About C. G. Jung
“Who spoke to me then? Who talked of problems far beyond my knowledge? Who brought the Above and the Below together, and laid the foundation for everything that was to fill the second half of my life with the stormiest passion? Who but that alien guest who came from above and from below?” (Jung 1963/1995: 30).

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was brought up in a religious family (his father was a priest). As a child he experienced powerful ‘big dreams’ and ‘visual hallucinations’ that were at odds with the Christian worldview of his times. These profound experiences were of seminal influence toward his subsequent theoretical innovations, and also toward his critique of Western culture which he believed had ‘lost its soul’.

In his early profession as a psychiatrist, Jung became an avid follower and acolyte of Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalysis. However, after some years of fruitful collaboration, Jung eventually broke away in 1912 and founded his own school, known as Analytical Psychology. Jung’s conception of the unconscious went beyond Freud’s understanding of it as ‘repressions of personal wishes’ to include a collective dimension comprised of numinous elements he termed archetypes. Jung also had wide interests that went significantly beyond psychiatry and psychology. These included areas such as mythology, folklore, art, literature and religious symbolism, as well as more arcane interests such as Gnosticism, alchemy, astrology and the kabbalah.

According to Professor Sonu Shamdasani, Jung “is widely recognised as a major figure in modern Western thought and his work continues to spark controversies. He played critical roles in the formation of modern psychology, psychotherapy and psychiatry” and further that “his work has had its widest impact however, outside professional circles … in the arts, the humanities, films and popular culture.”

About The Red Book
“You know, Oh Philemon, the wisdom of things to come … Your wisdom is invisible, your truth is unknowable, entirely untrue in any given age, and yet true in all eternity, but you pour out living water, from which the flowers of your garden bloom, a starry water, a dew of the night” (Jung 2009: 316).

The Red Book is a richly ornate, illuminated manuscript that combines calligraphic text with exquisite watercolour painted images. It has been likened to the Irish Book of Kells and to the imagery and prophetic vision of William Blake.

For eighty years the book had been kept from the public eye. Eventually thanks to the tenacious perseverance of Sonu Shamdasani, this work finally came to light by way of a ‘true to size’ colour publication in 2009.

Since publication of the Red Book there have been numerous conference presentations, symposia, web forums, academic articles, book chapters and even entire books written on this enigmatic work. Not surprisingly, a vast array of perspectives and interpretations have accumulated over the few years since its publication. In essence, this visionary work by one of the most significant minds of the 20^th century is sure to have momentous ramifications for the 21^st century.

According to Shamdasani “There can be few unpublished works that have already exerted such far-reaching effects upon twentieth-century social and intellectual history as Jung’s Red Book.”

The Red Book – An Epochal Opus for the 21st Century
The Red Book’s relevance for contemporary times comes further into focus with the advent of a new book series that is currently being published entitled Jung’s Red Book for Our Time: Searching for Soul under Postmodern Conditions (Editors: Murray Stein and Thomas Arzt).

The Editors write that “the essays in this new series are geared to the recognition that the posthumous publication of The Red Book was a meaningful gift to our contemporary world. Similar to the volatile times Jung found himself in when he created this work a century ago, we today too are confronted with highly turbulent and uncertain conditions of world affairs that threaten any sense of coherent meaning, personally and collectively. The Red Book promises to become an epochal opus for the 21st century in that it offers us guidance for finding soul under postmodern conditions.”

About This Film
Primarily this will be a lyrical, poetic invocation of Jung’s work rather than an attempt to explain or present the Red Book in a cognitive or fully rational way. Following Jung’s mystical gaze, the film will draw upon its poetic points of departure, illuminating his weave-like, dreamlike work. The film will take the viewer on a series of dream-like encounters through the Red Book invoking a sense of the journey that brought the work to life. By the end, the viewer will have shared in some part of that long, challenging and inspiring odyssey of ‘soul retrieval’ undertaken by Jung himself.

Combining styles from narrative, documentary and experimental traditions the film will fuse a number of stylistic approaches into a unique poetic visual form.

Dónal Ó Céilleachair :: Director & Screenwriter

Prof. Sonu Shamdasani :: Project Adviser  Sonu is the noted Jung scholar primarily responsible for bringing The Red Book into publication after thirteen years of exhaustive editorial work. Sonu is a professor of Jung history at University College London. He is author of several books, including C.G. Jung: A Biography in Books.

Dr Mathew Mather :: Screenwriter & Collaborator  Mathew completed a PhD on Jung and Alchemy at the University of Essex in 2013. His thesis was adapted into a book publication The Alchemical Mercurius: esoteric symbol of Jung’s life and works (Routledge 2014) – a work that illuminates a uniquely esoteric perspective on the Red Book. Mathew has presented on The Red Book at international conferences, and at the International School of Analytical Psychology ISAP, in Zurich. He is a full time lecturer at Limerick School of Art and Design (Limerick Institute of Technology), Ireland and co-founder of Art & Psyche, Ireland.

Bettina Wilhem :: Creative Collaborator  Granddaughter of Richard Wilhelm (contemporary and friend of C.G. Jung) Bettina is the director of ‘Wisdom of Changes – Richard Wilhelm and the I Ching’. Bettina was born in Shanghai, China. She received a Postgrad. Diploma in Film and Television from Middlesex Polytechnic, London. She is co-founder of the Berlin Transform theatre and works there as director, actress and producer.

All images are courtesy of W.W. Norton & Co. and Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung.

Mike Scott’s 2012 memoir Adventures of a Waterboy did something that nobody was really expecting. For someone who “reputedly spent much of the defining decade of his music career refusing interviews and disappearing for years at a time in the Celtic mists”¹ Mike wrote a book that turned out to be surprisingly revealing; “a wonderful, eloquent memoir, a captivating, often transcendently evocative read” ¹. Reading it, one cannot help becoming reimmersed in the decade-defining ‘Big Music’ from The Waterboy’s early days – with hits like the ever popular The Whole of the Moon – and being swept back up into the atmosphere of an entire era in the process.

In many ways the early worldwide success of The Waterboys overshadowed a lot of the great music that followed, especially as Mike Scott turned his back on rock stardom and began to constantly challenge his audiences with ever transforming musical styles and sonic explorations. Many will be forgiven for not managing to have followed what one critic describes as “the adventures of a man and a band that never came close to making the same record twice” ¹.

And the records keep coming: 2015 saw the release of The Waterboy’s 11th studio album; Modern Blues (Mike’s 13th album in all), praised by critics as “likely to induce a state of rapture”2. 2015 also saw The Waterboys on tour – playing over 100 concerts across three continents – to a loyal and enduring worldwide following that culminated in Ireland and the U.K. in October and November 2015.

And the records keep on coming with the release of GOOD LUCK, SEEKER in 2020!

Joining The Waterboys as they complete their world tour gives us rocking front row seats to some of their best contemporary performances and a chance to look back over a 30 year career through the lens of the present; combining archive footage with return visits to the key locations from Mike’s long journey including Dublin, Connemara, Edinburgh, Findhorn and New York.

This unique creative music documentary gives us the rare opportunity to explore the breadth and depth of the musical adventures of one of Ireland’s most beloved Scotsmen, and the songwriter that The Telegraph recently lauded as “the closest thing to a Neil Young figure in British music”².

1. Paste Magazine Review 28.08.12
2. The Telegraph 17.01.15

An Anú Pictures Production.

To find out what Mike Scott and THE WATERBOYS are up to at present visit them www.mikescottwaterboys.com

Full Synopsis ::
Robert Kennedy, S.J., Roshi was born into an Irish-American family in Brooklyn in 1933 and joined the Jesuits in 1951 at the age of 18. After an extensive spiritual and academic training, he was ordained a priest in Japan in 1965 at the age of 32.

In Japan, he studied Zen with Yamada Koun Roshi in the 1970s – a central historical figure in 20th Century Japanese Zen.  Yamada had a profound effect on his life. Here was a married layman with a family, who expressed insight and humanity in a way that powerfully touched the young Robert Kennedy.

Returning to the United States the young Jesuit began studying Zen with Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles and then with Bernie Glassman Roshi in New York City.

His work in Zen led him to forming deep connections with some of the most iconic figures in 20th Century Japanese and American Zen including Yamada Roshi, Hugo M. Enomiya-Lassalle, William Johnston, Maezumi Roshi, Bernie Glassman Roshi and the acclaimed writer Peter Matthiessen.

The course of his life’s journey intersected with key historical moments in the ever-evolving story of the coming of Zen to the West.

Robert Kennedy was one of the first American Catholic priests to be installed as a Zen teacher in the U.S. The installation caused outrage in the Zen community in the U.S. from people objecting to the installation of a cleric from another faith. Faced with this fierce opposition, his teacher Bernie Glassman Roshi famously refuted the objections by asking his students;
‘Are we one, or are we not?’.

Strengthened by his teacher’s resolve, Robert Kennedy forged ahead with his own aspiration to foster and encourage interfaith dialogue and in the words of Laurence Freeman ‘has opened, and passed through, many doors in the course of his spiritual journey’.

This new documentary film traces the transmission of Zen meditation through the life’s work of this 90 year-old Irish-American Jesuit Zen Master – and his successors and students – in a contemporary exploration of interfaith dialogue on the common ground of human experience.

More Information about Robert Kennedy ::
Robert Kennedy is the former chair of the Theology department of Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City, where he taught theology and Japanese.  In addition to his work at the college, he was a practicing psychoanalyst in New York City and a representative at the United Nations of the Institute for Spiritual Consciousness in Politics.

He is also the author of two books, ‘Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit’ and ‘Zen Gifts to Christians’.

He sits with his Zen students daily at the Morning Star Zendo in Jersey City and holds Sesshins (Zen Retreats) internationally.

Robert Kennedy with his Zen teacher Bernie Glassman (Photo Courtesy of Peter Cunningham)

More Information about Bernie Glassman Roshi ::
Bernie Glassman Roshi (1939 – 2018) was a central historical figure in 20th Century American Zen.

He was the founder of Zen Peacemakers; a pioneering international organisation cultivating peace work and socially engaged Buddhist action.

Of Jewish origin, he was known as a pioneer of social enterprise and for facilitating interfaith dialogue.

He was also known for his unorthodox teaching style and for holding legendary ‘Street Retreats’ with homeless people in New York City.

Bernie Glassman Leads a Street Retreat, New York City (Photo Courtesy of Peter Cunningham)

In 1996 Glassman began holding annual interfaith ‘Bearing Witness Retreats’ at the old site of the death camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau that continue to this day.

Bernie Glassman Leads an Interfaith Bearing Witness Retreat, Auschwitz(Photo Courtesy of Peter Cunningham)

Robert Kennedy Roshi’s Dharma Successors ::
To date, Robert Kennedy has installed 22 Dharma Successors – 11 women & 11 men –  lay teachers who have studied Zen and worked with him over the last thirty years and have been approved by him to teach, including.

His successors have brought Zen meditation practice into many areas including into schools, community organisations, prisons and into social justice in international settings as diverse as the U.S., Mexico, Ecuador, Germany and Ireland.

People in Prison meditate in a program run by Inge von Wobeser-Hopfner in Mexico City

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One Line Synopsis (17 words / 88 characters)
A new documentary about a 90 year-old Zen master who also happens to be a Jesuit priest.

Short Synopsis (40 words / 275 characters)
A documentary tracing the transmission of Zen meditation through the life’s work of 90 year-old Irish-American Jesuit Zen Master Robert Kennedy – and his successors and students – in a contemporary exploration of interfaith dialogue on the common ground of human experience.

Medium Synopsis (76 words / 482 characters)
A documentary tracing the transmission of Zen meditation through the life’s work of 90 year-old Irish-American Jesuit Zen Master Robert Kennedy – and his successors – in a contemporary exploration of interfaith dialogue.

Robert Kennedy’s work in Zen has brought him into dialogue with some of the most iconic figures of 20th Century Japanese and American Zen; a life’s journey of intersection with key historical moments in the ever-evolving story of the coming of Zen to the West.

Long Synopsis (125 words / 770 characters)
A documentary tracing the transmission of Zen meditation through the life’s work of 90 year-old Irish-American Jesuit Zen Master Robert Kennedy – and his successors – in a contemporary exploration of interfaith dialogue.

Robert Kennedy was one of the first American Catholic priests to be installed as a Zen teacher in the U.S which caused outrage in the U.S. Zen community. Faced with this fierce opposition, his teacher Bernie Glassman famously refuted the objections by asking his students;
‘Are we one, or are we not?’.

Robert Kennedy’s work in Zen has brought him into dialogue with some of the most iconic figures of 20th Century Japanese and American Zen; a life’s journey of intersection with key historical moments in the ever-evolving story of the coming of Zen to the West.

Director’s Statement ::
This is my first documentary film focusing on Buddhism and meditation since working on the acclaimed ‘Journey Into Buddhism’ trilogy over 20 years ago. The films in that trilogy went on to receive world-wide distribution in cinemas, broadcast and online, and the third film in the trilogy ‘Vajra Sky Over Tibet’ was the first film to received the blessing of His Holiness The Dalai Lama. This acclaimed trilogy was re-released by PBS for free on youtube last year to mark its 20th anniversary – and has already received over half-a-million views – so it is timely now for this new documentary film to be coming out into the world.

Working on the ‘Journey Into Buddhism’ trilogy 20 years ago inspired me to become a meditation/dharma practitioner; a focus that has become a central anchor in my own life. So when Executive Producers Miriam Healy and Turlough O’Donnell first brought my attention to the life’s work of Robert Kennedy I was intrigued. Growing up in Ireland, like 99% of the population I was raised Catholic so I was curious how this man could bring the two main spiritual influences in my own life into dialogue with each other, and to ultimately respond to the question posed in the title of the film; ARE WE ONE?

I was in my 30s, and living in New York, when I heard of Bernie Glassman’s famous ‘Street Retreats’, taking place quite often only blocks away from where I lived in Manhattan. But because I was relatively new to meditation at that time, I decided the mindful endurance needed for those incredible feats of Buddhism-in-action were beyond my own capabilities at that stage, so I was not destined to encounter either Bernie Glassman or Robert Kennedy in person until a later time.

That later time, and the idea for this documentary film, began with a conversation with both Miriam & Turlough seven years ago – coincidentally the year my son Oisín was born. So it has grown and evolved alongside his growing. It has witnessed the passing of Bernie Glassman, the pandemic, Robert Kennedy’s 90th birthday and the transformation of the world as we know it. So I am deeply indebted and grateful to Miriam, Turlough, to all at Morning Star Zendo – including the other Executive Producers, Noel Brennan, Dr Cuca Montecel, Amy Yee and John Ankele – and each of the many sangha communities and individuals who supported the making of this documentary film along the way, even at times when it felt like it was no longer feasible to continue.

I realised early on that much of Robert Kennedy’s life journey intersected with some of the key moment’s of the unfolding story of Zen’s coming to the West, so I am also deeply grateful and indebted to photographer Peter Cunningham – for both his artistry and generosity of spirit – for sharing so openly from his incredible archive to bring this wider dimension of the story to life.

Although our 7-year old son Oisín is not quite ready to make his own way out into the world yet, this documentary film finally is. With time, and with the support of so many, it truly has become its own entity, and my hope is that it will – like both Bernie Glassman’s and Robert Kennedy’s incredible work – bring some moments of insight and inspiration to those who come into contact with it.

Director Dónal Ó Céilleachair,
Caiseal na Mumhan, Éire – June, 2024

Executive Producers:
MIRIAM HEALY
TURLOUGH O’DONNELL

And for Morning Star Zendo
NOEL BRENNAN
JOHN ANKELE (Old Dog Documentaries)
DR CUCA MONTECEL
AMY YEE

Director:
DÓNAL Ó CÉILLEACHAIR

An Anú Pictures Production in Association with Morning Star Zendo

For a copy of the full documentary film credits – download the EPK/Press Kit & Stills here. 

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SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR CROWDFUNDING SUPPORTERS

Film Jikijitsus
EMER O’REILLY, HELENA DOWNEY, NOEL BRENNAN

Film Friends
RAY CICETTI, ALICE POTZ, GARRETT SHEEHAN, MARY McGRANE, DERMOT KENNY, KARIN HILHOUSE, SUSAN EFIRD, CARL BACHMANN

Film Angels
FIONN Ó GRADA, DR CUCA MONTECEL & CLEAR MOUNTAIN ZEN CENTRE, Montclair New Jersey

And All Other Individual Supporters

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View info. on Robert Kennedy and Morning Star Zendo here

View info. on Bernie Glassman and Zen Peacemakers here

And if you would like to know more about interfaith dialogue we highly recommend Old Dog Documentaries/John Ankele’s documentary ‘Jesus & Buddha; Practicing Across Traditions’ – view info. here

Download the EPK/Press Kit & Stills here.