Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon. Welcome on the Culture News.
My name is David Severro, and I have the pleasure
to have to do on I Heart with you on
the Colture News and many of the platforms. A wonderful,
wonderful filmmaker who is now known for inspiring feature film
debut called Looking Up, which tells the story of Aithan R. Moon,
(00:24):
a young man battling progressive blindness who attempts to claim
El Capitan, to climb El Capitan. So we are going
to talk about all of that, and of course to
invite you to go to watch this great new feature
film called again Looking Up. Right now over the phone
(00:44):
is the one and only Ellen and Newman Ellena. How
are you today, hie?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
David, thank you so much for having me on the
Culture News. What a pleasure it is to feel to
talk with you about Looking Up today.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's really a pleasure to have you. So the first
question I would love to know one inspired you to
tell that beautiful story.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well, thank you for this opportunity. Looking Up kind of
found me. I knew a ton. He was a friend
of my daughters in college, and he approached me to
do a film really a promotional little video for a
medical trial he was in. He has an eye condition
(01:28):
called retinitis pigmentosa. It's very rare, it's genetic and at
the age of twenty, he went from being fully cited
to having only five percent of his vision and he's
in a medical trial and he felt it was helping
him and he wanted to literally pay it forward, to
(01:49):
just do a good deed and make a video about
his experience in the trial to help other people, other
people with RP come and join the trial. Wis me
to do it? And long story short, it became a
climbing film when he met my husband, Jay, who was
(02:11):
is a lawyer and a climber, and Jay was planning
to do a second ascent of l Capy Tan and Aton.
For those people who will come and see the film,
they'll see that he's very, very keen on taking on
new outdoor challenges and Jay invited him to join him,
(02:31):
and Aton said hell yes. And that's that gave the film.
We'll turn the film into a future film first of all,
but it also gave it the cinematic journey that enabled
us to give them the messaging about positive positivity and
resilience and learning how to live your biggest life even
(02:55):
with limitations.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Wow, and you said it'd absolutely beautifully. So I want
to say also that Looking Up will premiere at the
Soho Film Festival on October ninth, which is after tomorrow
I film I'm Mistaken, and then it will travel to
the West Coast for the Newport Beach Film Festival on
October eighteenth. So East Coast and West Coast really both
(03:22):
have an opportunity to watch this great upcoming movie. So
what do you hope the film will have? Which impact
I should say you think audiences will have when they're
going to watch this great film Looking Up.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
The film is raising awareness about retinal disease generally, but
the message is really applicable to anyone facing any challenge,
be it a health challenge, an emotional challenge, a mental challenge.
Everyone has challenges in life. Some are big, some are small.
(04:05):
Some are noticeable to people in the outside world, like
being blind and using a walking stick the way Aton does.
Some are less visible. But everyone has some hurdle that
they're facing something that often holds them back. And this
film is about saying I'm going to push myself even
(04:27):
if it's a little scary, and even if I don't
succeed in doing what's scaring me, I'm going to try
because that's how you live your life big and I
think that it's the challenges in life that are overcome
that make life meaningful for people. So I'm hoping that
(04:47):
audiences will come out of the theater saying, well, if
Aton can climb el capy ten without being able to see,
then I can do whatever it is that's holding me back.
It's really a film about positive psychology and resilience and
grit and pushing yourself beyond, beyond your fears and limitations.
(05:10):
I should say that this is the Soho Film Festival.
On the ninth is the New York premiere, and Newport
Beach is the California premiere. But the film had its
world premiere in Miami back in January, so it has
been seen by a whole bunch of audiences across the country,
and that message is resonating. When I speak to audiences
(05:34):
after the film, they're very inspired and moved by Aton's story.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Absolutely, we can only imagine how the audience would you
would have would react. So you also work with some
experts like psychologist style. Ben Shahar and some retinal researchers.
Can you tell us how these collaborations with the we're
(06:00):
brought together well?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Al ben Shahar is a world famous happiness expert of
positive psychologist. He taught the most popular class at Harvard
for many years on happiness, and he has podcasts and whatnot.
And Aton had actually worked for him in his lab
as a you know, before college, after high school, and
(06:27):
so that was the connection to Taal. And it was
my first exposure to the tenets of positive psychology, which
I found really powerful and I think audiences do as well.
You know, it's about not focusing on things you can't control,
(06:48):
but focusing on what you can, on the positive and
living in the present, and gratitude for what you have,
not for what you know, not dwelling on what you don't, journaling, meditating.
These were all really practical uh uh skills that are
(07:08):
very helpful for people, and I have found personally helpful
myself since I've learned them. The retinal researcher who's really
whose work is showcased in the film is a man
named doctor Edward Stone, who runs the Institute for Vision
Research at the University of Iowa, which is doing the
most incredible research with stem cells. Essentially, they're creating from
(07:35):
skin cells stem cells that are converted into functional retina cells,
and they have been able in rats to transplant them
and they communicate with the brains of the rats. So
what I'm saying is that they've been able to cure
certain retinal blindness in rats, and it's really just a
(07:56):
matter of time before that's able to be transferred to
the human eye. It's very, very exciting work, and we
talk about that work in the film both as something
that's inspiring for remedies for people who are suffering with
(08:17):
retinal disease, but also as a way for Aton to
kind of assess, how do you live in the present
knowing that there might be a solution down the road,
but it's not here now, and how do we live
our best life even with the limitations that we face.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
So I cannot wait. Can you believe like the progress
of medicines that they are doing now, it's incredible, really
big shout out to these wonderful researchers and for what
they're doing. So before we start to say goodbye to
each other, so this is your feature film debut. What
(09:01):
have you learned from this project that you.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Will take into your future filmmaking and do you have
any advices to aspiring directors for taking similar inspiring true stories.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Well, I've been a filmmaker for over a decade now,
but I've only done shorts, and I've been sort of
the main cook and bottle washer for most of these
projects that I've done. You know, I've done everything from
the camera work to the editing, to the color, the producing,
the directing, and you can't do that in a future film.
So what I learned from this film is the beauty
(09:40):
of working with a team of incredibly talented creatives. I've
found a wonderful editor, Dennis Clark, who became a real
collaborator in every way in terms of making the storyline work.
Donny Tunnenbaum, my DP, is just the most incredible. Well
(10:03):
he's a filmmaker in his own right, but he has
an amazing eye. I had cinematographers who were up on
the wall on l CAP climbing with Aton, and the
scenes they were able to capture while hanging at two
thousand feet were just mind blowing. That's Damien Benigus. And
then I had this incredible composer, Michael Stein. I had
(10:29):
never scored a film before, and that was just a joy.
We also wrote an original song for the film for
the credits, which is really catchy. It was so fun
to do so working with these incredible people is what
I learned from the project. And now that I've done it,
I don't want to ever do a solo film again.
(10:50):
I really always want to collaborate with other talented people.
And the advice I would give to aspiring filmmakers is
don't give up. If you dream it, it will happen.
There were many times that I thought I didn't know
what I was doing, and I saw advice and I
(11:10):
just kept plowing ahead and we made this beautiful film.
And so I think it's very much in keeping with
the messaging of the film, which is go big or
go home. Live. You know, if you try, you will
most likely succeed, but if you don't try, you will
surely not succeed. So just go and go and do it.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I love that, We love your enthusiasm and we love
what you do in your beautiful, beautiful philosophy. You have
a website that Newman films dot com, which I invite
everyone to check out. We give a little shout out
to Amy Prenner who introduced me to your wonderful work,
(11:58):
ladies and gentlemen. My name is David so who I
had the pleasure to have to do the culture news
on iHeart REDEO many other platforms. The wonderful filmmaker Elena
Newman Elena Newman for inspiring film feature film debut Looking Up,
which tells the story of Athen Arman who say hello
(12:19):
to this brave young man who is battling with pride
and with courage, this progressive blindness, and who is absolutely wonderful.
He attempts to climb El Capitan and this is a
beautiful story which will premiere at the Sohol Film Festival,
but also at the Newport Beach Film Festival a little
(12:41):
bit later in October October eighteenth, so all the information
can be found on human films dot com right now
some music to follow up on this lovely day. Stay
tuned with us.
Ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon. Welcome on the Culture News.
My name is David Severro, and I have the pleasure
to have to do on I Heart with you on
the Colture News and many of the platforms. A wonderful,
wonderful filmmaker who is now known for inspiring feature film
debut called Looking Up, which tells the story of Aithan R. Moon,
(00:24):
a young man battling progressive blindness who attempts to claim
El Capitan, to climb El Capitan. So we are going
to talk about all of that, and of course to
invite you to go to watch this great new feature
film called again Looking Up. Right now over the phone
(00:44):
is the one and only Ellen and Newman Ellena. How
are you today, hie?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
David, thank you so much for having me on the
Culture News. What a pleasure it is to feel to
talk with you about Looking Up today.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's really a pleasure to have you. So the first
question I would love to know one inspired you to
tell that beautiful story.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well, thank you for this opportunity. Looking Up kind of
found me. I knew a ton. He was a friend
of my daughters in college, and he approached me to
do a film really a promotional little video for a
medical trial he was in. He has an eye condition
(01:28):
called retinitis pigmentosa. It's very rare, it's genetic and at
the age of twenty, he went from being fully cited
to having only five percent of his vision and he's
in a medical trial and he felt it was helping
him and he wanted to literally pay it forward, to
(01:49):
just do a good deed and make a video about
his experience in the trial to help other people, other
people with RP come and join the trial. Wis me
to do it? And long story short, it became a
climbing film when he met my husband, Jay, who was
(02:11):
is a lawyer and a climber, and Jay was planning
to do a second ascent of l Capy Tan and Aton.
For those people who will come and see the film,
they'll see that he's very, very keen on taking on
new outdoor challenges and Jay invited him to join him,
(02:31):
and Aton said hell yes. And that's that gave the film.
We'll turn the film into a future film first of all,
but it also gave it the cinematic journey that enabled
us to give them the messaging about positive positivity and
resilience and learning how to live your biggest life even
(02:55):
with limitations.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Wow, and you said it'd absolutely beautifully. So I want
to say also that Looking Up will premiere at the
Soho Film Festival on October ninth, which is after tomorrow
I film I'm Mistaken, and then it will travel to
the West Coast for the Newport Beach Film Festival on
October eighteenth. So East Coast and West Coast really both
(03:22):
have an opportunity to watch this great upcoming movie. So
what do you hope the film will have? Which impact
I should say you think audiences will have when they're
going to watch this great film Looking Up.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
The film is raising awareness about retinal disease generally, but
the message is really applicable to anyone facing any challenge,
be it a health challenge, an emotional challenge, a mental challenge.
Everyone has challenges in life. Some are big, some are small.
(04:05):
Some are noticeable to people in the outside world, like
being blind and using a walking stick the way Aton does.
Some are less visible. But everyone has some hurdle that
they're facing something that often holds them back. And this
film is about saying I'm going to push myself even
(04:27):
if it's a little scary, and even if I don't
succeed in doing what's scaring me, I'm going to try
because that's how you live your life big and I
think that it's the challenges in life that are overcome
that make life meaningful for people. So I'm hoping that
(04:47):
audiences will come out of the theater saying, well, if
Aton can climb el capy ten without being able to see,
then I can do whatever it is that's holding me back.
It's really a film about positive psychology and resilience and
grit and pushing yourself beyond, beyond your fears and limitations.
(05:10):
I should say that this is the Soho Film Festival.
On the ninth is the New York premiere, and Newport
Beach is the California premiere. But the film had its
world premiere in Miami back in January, so it has
been seen by a whole bunch of audiences across the country,
and that message is resonating. When I speak to audiences
(05:34):
after the film, they're very inspired and moved by Aton's story.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Absolutely, we can only imagine how the audience would you
would have would react. So you also work with some
experts like psychologist style. Ben Shahar and some retinal researchers.
Can you tell us how these collaborations with the we're
(06:00):
brought together well?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Al ben Shahar is a world famous happiness expert of
positive psychologist. He taught the most popular class at Harvard
for many years on happiness, and he has podcasts and whatnot.
And Aton had actually worked for him in his lab
as a you know, before college, after high school, and
(06:27):
so that was the connection to Taal. And it was
my first exposure to the tenets of positive psychology, which
I found really powerful and I think audiences do as well.
You know, it's about not focusing on things you can't control,
(06:48):
but focusing on what you can, on the positive and
living in the present, and gratitude for what you have,
not for what you know, not dwelling on what you don't, journaling, meditating.
These were all really practical uh uh skills that are
(07:08):
very helpful for people, and I have found personally helpful
myself since I've learned them. The retinal researcher who's really
whose work is showcased in the film is a man
named doctor Edward Stone, who runs the Institute for Vision
Research at the University of Iowa, which is doing the
most incredible research with stem cells. Essentially, they're creating from
(07:35):
skin cells stem cells that are converted into functional retina cells,
and they have been able in rats to transplant them
and they communicate with the brains of the rats. So
what I'm saying is that they've been able to cure
certain retinal blindness in rats, and it's really just a
(07:56):
matter of time before that's able to be transferred to
the human eye. It's very, very exciting work, and we
talk about that work in the film both as something
that's inspiring for remedies for people who are suffering with
(08:17):
retinal disease, but also as a way for Aton to
kind of assess, how do you live in the present
knowing that there might be a solution down the road,
but it's not here now, and how do we live
our best life even with the limitations that we face.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
So I cannot wait. Can you believe like the progress
of medicines that they are doing now, it's incredible, really
big shout out to these wonderful researchers and for what
they're doing. So before we start to say goodbye to
each other, so this is your feature film debut. What
(09:01):
have you learned from this project that you.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Will take into your future filmmaking and do you have
any advices to aspiring directors for taking similar inspiring true stories.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Well, I've been a filmmaker for over a decade now,
but I've only done shorts, and I've been sort of
the main cook and bottle washer for most of these
projects that I've done. You know, I've done everything from
the camera work to the editing, to the color, the producing,
the directing, and you can't do that in a future film.
So what I learned from this film is the beauty
(09:40):
of working with a team of incredibly talented creatives. I've
found a wonderful editor, Dennis Clark, who became a real
collaborator in every way in terms of making the storyline work.
Donny Tunnenbaum, my DP, is just the most incredible. Well
(10:03):
he's a filmmaker in his own right, but he has
an amazing eye. I had cinematographers who were up on
the wall on l CAP climbing with Aton, and the
scenes they were able to capture while hanging at two
thousand feet were just mind blowing. That's Damien Benigus. And
then I had this incredible composer, Michael Stein. I had
(10:29):
never scored a film before, and that was just a joy.
We also wrote an original song for the film for
the credits, which is really catchy. It was so fun
to do so working with these incredible people is what
I learned from the project. And now that I've done it,
I don't want to ever do a solo film again.
(10:50):
I really always want to collaborate with other talented people.
And the advice I would give to aspiring filmmakers is
don't give up. If you dream it, it will happen.
There were many times that I thought I didn't know
what I was doing, and I saw advice and I
(11:10):
just kept plowing ahead and we made this beautiful film.
And so I think it's very much in keeping with
the messaging of the film, which is go big or
go home. Live. You know, if you try, you will
most likely succeed, but if you don't try, you will
surely not succeed. So just go and go and do it.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I love that, We love your enthusiasm and we love
what you do in your beautiful, beautiful philosophy. You have
a website that Newman films dot com, which I invite
everyone to check out. We give a little shout out
to Amy Prenner who introduced me to your wonderful work,
(11:58):
ladies and gentlemen. My name is David so who I
had the pleasure to have to do the culture news
on iHeart REDEO many other platforms. The wonderful filmmaker Elena
Newman Elena Newman for inspiring film feature film debut Looking Up,
which tells the story of Athen Arman who say hello
(12:19):
to this brave young man who is battling with pride
and with courage, this progressive blindness, and who is absolutely wonderful.
He attempts to climb El Capitan and this is a
beautiful story which will premiere at the Sohol Film Festival,
but also at the Newport Beach Film Festival a little
(12:41):
bit later in October October eighteenth, so all the information
can be found on human films dot com right now
some music to follow up on this lovely day. Stay
tuned with us.
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