Mr. Gaga The Film, An Interview in Aspen
Attending the 38th Annual Aspen Film Festival, I had the opportunity to interview the Producer of the film Mr. Gaga, Barak Heymann.
Before I interviewed Mr. Heymann, I was able to sit in the beautiful historic Wheeler Opera House and transcend into the film, from the first frame until the last. Gripped in awe at the dancers, and the renowned Israeli choreographer, Ohad Naharin, at times I found tears streaming down my face from the beauty of the movement of the dancers and the painstaking precision demanded of them during rehearsals, to the perfected piece performed on stage.
After eight years of filming, the Heymann brothers (Barak’s brother Tomer is the Director) have created an extremely well edited, and visually compelling story.
The timing for the Colorado premier of Mr. Gaga couldn’t have been more fitting for me, for I have been working through tremendous inflammation and body pain at The Fix, and have thus had the message driven home about the importance of movement. Mr. Gaga is all about the language of movement, and it was movement that changed both Ohad Naharin and Tomer Heymann’s lives; Ohad Naharin was injured badly when dancing and was told he would not be able to ever walk again, but through determination and movement, he healed himself.
At a very low time in his life, Tomer Heymann was told by a friend to attend a Gaga class. Not a dancer he resisted, but his friend was persistent and so he reluctantly went. Something through Gaga connected him to the beauty and passion of life, and his soul and mood became connected through his dancing. For Tomer it’s not about gender, nationality, or age, it’s about the demand to go beyond our familiar limits on a daily basis and free yourself.
This is a MUST-SEE film!
What is Gaga?
[su_quote cite=”Ohad Naharin”]We become more aware of our form. We connect to the sense of the endlessness of possibilities. We explore multi-dimensional movement; we enjoy the burning sensation in our muscles, we are ready to snap, we are aware of our explosive power and sometimes we use it. We change our movement habits by finding new ones. We go beyond our familiar limits. We can be calm and alert at once.[/su_quote]
[su_box title=”Choreographer & Artistic Director of the Batsheva Dance Company”]Gaga movement language developed by Ohad Naharin is a new way of gaining knowledge and self-awareness through your body. Gaga provides a framework for discovering and strengthening your body and adding flexibility, stamina, and agility while lightening the senses and imagination. Gaga raises awareness of physical weaknesses, awakens numb areas, exposes physical fixations, and offers ways for their elimination. The work improves instinctive movement and connects conscious and unconscious movement, and it allows for an experience of freedom and pleasure in a simple way, in a pleasant space, in comfortable clothes, accompanied by music, each person with himself and others.[/su_box]
[su_box title=”The Heymann Brothers”]The Heymann Brothers Films is an Israeli independent production company specializing in documentary films for cinema and TV. The Heymann Brothers Films Company has been producing documentary films and series for more than a decade. The carefully selected cinematic projects offer a personalized perspective of the complicated political situation in Israel, and deal with issues of minorities and human rights, appealing both to the local and the international documentary markets. The company is one of the leading film companies in Israel. The company founder, Tomer Heymann, is among Israel’s best known documentary directors. Among his films are It Kinda Scares Me (2001), Paper Dolls (2006), Out of Focus (2007), the WDR/ARTE co-production I Shot My Love (2010), and The Queen has no Crown (2011). In 2003, Tomer’s younger brother, Barak Heymann, joined the company. Together they produced and co-directed an impressive number of appraised documentaries, among them: Bridge over the Wadi (2005),Dancing Alfonso (2007), and Lone Samaritan (2010). Barak Heymann is also the proud producer of Lady Kul El Arab (a film by Ibtisam Maraana, 2008), Stalags – Holocaust and Pornography in Israel (a film by Ari Libsker, 2007), Sayed Kashua – Forever Scared (a film by Dorit Zimbalist, 2009), and the latest worldwide successful film Life in Stills (a film by Tamar Tal, 2011). Barak Heymann also produced Before The Revolution (2013) telling the story of the Israelis caught in Tehran during the Islamic revolution of 1979, and the recent documentaries Do you Believe in Love? (2013) andAlmost Friends (2014) In recent years Tomer and Barak have been invited to hold retrospectives of their work and documentary filmmaking workshops in Taiwan, Russia, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Brazil, Argentina and Israel.[/su_box]
[su_box title=”Choreographer & Artistic Director of the Batsheva Dance Company”]Ohad Naharin has been hailed as one of the world’s preeminent contemporary choreographers. As Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company since 1990, he has guided the company with an adventurous artistic vision and reinvigorated its repertory with his captivating choreography. Naharin is also the originator of an innovative movement language, Gaga, which has enriched his extraordinary movement invention, revolutionized the company’s training, and emerged as a growing force in the larger field of movement practices for both dancers and non-dancers. Naharin was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company in 1990 and has served in this role except for the 2003-2004 season, when he held the title of House Choreographer. During his tenure with the company, Naharin has choreographed over 20 works for Batsheva and its junior division, Batsheva Ensemble. He has also restaged over 10 of his dances for the company and recombined excerpts from his repertory to create Deca Dance, a constantly evolving evening-length work.[/su_box]
[su_youtube_advanced url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6gd8xpFMsM”]
