- Welcome to Independent Lens.
I'm Pete Schwaba,
host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
What is consciousness?
Is it in all living beings?
Why are we predisposed to mystical experience?
And what happens when we die?
These are the thought-provoking questions tonight's film
sets out to answer.
The film is called Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness.
Aware follows the work of six protagonists or researchers
who seek to answer the aforementioned questions,
each approaching them from different perspectives.
The six cast members use their experiences and knowledge
in science, meditation, spirituality,
and even psychedelic substances
to explore what it not only means to exist,
but to be aware of our awareness.
This is an ambitious film
showcasing very driven, passionate people.
One of the films subjects,
brain science researcher Christof Koch says,
“My own personal goal, before I die, is to understand
how consciousness fits into the universe.“
Frauke Sandig and Eric Black
co-directed and co-wrote the film.
The duo used stunning, and at times, hypnotic visuals
to complement their narrative.
Their directorial collaboration runs like a well-oiled machine.
The two partner regularly,
which isn't a surprise as they have similar interests.
Both Sandig and Black are fascinated
with the existential and spiritual philosophies
of indigenous people,
primarily those of the Mayans.
In Aware, the filmmakers explore how science
is starting to embrace insights that have been prevalent
in indigenous philosophies for centuries.
Aware has achieved the highly-coveted
100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
To put things in perspective, that's 68 percentage points
higher than Sylvester Stallone's arm wrestling movie,
Over the Top,
which I saw in the theater about 30 years ago.
How's that for some casual existential behavior?
Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness
starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.