<nettime-ann> RE: Documentary: “Atheism” 71 minutes, 2006; a documentary by Julian Samuel

[juliansamuel <juliansamuel@videotron.ca>]

.
> Dear Person at Nettime-ann:

	Please consider posting this to your list.

Thanks,

Julian



> 21 October 2006
>
> RE: Documentary: “Atheism” 71 minutes, 2006; a documentary by  
> Julian Samuel
>
> Hello:

>          If interested please contact me for more information:
>
> Julian Samuel, director
> e-mail: juliansamuel@videotron.ca
>
> *
>
> Montreal film-maker Julian Samuel’s “Atheism” confronts religion  
> and its discontents by introducing the views of a physicist who  
> refutes the Big Bang, and with it the possibility of a creation;  a  
> novelist who uses post-Newtonian concepts as a story-telling  
> device; two experts on Islam; a Christian thinker from within the  
> church; an atheist, originally from an Islamic country; and a  
> philosopher who topples the world of miracles by subjecting them to  
> the rational waters of logic upon which, it emerges, one can’t  
> walk, despite surface tension.
>
> Interviewees:
>
> Tariq Ali, author,
> The Clash of Fundamentalisms
>
> Fadi Hammoud,
> Journalist and
> Middle East specialist
>
> Alison MacLeod, author,
> The Wave Theory of Angels
>
> Christine Overall,
> Professor of Philosophy, Queen's University
>
> Jean-Claude Pecker, astrophysicist
> Collège de France and Académie des Sciences, Paris (retired)
>
> Noomane Raboudi
> Specialist on Islam
>
> John Shelby Spong
> former Episcopal
> Bishop of Newark, NJ.
>
> *
>
> Reviews and commentary:
>
> Atheism By Julian Samuel
>
> a short response by Sylvat Aziz
>
> This visual essay, comprising scholarly and accessible interviews,  
> should prove to be universally provocative in the most positive  
> sense.  Comparisons between science, revealed and other religions,  
> artistic values and histories place a premium on reason.  Although  
> the title/topic is exceptionally large and in its nature  
> sociopolitically charged, in this case theism and atheism are  
> discussed intelligently and expertly using language that avoids  
> jargon.  A most refreshing circumstance.  One can find a sensitive  
> clarity throughout, a sense of humour in the background, poignant  
> and at times with a bite, that extenuates the fragility of complex  
> systems of human thought discussed herein.
>
> Although the video strays from strict documentary form, dogmas,  
> beliefs, habits and so on are discussed without promulgating a  
> particular dogma, belief, habit.
>
> The more abstract visual references insinuated in the video; the  
> use of stained glass windows, overlaid gestural calligraphy,  
> references to religious icons and ritual practices, allusions to  
> biological beginnings and other visual elements, are sometimes more  
> successful than others but on the whole, these serve as a practical  
> as well as symbolic matrix for the interviews, adding a relevant  
> visual textural interest.   The framing is direct and strong  
> avoiding clutter, making content confident.
>
> In the main the value of this essay lies in its humane, non- 
> proselyitizing position and the thoughtful responses to questions  
> concerning many facets of this very complex, essentially human set  
> of ideas.
>
> *
>
> Le film "Atheism by Julian Samuel" interroge sur la question  
> d’absence de Dieu dans la vie du monde. Le documentaire nous plonge  
> rapidement dans les réflexions et positions émanant des divers  
> interrogés. Cette démarche produit un remarquable tableau des  
> éventualités. Les  questions d’encrage religieux prennent place.  
> Les croisades, les guerres, l’Inquisition et le mystère. Par  
> opposition, elles sont suivies par d’intéressantes interrogations  
> d’ordre scientifiques et philosophiques du réel.
>
> Pour l’auteur une œuvre d’art doit questionner. C’est à cela que  
> nous assistons. À travers des interviews, Julian Samuel sonde  
> subtilement les sensibilités de ses interlocuteurs pour ensuite les  
> confronter avec les siennes.  Cette démarche très instructive sur  
> les positions athées possibles a aussi pour but sa propre auto- 
> reconduction. L'auteur tente une confrontation et essaye de  
> réaffirmer, une fois encore, le choix qu'il avait fait à l’âge de  
> ses 16 ans. Les loyaux de Julian Samuel, à voir impérativement. Ce  
> film va vous saisir.
>
> Robert Wiechec
>
> *


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