Daniel has absconded back to the CBC for a short time. He will be helping to Produce the 50th anniversary special for The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. Daniel started his career in documentary at The Nature of Things in the 1980’s where he has worked as a researcher, writer, director and producer. Reel Times two most recent films: Bugs Bones & Botany: The Science of Crime, and My Nuclear Neighbour aired on The Nature of Things earlier this year.

While you wait for that watch this great compilation of some highlights from the last 50 years of the Nature of things.

On Halloween night ABC News used a part of our film Zombies: When the Dead Walk for their feature on Zombies.

If you’d like to see the clip go here

The subject of our film “Silo Sage of the Andes” has passed away from kidney disease. Below is a report from a Chilean newspaper:

“He passed on like someone whom, not only did not believe in death, but more than anything considered life as part of transcendence.” With these words the humanist leader Tomas Hirsch lamented the death of the Argentine writer Mario Rodriguez, better known by his pseudonym, Silo. His life of 72 years ended tonight in the house in Mendoza after more than a year of kidney disease.

The time of his death was registered as approximately 22:00 hours. According to Hirsch, Silo considered the founder of the Humanist Movement, was accompanied, at the time of his death by his wife and one of his sons. The former presidential candidate affirmed that Silo’s passing was after a long and fruitful life full of meaning and projects, and actions, and constructions. Hirsch emphasized that, “His legacy is so great that it is not possible today to grasp its size. This is a man who initiated a project that transcends absolutely his time, a project of personal and social transformation that was translated in multiple organizations across the planet: political, social, cultural and above all spiritual.”

The Chilean Humanist leader who met with the Argentine thinker on various occasions remembered him as “a marvelous person, very approachable, very warm and at the same time with a permanent capacity of seeing processes, of establishing relations and seeing beyond appearances. A person who is a friend and at the same time a great master,” Hirsch concluded.

Silo was born in 1938 in Mendoza (Argentina). After studying law and political science he wrote a number of books, tales, articles and studies related to politics, society, psychology, spirituality and other themes. On May 4 1969, in Punta de Vacas, in the province of Mendoza, before a few hundred people he gave his famous harangue “The Healing of Suffering” which was the first public exposition of his ideas that with time became the basis of the Humanist Movement. Silo created a current of thought which today is known as New or Universalist Humanism and founded the organization that aspires to put into practice this thought. At the present time he is considered a “spiritual guide” by thousands of followers across the world.

Our film Soferet: A Special Scribe will be airing Wednesday night at 10pm on Vision TV in Canada.

Soferet: A Special Scribe is a documentary about Aviel Barclay, a Vancouver artist and calligrapher who is the first woman to scribe a Torah scroll. A tradition, thousands of years old that began half a world away, is being challenged by this young woman.

This is a tale that asks us to think deeply about the relation between tradition and change, and the difficulties of following one’s own destiny. Aviel’s journey takes us into a world of ancient practices, hallowed rituals and the making of beautiful religious art. Beneath that compelling and visually stunning tale is a story that raises many issues of great urgency for our times.

Last week My Nuclear Neighbour re-aired on CBC’s The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. We received a number of viewer comments on the film when it first aired. Since this film deals with an extremely complicated and contentious subject you can guess that there were many comments from both sides of the argument.

There were two comments in particular which I believe not only show just how contentious the issue is, but also shows us something quite interesting about how we perceive things which we have a vested interest in it. Both comments arrived on the same day and both from Peace River, Alberta, where the controversy is taking place.

Here are the comments to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:

“We were very disappointed to say the least. Rather than being an unbiased presentation it came across as a promotion for Bruce Power…”

“I found the show completely biased against the Nuclear Industry. The show spent alot of time following two people who are against Nuclear energy and didn’t interview virtually nobody from Peace River who supported the power plant…”

While one viewer thought the film read as a promotion for Bruce Power, another tells us that the show is completely biased against the Nuclear Industry. It’s interesting how the same film can be seen in such opposing lights by two different people in the same community.

While there were a few negative comments that suggested the film was biased there were a number of positive reviews as well from those who thought our approach was very balanced. Feel free to draw your own conclusions, the film can be viewed on The Nature of Things website within Canada. If you live outside of Canada and you’d like to purchase a copy drop us a line at josh@reeltimeimages.ca.

Reel Time will be out next Tuesday doing some filming with Medical Oncologist, Professor, Writer, Television presenter and all around nice guy Dr. Robert Buckman .

Dr. Buckman along with some wonderful volunteers will be out in the park as part of a test for a science show we are developing, which will entertain as well as inform.

We should have a clip for you soon, and hopefully the show will be hitting your airwaves sometime in the not too distant future.

Max Maven, the subject of our film Max Maven: A Fabulous Monster. will be preforming in Toronto this weekend as part of the Luminato arts festival.

“Charismatic mentalist Max Maven, once described by Orson Welles as “the most original mind in magic,” will display his skill as a master mind reader…”

This performance is part of a weekend long event Masters of Magic presented by Magicana. Masters of Magic will also feature performances by other talented magicians: Juan Tamariz, Mac King, and Bob Sheets.

For more information check out the Magicana website.