by Virginia Hancock I Staff Writer
"The power of a nuclear reaction comes from the splitting of a single
atom. A small group of sports fans gets an entire stadium crowd doing the
wave. One infection starts a worldwide epidemic. The formula for change is
often far simpler than we expect."-From the website of the upcoming film:
The Square Root of One Percent
Filmmaker Ross Weinberg is excited about a simple formula's potential to
change the world - excited enough to make a movie about it. With his new
film The Square Root of One Percent, the Hollywood producer hopes to
captivate mainstream audiences with "the unusual, entertaining,
international history of world peace assemblies - focusing on the studies
and people that speak to the effectiveness of those involving Transcendental
Meditation."
Slating the 110-minute, $1.5 million budget feature film to hit theaters
across the nation next fall, Weinberg is going all out, determined to make
his movie an Academy Award contender for 2007. Combining the scale of his
post projects with a powerful team line up including executive producer
David Lynch, soundtrack artist Donovan, editors Harvey Rosenstock (Scent of
Woman, Tombstone) and Peter Trivelas (Martha Stewart Living, NBC's Today
Show, ABC's Good Morning America) editing, and special effect artist David
Crawford (What Dreams May Come, Titanic), he just may have a chance.
Although only 28, Weinberg has already racked up solid credentials in his
brief, though lustrous career. He produced and directed a $2 million feature
film in 2005 that starred Jessica Biel and Jason Statham. Weinberg also did
film editing for the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for : Astrophysics Science
Media Group in Massachusetts and filmed and edited in the commercial
industry in Los Angeles, following a degree from Boston University in film
and economics.
His previous involvement in documentaries included a 10-minute short, for
which he won statewide recognition at age 17. Recently, Weinberg put
together a TV show that "is in development right now at the E! Channel. They
bought my idea for the show concept."
When working 16-18 hour days on t 2005 feature film, "A friend stopping
by
commented to me that I looked stressed out." Knowing he needed to' relax,
Weinberg agreed to go with his friend to see a movie. "The movie we wanted
to see was sold out, and we ended up seeing What the Bleep is Going On."
When Harvard physicist Dr. John Hagelin appeared on-screen, his. friend
turned to him. "Hey, I know that guy," he exclaimed. Weinberg's friend had
worked with Hagelin during a peace assembly in Washington DC and gave an
incredulous . Weinberg, "a run-down of the research done on TM - in prisons,
in schools, for health, in war zones," he says. "He told me about the
Maharishi Effect - multiple studies showing that only the square root of one
percent of a population needs to meditate together to significantly,
depend–ably, decrease crime rates in any area."
Curious, and with the inkling of a film idea, Weinberg began to further
investi–gate. the research on TM, with an-eye for visually representing the
Maharishi Effect. Discovering the book Victory Before War, by Dr. Robert
Keith Wallace and Jay B. Marcus, he began to feel this was a story just
waiting to be told on the big screen. "The further I read, the more my
inspiration for the film intensified."
"Barely anyone knows that two-hun–dred independent research institutions,
including Harvard, Stanford, and UCLA Medical School, have conducted over
600 scientific studies on Transcendental Meditation and have verified its
benefits in the fields of crime prevention, health, and conflict resolution.
When The Square Root of One Percent comes out, everyone will know. I want to
take this film as far as it will go, hopefully interna–tionally," says
Weinberg.
In his film, Weinberg plans to incorpo–rate groups practicing different
forms of meditation all over the world to introduce the broad concept of
peace assemblies.
"Then I'll zero in on Transcendental Meditation, which has been
better-doc–umented by scientific studies than any other meditation."
In October 2005, on his way back from the Montreal World Film Festival,
Weinberg stopped in Boston to person–ally meet Hagelin, who taught him more
about the Vedic peace technologies.
To access the wealth of TM research accumulated over the past 40 years,
and to meet with other leaders in the Transcendental Meditation
organiza–tion, - Hagelin sent Weinberg to Fairfield, where he began "raiding
the MUM librarv." Upon arriving he met Lila Wallace, whose father, Dr.
Robert Keith Wallace, is a prominent neuro–physiologist, founding president
of Maharishi University of Management and co-author of Victory Before War.
Excited by his vision, Wallace joined Weinberg as co-producer of the
film.
"When producers first started making documentaries, industry agents warned
that it would be 'career suicide.' But now, with March of the Penguins and
An Inconvenient Truth, plus about ten more coming out in the next few
months, film documentaries are huge," Wallace says.
Currently, the film is self-funded. Some money comes from Weinberg's
other
pending project at the E! Channel, while, "A couple of individuals made
generous private investments in the film, which is what we are actively
seeking." Wallace and Weinberg put together a catchy concept trailer at
www.whatfilms.com/vbw/full-length/ <http://www.whatfilms.com/vbw/full-length/> which demonstrates the film's vision to
prospective viewers and investors.
Although Weinberg has several connec–tions to Hollywood studios, he and
Wallace agree that private investors are best. "It is important to minimize
studio control. That way, the final product will remain in the producers'
hands, which can be key to staying true to our intention."
Weinberg is now in Vlodrop, Holland, the international center of the TM
organization, filming interviews with many peacemakers assembled near
founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's house. He'll return to Los Angeles in
November to begin editing footage. He also plans to go to St. Louis,
Maryland, and Florida to interview scientists and professionals familiar
with the Maharishi Effect.
Thanks to Tim Hawthorne's "generous donation of 20 studio hours at
Hawthorne direct," says Weinberg, local biochemists, neuroscientists, and
research statisticians have already been interviewed. Having shot 25 full
interviews so far, "I'm talking to anyone with information that explains how
silent action at a distance works to create peace," he adds.
One September day, Weinberg and his MUM student friend Jonathan Cohen
conducted short interviews with many of the 1100 course participants
currently on the Invincible America course. "There are people of every
ethnicity and, every religion doing this. From England, The Dominican
Republic, Chicago, New York, California."
He envisions an on-screen mosaic of the individuals, the history, the
press coverage, the research, that brings out the range of individuals who
feel it is important enough to meditate in a group together,
A regular Transcendental Meditator himself for two years now, Weinberg
posits, "Group meditation for peace might seem far-fetched and unorthodox.
At first I thought meditation was just something that helped people relax.
But there is so much more to it. TM's quiet effect that works at a distance
is not only an ancient knowledge for societal peace; today it is a more
practiced, more researched method than we know. Right now, meditation is
more popular than Yoga, but it's happening behind closed doors."
Weinberg wants The Square Root of One Percent to swing the doors wide
open, exposing the facts. With our nation hungry for peace, "Everyone will
want to know about this," he says.
Weinberg and Wallace invite anyone with visual mate–rial documenting
international peace assemblies, such as newspapers, magazines, studies,
videos, and personal photographs to submit it information on sending
mate–rials is available at the film's website, or by emailing
con–[EMAIL PROTECTED] A portion of the film's profits will go to world
peace assemblies happening now. __._,_.___
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