A Mideast Bond, Stitched of Pain and Healing This article is about a Palestinian little girl and an Israeli little boy both recovering from injuries inflicted by their respective enemies. Amazingly beautiful lesson on humanity.
When I met Erin, she was working on a documentary after living in Kabul. That's right Kabul. She bought a one way ticket to a war zone to figure this crazy world out with $100 in her pocket. After trekking in Nepal and doing the spiritual thing, she decided to prove that people were good no matter where on the globe and she went to the heart a war zone, our perceived darkness, and found amazing hospitality and kindness. I call that brave, curious and a little crazy. Now she is a young woman on the go again. Link to her to learn more here. Cut to 2014 and here she is again, figuring out the world on her terms, making movies and flinging herself into the unknown, helping the world come alive through her intuition and passion. Thanks Erin, you walk your talk even on a camel.
There's something to be said about listening to gut feelings and taking a leap into the abyss. This is what is was for me to leave my home in LA and embark on another worldly adventure. The main professional goal was to go to the Cannes Film Festival to check it out and see what would happen. It was a risk - I let go of my place in LA and put all my belongings into storage - but I had to take it, as I had a strong feeling that I should go to Cannes since last fall.
At first, I was concerned about the money it would take to get there and what I'd have to spend once I got to the festival. Long story short, it all worked out ;-)
Yours truly learning about nomadic culture from a village boy. He said, "My family is small because we are nomads. Too many children on the road, means too much drama. This is why we keep it small!" I totally concur - traveling with too many people can be a drag!!! Gosh, I really am a nomad!
Since my last email, I went to Morocco for the best music festival I've ever experienced. It was for Gnawa music, which is the ancient shamanic music of Morocco's nomadic tribes, otherwise know as the 'berber'. It was a soul stirring, and something that can never be truly explained or matched by past experiences (my time in the Himalayas comes close). I recorded one random street performance from the festival - it's in the attachment so you can listen to it.
Morocco was breathtaking, a crazy adventure! It wasn't in the plans - but I went off to the Sahara Desert to the towering orange sand dunes with a group of nomads. It was something surreal, like a scene from The Little Prince. This is where I had one of the most beautiful moments of my life; I slept on a sand dune with nothing but the full moon and stars as my ceiling, while listening to my favorite ambient electronic music. It was a rare kind of peace and quiet. I could feel the breath of the universe there, and it was something quite extraordinary.
A lucky shot of the caravan's silhouette - It's no wonder I felt like I was on the set of Star Wars, which by the way, the newest Star Wars is shooting in Morocco right now.
One of the results of Cannes is now unfolding and I can finally share a little bit; I'm currently in Bangkok, en route to Cambodia to research film sales and distribution. It's a one month job that was seeded at Cannes, and has quickly sprouted into something more! If all goes well, I will do more of the same work in other countries.
From the Sahara, close to the Algerian border. Yes, I was riding a camel and owning it!
