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WWW.DYINGTOKNOWMOVIE.COM OPENING JUNE 17 • LAEMMLE ROYAL 11523 Santa Monica Blvd. 90025 • 310-478-3836 Filmmakers & special guests in conversation opening w week NARRATED BY ROBERT REDFORD A FILM BY GAY DILLINGHAM SALES REP WANTED Looking for an enthusiastic ADVERTISING SALES REP to join our dynamic team Must have print sales experience Commission-based 310.425.3056 sales@wholelifemagazine.com WHOLE LIFE TIMES Directed & Produced by Penny Peyser T wo sisters playing sweetly on an early '50s suburban New York lawn in the opening frames of Stillpoint give no clue as to their divergent paths ahead. Penny will grow up to become a successful actor and producer (this is her sec- ond documentary), while Caroline will leave their privileged upbringing behind for the simplicity of a Santa Cruz Zen community, and change her name to Mouna. The documen- tary isn't their story per se, but their uneasy relationship is its crucible. Perhaps due to his media back- ground as a musician and DJ before his own awakening, Stillpoint com- munity's Zen master Umi allowed the director extraordinary access. The fi lm shares revealing moments and interviews with blue-clad devotees— more women than men, predominantly older, but several in their 20s—as they carry out daily chores and eat meals in silence, chant and receive spiritual teaching. Umi was a devotee of Osho, sometimes called "the sex guru," and a policy of open sex- uality is also practiced here. Community members bond and squabble like a family, but seemingly remain committed to their spiritual practice and their teacher. However, as in Peyser's long take interviewing one resident as she drives a tree-lined mountain road, eventually there is a bend in the road. When dramatic life events challenge the community to live the practice of being in the moment, things start to get very interesting. Mouna, who has multiple sclerosis and is confi ned to a wheelchair, says she is "at Stillpoint to wake up," but she also benefi ts from extraordinary physical care. It's the other 10 or 15 we wonder about; they give only random clues as to why they might have renounced more mainstream lives to follow this quirky spiritual teacher. It's all new and fascinating to fi lm- and TV-veteran Peyser, which is what makes her fi lm so refreshing. Her camera explores with curious eyes, capturing the extraordi- nary in the ordinary. Ultimately she gives us a unique family-type saga compressed into a few short years. As to the Peyser siblings who'd been estranged for eight years prior to the mak- ing of the fi lm, it seems to have created some bonding. There may not be a shared worldview, but we see a tentative intimacy emerging between them. The Stillpoint community is gone now, but thanks to Peyser's compelling fi lm, it won't be forgotten. (February Films) —AL Stillpoint trailer at https://vimeo.com/126868935 DVD available at bit.ly/StillpointAmazon. Digital download at Stillpoint.vhx.tv Stillpoint FILM art & soul june/july 2016 35