communication and media expert for exhibitions and festivals. Marco was involved in film productions of Maurizio DeAngelis, Beta Taurus, Mediterranean Film, PFA Film, Fandango, Veradia Film, TPI, EP Productions, Nido del Cuculo, Paolo Ruffini, Ciak 2000. He is proud to have learned from and worked with Beatrice Banfi, historical assistant of director Pier Paolo Pasolini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders. Most recently, Ballerini has been cameraman, editor and director for films, music videos, commercials, web series and corporates or several Italian productions, and project managing for the AICS of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Lorenzo Maiani Voiceover Engineer Lorenzo Maiani began studying the piano at a young age, and earned the diploma in Theory and Solfeggio at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence. Later he studied Composition and graduated from the University of Florence's Art, Music & Entertainment academy in Musical Dramaturgy. In 2005 and 2006 Maiani went to Los Angeles to study film music composition. Now back in Italy, he combines his classical training with the new digital platform in his songwriting and composition, as well as his with record production work for TV, film and media.
US Crew Robert Campbell Director of Photography, Editor With over thirty years experience in the television and film industry, Robert has created numerous award winning programs, commercials, and documentaries for broadcast and the web. Campbell is the recipient of two Emmy awards, four Emmy nominations, and various other industry awards. The recent short feature, Einar, for which Campbell was the Director of Photography, won Best Short at the 2017 Scandinavian International Film Festival and the Silver Award at the 2018 New York International Film Festival.
Luiz Braga Post-Production Coordinator Originally from Brazil, Luiz Braga's career in the television industry spans 25 years. His work in news journalism for major New York television stations garnered numerous Emmy awards. Braga is currently senior videographer and editor for WNBC New York. His other projects include producing documentaries, music and creative photography.
Susanne Meyer-Fitzsimmons Writer, Coordinator Susanne is an award-winning author, blogger and speaker on living holistically and sustainably, with a special interest in holistic health and the healing mechanism.