My first proposals were submitted to potential funders in 2016.  Unfortunately, no funding was realized due, primarily, to the episodic nature of the material.  But watch out, here comes "Reviving Rice Mother II."

The prior proposal was for a series of mini-docs. The new proposal is for a single, feature documentary to be shot in northern Southeast Asia (SEA) in 2018 and 2019.

Rice Mother Sets the Tone

I'm occasionally asked if this topic is really as important, timely, relevant or urgent, as I say it is?  My first thought is always, "Don't you read?  Are you a citizen of the world?  Are you informed?  Do you do read, don't you?"  But my job is to inform, not to be rude or judge.  And, given that my work is, in large measure, guided by a revered spirit, I speak, as the Rice Mother might of larger themes that will potentially make a difference in their lives.  Did you know, for example, that it is her view that the work of growing rice is the ideal form human labor, reflecting a well-ordered, moral society?  There's something poetic about that.  The Rice Mother sets the tone of each and every blog and episodic mini-documentary series my name is associated with. 


Since ancient times, the Rice Mother has tapped into the psychology and resiliency of the poor rural farm communities and invited them into the process of living well during easy times and surviving well during difficult times.

Southeast Asia is already struggling with a climate that is no longer the climate of the past.  The rural rice farmers I address are well aware of the growing problem of climate change but often consider themselves disenfranchised and too uninformed to know what to do.  The Reviving the Rice Mother web series, in a rising tide of Internet use in that part of the world, will show the rural rice farmers how to prepare for and adapt to the already extraordinary changes around them.  They will be assured that their families can survive the expanding droughts, floods, and diminishing rice yields.  The documentary series is strategically designed to reveal what they can accomplish when there is a vastly increased opportunity to share practices, tools, planning and the implementation adaptation activities.  

As one rural rice farmer told me, "At last, farmers like me will have the information we need to feed our families."  That optimism is from someone who is already at the mercy of not only changing weather patterns and commodity prices but also with very low access to technology, information, and markets.  

Important, timely and relevant?  By all means.  Urgent?  Oh yes. Please pay attention.

 

Like everyone else in this outfit, multitasking is something I’ve been required to do for a long time.  The level of multitasking I'm talking about started when I jumped into a new career in my early sixties.   My so-called new career remains on-going, ambitious, exhausting and time-consuming.  It seems that out of necessity, I've created a multi-headed dragon to assist me on my long last journey.  For more than ten years, I’ve been writing, directing and producing multiple projects all at the same time.  Although, as a filmmaker, I've managed to gain some rave reviews, gather a few awards, as well as traction, in a very competitive field full of twenty-somethings.  

However, things are changing as quickly as I can turn my daily grand this life of mine into a new single direction.  I am currently in the process of setting all remaining projects aside (for the time being) and/or delegating the work to be done on film projects currently in post-production (such as "Promise of You"), to a strong team of seven inspired people that I’ve fortunately been able to attract around me. 

My focus is swinging back to Southeast Asia (SEA) and my one paramount goal, "Reviving the Rice Mother."  I am moving into a time of single tasking (unitasking ?).  If I had a T-shirt with a statement on the front it would say, “Don’t bother me.  I’m monotasking.”  The time is ripe for change.

The seed of this challenging project was planted by my associate, Benjamas Siripatra, Deputy Secretary General, with the Thailand-based Local Development Institute, back in 2013.  Over time, I developed the project into a web-based series of mini-documentaries called The Search for Mae Posop.  When the idea was passed by the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms initiative, and other potential funders, they all advised that the project’s mission* was of interest to them and that I should send them a work sample as soon as available.

*To enhance the effectiveness of NGOs and community development programs for rural rice farmers throughout the ten ASEAN nations of Southeast Asia.

The SEA project’s current status is optimistic and charging forward.  I’ve been able to produce a prize-winning documentary work sample called Reviving the Rice Mother that recently won rave reviews and a standing ovation at the Scary Cow Film Festival in San Francisco.

I've learned that the essence of the Rice Mother, Mae Posop, the Rice Goddess philosophy, involves that growing rice is the ideal form of human labor, reflecting a well-ordered, moral society.

Please revisit us again: this on-going story (the work 'blog' just doesn't do the story justice).

Stay tuned and be amazed.      

This is a perfect time for me to announce that "The Search For Mae Posop" is back on track.  The hows and whys will be fully developed over the coming weeks as I describe Rice Mother's ascension onto a world stage.  Her process.  My process.  It's all about evoking an ancient and familiar spirit with a strongly expressed message that will be seen on the web, hand-held devises and projection throughout Southeast Asia.

I'll start with the question, why are we searching for her?   The answer has very much to do with the fact that for thousands of years rice has shaped the history, culture, diet and economy of billions of people in Asia.  As a result, rice permeates all aspects in the life of people in all walks of life. What caught my eye originally was that rice also takes many forms in the arts - from poems to music to painting to sculptures.  Rice is in the traditions, folklore, ritual and even the language.  Is that a perfect window of opportunity for a documentary film, or what?

Five years ago, while searching for a pragmatic way to inform the struggling rice farmers of Southeast Asia (SEA) the concepts of climate change resiliency and sustainable agriculture, my friend Benjamas at the Local Development Institute in Bangkok, reminded me of Mae Posop's historical and far-reaching influence.  And the seed of doc series was planted.

My own personal search for the Rice Mother is simply to return to, or rekindle, the strength of her ancient wisdom for the struggling farmers of Southeast Asia (SEA).  Her doc film series will showcase how rice farmers can manage their lives in such a way that will insure their ability to continue to feed their families and to be resilient during this time of climate change. Already everybody in SEA struggles with a climate that is no longer the climate of the past.  They are her audience.

Last November 2014 I pitched the project to the members of Scary Cow Productions (a San Francisco-based film company) and I waited for feedback as I worked on my other four film projects. Waited and and waited some more.  Then, 5 months later, I got an Email from a young woman who informs me that she is experienced in, and passionate about, documentary filmmaking and would like to join the team.  Team?  We are magically a team again - or is it some more.  It's like a new star is born in the universe.  To be sure, I gladly accepted an invitation to have a face-to-face.  It was on the day of our first meeting that I decided the person to direct the trailer for doc-series was Elizabeth Jackson - the dynamo sitting across from me.  In a coffee-dive deep in the Mission District is where the new star first glimmered.

First thing she did was call a preproduction meeting so I could meet three of her hand-picked doc film associates (I love a Director who directs).  And, of course, the meet-up was also arranged so they could meet me: the old guy with the fire in his eyes.  The message I intended to leave behind was that I have a deep instinct and desire to produce this series as soon as our 2-1/2 minute trailer can be created and production funding can be subsequently arranged.  No small task, but our project is an important one and I am confident that the right funder(s) will appear.  They're already in my sights.

The spirit of Mae Posop is a compelling one.  There's no mistaking whether she's present or not. Know this: I have experienced her presence again now in the form a renewed energy and a vibrant momentum.   And believe me, that's always a good thing in this doc filmmaking line of work.

Communicating With Rice Mother

It’s not much of a stretch for me to assume that I am one of very few American citizens who has the ability to communicate with the Mae Posop.  She is, after all, an ancient and sacred spirit in faraway Southeast Asia (SEA) and I am far from being a devoutly religious man.  However, over the last four years I have studied and come to accept her spiritual values. 

 I am attracted to her myths and rituals that provide poor rural rice farmers with a whole paradigm of how to live in harmony with nature and its cycle of birth, death and rebirth, creating equality in society, and respecting the feminine power as the source of life.   The Rice Mother has become a close friend of mine.

Our long path together will, I expect, end only when her documentary film series (The Search For Mae Posop) is being produced and distributed, as I envision, exclusively over the Internet in the aforementioned, faraway SEA.   Such a task would seem impossible to achieve without my daily dialogue with Mae Posop.   She is able to critique me, and patiently guide me as I endeavor to advance daily, in any way that I can find. 

During most of my relationship with Mae, her spirit has seemingly arrived at my side in the form of intuition: a sixth sense about what is important.  More recently, I am also learning to how to have a one-on-one dialogue with her through meditation.  Meditation requires a quiet mind and lots of practice.  I'm working on it.  On top of all that, I’m confident that Mae will also be appearing in my dreams.  Or so I’m told.  I wait hopefully.

My most recent dialogue with her informs me to continually monitor media coverage from tha part of the world and to wait for political calm before taking my small camera crew back into SEA.  The United States has elevated its warnings to recommend that Americans postpone non-essential travel to Thailand.  If we were going to travel only to Thailand, I would travel without hesitation, but now the State Department recommends that Americans currently avoid China’s Yunnan Provence as well.  That’s where the Mekong River begins it’s journey through SEA and where our series begins. On top of that my Asian friends, both here and over there, suggest it would also be foolish to travel into Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia at this time.  All of the above are experiencing some turmoil and political uncertainty. 

There is an old proverb that proclaims, “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailor.”  And so I take this opportunity to shout from the rooftops, “If I can’t do what I want now, I will be even more prepared to do what I want in the future.”

Job number one: get the trailer for the doc film series edited and make it available to the Ford and Sundance Foundations.  There is an urgency to the project that keeps me fully occupied.  Well, nearly.  I'm also setting up to shoot a film next month.  The script (A Lovely Adult Beverage) is an award winning script written a few years ago by San Franciscan David Asher and me.  I'm also working daily on a coming-of-age, art heist thriller screenplay called Objects of Belief.  

Stay tuned, won't you?

Chiseled In Granite

Usually it’s someone calling my name out from across a San Francisco street. “Hey Leo,” they’ll ask, “What’s going on? Anything?” There’s a lot going on. Let me fill you in a bit.

First, please spend a few moments studying the accompanying map - the second in the series of four. You will see that this one illustrates the route of my next trip to Southeast Asia during the window of time described as June, July and August of 2014: Thailand's North West Heartland, Myanmar's Shan State, and China's Yunnan Provence before turning south into Laos to follow the Mekong River Valley to Vientaine. Should I assume that you all understand the goal of the mini-documentary film series - The Search For Mae Posop? It’s said by the ancients that the road to perdition is paved in assumptions. Therefore, let’s take a close, hard look at the mission again. Just in case. Here it is in 17 words. The goal is to enhance the effectiveness of NGOs and CLC programs for the poor rural rice farmers throughout SEA. There are many levels to our mission, but know this: at its core, it is that. It is already chiseled in granite. So then, how does one proceed? Well, for one thing, I wisely continue to rely on Mae Posop to point the way. She has never failed to bring to my attention the next step. Right now the next step is to search for and find cooperative community farm networks (NGOs and CLCs) to visit with our cameras during the next trip to the other side of the world. What are the resources I can draw upon to accomplish this vital task? Well - fortunately during my first trip to SEA, I was introduced to highly regarded people and organizations that have offered to assist to me in arranging this activity. I am currently pursuing these much anticipated relationships. Lastly, I have begun the important search for a sponsor for Mae Posop’s mini-doc series. There are two seasons (each made up of 8 episodes) and thus two opportunities for a progressive enterprise in Southeast Asia to make a significant regional impression. The potential benefits to the sponsor are great and I am already presenting my case to important decision makers. Organic is the operative word here.

Mae Posop's Profile

The question put to me was, "Tell us about the title of your doc series. The Search For Mae Posop. What does it mean?" Wonderful question. I love to talk about my new best friend. In most rice growing areas of Southeast Asia there is an ancient spirit of rice that resides in a Rice Goddess or Rice Mother. For thousands of years her birth and life have appeared in legend and folklore in all regions of Thailand where she is called Mae Posop. Fast-forward to today: now rural rice farmers are concerned that she is being taken for granted and that their rich rice cultural heritage is fast disappearing. Only in the past five decades has her veneration been threatened by modern agriculture, changing rice growing economics, and industrialization. Wait for Superman no more. In The Search For Mae Posop she will be returned to center stage where she will direct our cameras to rural farmers learning and working hard to remain resilient and to continue to feed their families during this era of climate change.

Her offer of hope lies in the alternative rice farming movement that seeks alternative ways to cultivate rice which are in harmony with nature. Being in harmony with nature is a concept that is instantly desirable to us all. In the title, the use of her name, specifically in the Thai language, will be understood and considered both clever and clear by its narrowly defined Southeast Asian audiences: clever, in a way that is compelling to the rural rice farmer audience and clear, in a way that tells the viewer what it is they are going to see. It is critical that the huge rural farm populations of Southeast Asia (a) expands its understanding of the risks already underway, and (b) grasps what its seeing and is able to assess their own options within that paradigm. Is there a better way to protect their families and their greater communities? Far greater than considerations of economic and civic infrastructures is how a single man may feed his family. This documentary series, distributed only over the Internet, will help begin that effort.