- WE ARE ALL ANGELS is an unconventional documentary about humans and what they are thinking about today. The setting is New York City, where 99 strangers contemplate where we are as a society and where we are heading.
- What is the most important thing to think about today? This is the guiding principle behind the unconventional documentary WE ARE ALL ANGELS. The film navigates through this profoundly strange moment in human existence, discovering the source of modern thought, through the combined fears, dreams and hopes of 99 strangers. The stage is New York City and the actors are humans of today. The subjects of this film dissect and coalesce one of most hopeless, hopeful, challenging and exciting times in human history. In uncovering what they hold most important, unmistakable threads of our collective conscious are revealed. We fear, we hope and we want change today. The present is a good place to be.
- What is the most important thing to think about today? This question is the guiding principle behind the unconventional documentary WE ARE ALL ANGELS. The film navigates through this profoundly strange moment in human existence, discovering the foundation of modern thought through the combined hopes, dreams, and fears of 99 New York strangers. The stage is New York City and the actors are the humans of today.
There is a momentum, a growl, and a presence that lives here. There is something alive and breathing. The city is a purple beast, a blood red dream and a greasy yellow light. Within the walls of this great citadel, we find that humanity desires something. We are living in the future. We are trying to uncover something. There is something extraordinary happening even if it cannot yet be defined.
In the beginning, there is a muse in a red dress. She charms her disciples with song, and then vanishes. We hover one thousand feet above the Statue of Liberty, fall to the rooftops, through the city streets, into the secret tunnels. A prophetic vagabond holds a bottle of gin tightly under a streetlamp, and rubs it like a genie's lamp. He cries out. "Three wishes please! Please give me three more wishes." A bubble man languidly watches us as we watch him, his plastic fish-toy bubble gun blasting a steady stream of the iridescent orbs into the summer sky. An organ screams. A woman screams. Our vagabond returns with clarity; "We are all angels. I want my wings back man."
Our subjects yearn for the ability to speak out and have a voice today, and so we listen. We listen to the bar owners, hair stylists, jazz legends, drunks, patrons, models, teenagers, grandpas, happy people, mad people, content people, war re-enactors, protesters, police, the ex-con and the ice cream man. These talks impart a sense of chaos and clarity. In uncovering what our subjects hold most important, unmistakable threads of our collective conscious are revealed. We fear, we hope and we want change today.
We meet strangers at parties, galleries, streets, living rooms and bedrooms. We listen in on their hidden opinions of what is important. They fear bringing a baby into the world. They fear the end of the world. They fear we may be past the point of no return and the planet will just go on without us. They fear profit at any cost and the Earth's limited resources. They fear being forgotten. They hope for unity and community. They hope for peace and purpose. They hope for compassion and communication and positive change. They hope for love. They look for blame. There's talk of Darth Vader. There's talk of heroes and villains, love and making love. Things are moving so fast and the collective desires change.
A cannon fires and a Civil War re-enactor assures us that we're going to be okay as a society. A body builder pulls up on his bike and explains that no one wants to love because they're so busy fearing everybody. A Buddhist teaches us about hope. A 16 year-old declares his generation will die from climate change. The protesters are screaming at the police who are barricading them with walls and guns and scowls. An author releases three black balloons over Brooklyn and tells us that we are all going to have to become weirdo activists. The fireworks explode at New Years and someone loses their hat off the balcony.
The conversational tapestry reveals that what is important to a few is important to all. The subjects of this film weave a collective snapshot of one of the most challenging, exciting, hopeless and hopeful times in human history. Racing through the city, our cab driver calls his mom every night. Our veterinarian speaks on empathy. A WWII hero explains that people need to change; the law needs to change. A chess master adores education. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. The sock salesman yells that everything must go for a dollar. The folk singer says everything we buy is a vote. Greed is the problem and we have to stop consuming. We need new models. There are options. Our street drunk gets his wings. Everyone has a story. The present is a good place to be.
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