New Filmmakers Screening

Hey, just gearing up for my screening next week at Anthology Film Archives. Come check it out at 8:30 on Wednesday December 23....http://newfilmmakers.com/

It Takes a Cult to screen at Anthology Film Archives

Check it out Wednesday December 23rd at 8:30

Eric Johannsen IT TAKES A CULT (2009, 80 Minutes, Video)
A new feature version of the popular short we screened last year about a bizarre hippie cult, the Israel Family (aka, The Love Family). The communal religious movement born in Seattle grew to a tribe of nearly 300 men, women, and children. Raised in the Israel Family, Johannsen brings an intimate portrait of communal life and what drew them all together. [newfilmmakers.com]

Love Family at a Rainbow Gathering in the early 80's

Seattle International Film Festival

From It Takes A Cult It Takes a Cult will screen at the Seattle International Film Festival!

From It Takes A Cult

photo ©Stewart Sayyah

Wisconsin Film Festival (On Wisconsin!)

...that's me the brown haired kid fourth from the front.

"Director Eric Johannsen was born in Wisconsin but grew up as part of the Love Family, a communal tribe of as many as 300 people based in Washington State. Combining wonderful home movie footage (much of it shot by his father, filmmaker Charles Johannsen, whose film Bill and Art is also playing at this year’s Festival) with modern conversations about what it was like to raise kids, and to be raised, in a family arrangement like no other. Members were given names that represented admirable qualities (Humility, Noble, Consolation, etc.) and shared the same surname: Israel. This film isn’t a repudiation of the Love Family, but an insider’s view of what drew the clan together. The charismatic leader, Love Israel, may have had some financial and relationship problems that in a more conventional documentary would have been the focus. Here, Johannsen helps the rest of us get a better sense of the powerful commitment to beauty and openness that defined the Family."

check it out Saturday April 4th 5:15 at the Bartell Theatre (Wisconsin Film Festival)It Takes a Cult

Intro