Testimonials

Film Testimonials

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"Breathtaking!"

‍- Sherwin Nuland
How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter / The Soul of Medicine: Tales from the Bedside

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"Spectacular"

‍- Mitchell Thomashow
Orion Magazine

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"This is one of the most remarkable films I have ever seen."

‍- Thomas E. Lovejoy, Ph.D.
Scientist and Founder of the PBS series Nature
Professor, George Mason University
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"This story of the universe has the potential to change our civilization."

‍- Gus Speth
Vermont Law School
Former Director, United Nations Development Programme
Co-founder of National Resources Defense Council and World Resources Institute
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"Journey of the Universe uses stunning imagery to foster an understanding of our evolutionary origins and the urgency of protecting the diversity of life and environments on our home planet."

‍- Derek Briggs, Ph.D.
Director, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

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"It is difficult to find the superlatives. Right from the beginning, these are questions that have left me in total awe...It's an epic,and the amount of work put into it, from concept to writing to the editing with the choice of the hundreds of images is monumental. This will be a classic, like the BBC ones on nature. It makes you think and makes you look differently at our world. This has such grandeur; there is no more ambitious subject than telling the story of the universe. Thank you."

‍- Jim Beckett
Documentary filmmaker, The Amazon: The End of Infinity

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"This is the film that so many of us have been waiting for: a clear, wondrous telling of the Universe Story. The science is rigorous and engaging. The film is mind-blowing in all respects."

‍- Ursula Goodenough, Ph.D.
Biology Department, Washington University
Author of Sacred Depths of Nature

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"An extraordinary new film about the cosmos that is equal parts deep science and deep spirituality, opening up rich new ways to think about human consciousness and our role in the universe."

‍- Brian Ackerman
Programing Director, Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY

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"This film is stunning - visually mesmerizing, exquisitely situated, and persuasively narrated. It releases the quality of wonder that can change the world."

‍- Catherine Keller, Ph.D.
Drew University
Author of Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming

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"Journey of the Universe is a compelling film about our place in the universe. Although academic scholars often frame humanity's search for meaning in abstract solitary terms, or as a conversation between an individual and God, this movie shifts the focus to the world itself. Science has found patterns of interconnection in Nature, for instance, pivotal balances in the Big Bang that determined the existence of the universe as we know it. Through a single day as a visitor on Samos, Pythagoreas' island in the Aegean, narrator Brian Swimme describes how biology has illuminated the shared links of all life, while chemistry and physics have illuminated the interactions and origins of all matter."

‍- Jeffrey J. Park, Ph.D.
Director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS)
Professor, Geology & Geophysics

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"A remarkable film...While science itself is rooted in rigor and dispassion, its findings can inspire wonder, even reverence. I think the film is a great experiment. It is also beautifully filmed, and, refreshingly, largely a “woe-is-me/shame-on-you”-free zone. I hope it gets wide viewing."

‍- Andrew Revkin
Journalist, Author, “Dot Earth” blogger for The New York Times

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"The saga of the 14 billion year journey of the universe must surely be the greatest story ever told, and our most eloquent bard of this story is evolutionary philosopher Brian Swimme, who tells it in this film. It is in the context of this vast perspective of time and space that we need to orient and reconcile our personal journeys on this tiny speck called Earth. Every adult and child on this planet should see this remarkable film."

- Paul Winter
Musician

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"The Journey film is fantastic!! Beautifully done, wisely conceived and remarkably successful at creating a rich and important message! Congratulations! You folks have done what everyone in religion and science wanted to do but could never get done in the past and never could have done nearly as well!"

‍- Sol Katz, University of Pennsylvania

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"Be prepared for an experience that may change the way you perceive the world and how you act in it."

‍- Donald Worster
‍Distinguished professor of Environmental History, University of Kansas, emeritus. Author of Nature's Economy, A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir, and Dust Bowl.

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‍About the Authors:

"Brian Swimme awakens us to a universe of awesome beauty and power.  With a kind of fierce joy, he helps us discover that its beauty and power are our own as we find our place within its story.  No voice I know presents this story more compellingly than Brian's.  For the sake of our future, may it be widely heard in these times, so that a great adventure can unfold through us."

‍- Joanna Macy, Ph.D.
Five Stories That Can Change the World

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"[By listening to Brian's story of the universe] I was a different person, having opened myself to the possibilities of this new cosmos...I was filled with gratitude that the universe, glorying in its infinite variety, had allowed me to be an integral part of such splendor."

‍- Linda Weltner
The Boston Globe

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"[Brian's love for the Earth] knows all the intimate details of the molecular dance, and that helps his audience to join in the movement as a creative act...a lively new story of the living cosmos."

‍- Joseph Meeker, Ph.D.
The Comedy of Survival

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"Swimme explores the deeper mysteries of the Cosmos in an especially illuminating fashion, and he has a rare gift for integrating science with a sense of the sacred."

‍- Steven Rockefeller, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor, Middlebury College
Co-Chair, Earth Charter International Council‍

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"No one has done more than Mary Evelyn Tucker to deepen our understanding of the religious roots of environmentalism. Her scholarly insights are a critical aid to all at work in this field."

‍- Bill McKibben
Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age

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‍"Your achievement is truly magnificent. The story is powerful and moving. Its message is exactly what is so badly needed."

‍- John Cobb, Claremont University
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"I appreciate the subtle profundity of Journey of the Universe. The message of this documentary is solid and yet gentle and has the potential to transform the collective concept associated with evolutionary science. I recall debating in my biodiversity course during undergrad as a biology major. During that course, I understood clearly the disconnect between science and religion. From that perspective I really appreciate the synergy this documentary brings, expressing a middle ground that, as your mission expresses, unifies perspectives that have been at odds. The documentary considers the intelligence that exists far beyond the human mind. It dares to provide an origin of humanity beyond accidental random mutations. It expresses a scientific theory of evolution that describes the Universe as conscious, intelligent, and intentional in the creation of life. This seems to represent a shift in the thinking within the scientific community and introduces a higher level concept essential to our ability to uphold reverence for life beyond ourselves. Certainly, the masters of science and technology must evolve in self-concept, and cease putting ourselves as the centerpiece of meaning while every other life force is minimized and placed at our disposal."  
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- Ami Ra Bevel, Trinity Washington University