Press & Quotes
“I found AWARE to be in many ways the most moving and beautiful depiction of deep
understanding of consciousness and of who we are that I have seen depicted through film.
I was really stunned and touched and inspired. Underneath it, I see the film as an invitation
for us as human beings to step out of our sense of separateness… and realize and understand
that we are life itself, that we are part of the living fabric that breathes us and thinks us.
And that changes everything.”
– Jack Kornfield, author and Buddhist teacher
“One of the best and most beautifully crafted films on consciousness I have ever seen.
And I’ve seen quite a few. Thought-provoking and inspiring, with exquisite cinematography.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in leading edge ideas on consciousness.”
– Peter Russell, author of ‘From Science to God’ and ‘Letting Go of Nothing’
“Stunningly Deep, Wise and Visually Arresting, AWARE: Glimpses of Consciousness,
is the most Mind-Blowing Film the Maui Film Festival has presented in Twenty Years!
It Cracked Open My Coconut and Filled it with Insight, Mystery, and Visions of What Might Be. See It as Soon as You Can!”
– Barry Rivers, Maui Film Festival Founder / Director
“Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness is a heady experience – dare I say
spiritual? – that stirs feelings of awe and wonder, humility and connection...
the film creates a contemplative openness that words alone might find hard to
describe. It’s a remarkable film.”
– Valerie Kalfrin, Alliance of Women Film Journalists
“Science and spirituality join forces in the mindful if heavily meditative documentary,
Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness… The investigation brings together individuals from both
disciplines to provide colorful perspective.”
“Consciousness-elevating food for thought.”
– Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times
“Perhaps you don’t need to rely on the latest A.I. technology to attain immortality.
The scientists in Frauke Sandig and Eric Black’s `Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness´
don’t try to reconstruct a mind artificially to uncover its secrets.
They examine the evidence that exists, physical and spiritual, in hopes of learning
how consciousness works — and how it can be extended.”
– Peter Keough, The Boston Globe
“Whether it’s an elephant finding amusement at play or a deep introspective
psychedelics-induced journey into inner space to find meaning, the film surfaces
existential mysteries at the core of the human experience in an entertaining
and enlightening fashion.”
– Bradley Gibson, Film Threat
“THE VERY NATURE OF SENTIENCE is at the heart of Frauke Sandig and Eric Black’s absorbing documentary,
which asks more questions than it can answer in ways that leave you wanting to learn more…
Ultimately, we get a touching portrait of a variety of different human beings all circling
around the fascinating, perhaps unsolvable, problem of the mind.”
– Bilge Ebiri, Spirituality & Health
“This film will change your life forever.”
– Alex Ferrari, Indie Film Hustle, Next Level Soul Talks
“For a long time, consciousness was a dirty word in science. It was a very strange thing to happen,
that the very core of humanity should become taboo to the very people who are meant to be researching it,
for what indeed can be more important than unravelling our innermost being and following the ancient maxim
of ‘Know thyself’.
This marvellous film does a remarkable job of bringing together researchers from multiple disciplines,
including my own field of psychedelic research, as they attempt to discover a little more about conscious experience and what it means to be aware.”
– Amanda Feilding, The Beckley Foundation
“…a fascinating look at who we are, and how we fit into the cosmos and life’s continuum.”
“Humans are not nearly at a place where we have answered who we are, what we’re doing here,
and what happens to us when we’re gone. Given what is happening to the environment and climate
around the world, we could benefit mightily from answering questions about our place in nature
and in the universe. A lot would change for the better if we truly knew how interconnected we
are. With Aware, Sandig and Black show us some brilliant people getting closer to figuring
out something essential to us all.”
– Leslie Combemale, Alliance of Women Film Journalists
“It is quite a task to create a film to represent something as ineffable as awareness,
and yet the filmmakers, Eric Black and Frauke Sandig, managed to create a work of art
that is highly compelling. The pacing of the film itself evokes in us a meditative
awareness that draws us deeply in as we go on a visually stunning journey into the topic,
where dialogue is interspersed with scenes of nature in which we can rest… The cinematography
is stunning, offering us abundant images and sounds of nature that evoke both peace and awe,
accompanied by a rich and varied soundtrack that contributes to the contemplative mood.”
– Kelly Birch, LA YOGA MAGAZINE
“Not only do words fail. It’s notoriously difficult to visually depict a psychedelic state
of mind on film. Sandig and Black do so in subtle but powerful ways. Not with cheesy special
effects, but with mystical footage of the cosmic dance between sea and sky, forests and ferns,
birds and bees”… “There is awe and wonder coming from all the “experts” interviewed in Aware,
whether they are scientists or mystics. In the end, this is a hopeful film, and God knows we
could all use some of that right now.”
– Don Lattin, Lucid News
“… a work of such startling beauty that it provides something of a psychedelic experience in itself.”
– The Curb, Australia
– 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes!
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