Inside the Mind of PETER WELLER, Actor, Art Historian, Director, Musician, Author - Highlights

Inside the Mind of PETER WELLER, Actor, Art Historian, Director, Musician, Author - Highlights

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Art transcends time and culture—the beauty of it. People worry about the world now. I remind them to go live in 1968, a time of preparing to go to the moon while people died for their beliefs. This is a difficult time in a republic that’s supposed to be free, but music was leading the way. Whether it was Miles, Coltrane, Aretha, Leonard Cohen, Dylan, the music was extraordinarily influential and cutting-edge… Leon Battista Alberti is an interesting figure because he was a poet, painter, architect, and particularly an architect, writer, and humanist. He wrote this amazing book on painting that everyone has to read.

From RoboCop to the Renaissance w/ Actor, Art Historian, Director, Musician, Author PETER WELLER

From RoboCop to the Renaissance w/ Actor, Art Historian, Director, Musician, Author PETER WELLER

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Art transcends time and culture—the beauty of it. People worry about the world now. I remind them to go live in 1968, a time of preparing to go to the moon while people died for their beliefs. This is a difficult time in a republic that’s supposed to be free, but music was leading the way. Whether it was Miles, Coltrane, Aretha, Leonard Cohen, Dylan, the music was extraordinarily influential and cutting-edge… Leon Battista Alberti is an interesting figure because he was a poet, painter, architect, and particularly an architect, writer, and humanist. He wrote this amazing book on painting that everyone has to read.

How Does Art Shape Our Lives? Musicians, Writers, Filmmakers & Actors Share Their Stories

How Does Art Shape Our Lives? Musicians, Writers, Filmmakers & Actors Share Their Stories

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Musicians, Writers, Filmmakers & Actors Share Their Stories

How do the arts help us find purpose and meaning? What role do stories play in helping us preserve memories, connect us to each other, and answer life’s big questions? Max Richter, Etgar Keret, Athony Joseph, Claudia Forestieri, Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz Johnjoe McFadden, Sheehan Karunatilaka, Catherine Curtin, Kate Mueth explore the importance of creativity and the arts.

Art, Creativity & Intuition - Filmmakers, Musicians & Artists discuss their Creative Process

Art, Creativity & Intuition - Filmmakers, Musicians & Artists discuss their Creative Process

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Filmmakers, Musicians & Artists discuss their Creative Process

Where does our intuition come from? How are lifelong creative partnerships formed and what role do friendship and personal connection play? How do our personal lives influence the art we make?

Consciousness, AI & Creativity with DUSTIN O’HALLORAN - Emmy Award-winning Composer

Consciousness, AI & Creativity with DUSTIN O’HALLORAN - Emmy Award-winning Composer

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Emmy Award-winning · Oscar-nominated Composer · Musician
1 0 0 1 · Silfur · Transparent · Lion

It's really like a journey from our connection with nature to where we are now, in this moment where we're playing with technology. We're almost in this hybrid space, not fully understanding where it's going. And it's very deep in our subconscious and probably much greater than we realize. And it sort of ends in this space where the consciousness of what we're creating, it's going to be very separate from us. And I believe that's kind of where it's heading – the idea of losing humanity, losing touch with nature and becoming outside of something that we have created.

How can music help us expand our understanding of consciousness & AI? - Highlights - DUSTIN O’HALLORAN

How can music help us expand our understanding of consciousness & AI? - Highlights - DUSTIN O’HALLORAN

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Emmy Award-winning · Oscar-nominated Composer · Musician
1 0 0 1 · Silfur · Transparent · Lion

It's really like a journey from our connection with nature to where we are now, in this moment where we're playing with technology. We're almost in this hybrid space, not fully understanding where it's going. And it's very deep in our subconscious and probably much greater than we realize. And it sort of ends in this space where the consciousness of what we're creating, it's going to be very separate from us. And I believe that's kind of where it's heading – the idea of losing humanity, losing touch with nature and becoming outside of something that we have created.

What does the future hold for our late-stage capitalist society with mega-corps controlling everything? - Highlights - KYLE HIGGINS, KARINA MANASHIL & KID CUDI

What does the future hold for our late-stage capitalist society with mega-corps controlling everything? - Highlights - KYLE HIGGINS, KARINA MANASHIL & KID CUDI

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Eisner Award-nominated Comic Book Author KYLE HIGGINS
Emmy-nominated Producer KARINA MANASHIL & KID CUDI on the Making of Moon Man

So, as we started talking and going through what this could look like. What a new black superhero in 2024 could look like? What would the threats be? What the world might look like if it's maybe not even five minutes in the future? I would argue it's like two and a half minutes in the future. And then what kind of really complex, emotionally layered journey we could put this character through?

Comics, Music, Ethics & AI: KYLE HIGGINS, KARINA MANASHIL & KID CUDI on the Making of Moon Man

Comics, Music, Ethics & AI: KYLE HIGGINS, KARINA MANASHIL & KID CUDI on the Making of Moon Man

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Eisner Award-nominated Comic Book Author KYLE HIGGINS
Emmy-nominated Producer KARINA MANASHIL & KID CUDI on the Making of Moon Man

So, as we started talking and going through what this could look like. What a new black superhero in 2024 could look like? What would the threats be? What the world might look like if it's maybe not even five minutes in the future? I would argue it's like two and a half minutes in the future. And then what kind of really complex, emotionally layered journey we could put this character through?

Highlights - JULIAN LENNON - Doc Filmmaker, Exec. Producer of Common Ground, Musician, Photographer

Highlights - JULIAN LENNON - Doc Filmmaker, Exec. Producer of Common Ground, Musician, Photographer

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Singer-songwriter · Photographer · Documentary Filmmaker
Founder of The White Feather Foundation
Executive Producer of Common Ground

I thought, wow, how are they going to bring this across in a way that isn't shoving things down people's throats? It's presenting information in a way that is creative, but also in a way that drives your curiosity into understanding, number one, why are we in the position that we're in? And number two, how can we fix this? What can we do to change all of this? And so, I initially got involved as an executive producer on Kiss the Ground, and I was blown away by how that film came out at the end. How well rounded it was, the flow of the film, the storytelling, and really feeding me information that I didn't even know previously. And so also watching that become a platform around the world was jaw-dropping. I mean, the fact that the belief and the understanding and the wisdom that came out of that project has touched so many hearts, minds, and souls around the world, that people are really single-handedly almost making change for the better around the world. Now, when Common Ground was presented, I did love that concept because Kiss the Ground had been very much a broad approach and about America, for the majority, really, and Common Ground was a much more...I mean, we're still dealing with the same subject matter obviously, but I think it felt great to come from a more personal aspect." 

JULIAN LENNON - Exec. Producer of Common Ground, Doc Filmmaker, Singer-songwriter, Photographer

JULIAN LENNON - Exec. Producer of Common Ground, Doc Filmmaker, Singer-songwriter, Photographer

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Singer-songwriter · Photographer · Documentary Filmmaker
Founder of The White Feather Foundation
Executive Producer of Common Ground

I thought, wow, how are they going to bring this across in a way that isn't shoving things down people's throats? It's presenting information in a way that is creative, but also in a way that drives your curiosity into understanding, number one, why are we in the position that we're in? And number two, how can we fix this? What can we do to change all of this? And so, I initially got involved as an executive producer on Kiss the Ground, and I was blown away by how that film came out at the end. How well rounded it was, the flow of the film, the storytelling, and really feeding me information that I didn't even know previously. And so also watching that become a platform around the world was jaw-dropping. I mean, the fact that the belief and the understanding and the wisdom that came out of that project has touched so many hearts, minds, and souls around the world, that people are really single-handedly almost making change for the better around the world. Now, when Common Ground was presented, I did love that concept because Kiss the Ground had been very much a broad approach and about America, for the majority, really, and Common Ground was a much more...I mean, we're still dealing with the same subject matter obviously, but I think it felt great to come from a more personal aspect." 

Highlights - DAVID BYRNE'S THEATER OF THE MIND - Stories of Impact - Nicholas Bruckman, John Tracey, Ian Moubayed

Highlights - DAVID BYRNE'S THEATER OF THE MIND - Stories of Impact - Nicholas Bruckman, John Tracey, Ian Moubayed

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Stories of Impact · People’s TV

Q: Who is David Byrne?
David Byrne: …I have no idea.

Most people know me through music, but when I was in high school I saw science and the arts as being equally creative fields. More recently, I just started taking an interest in how the brain works, and there's been this explosion of literature. As much as I love reading about neuroscience, I realize that experiencing some of the phenomena is just on a different level. I wanted to create an experience that shows us we're not who we think we are. Theater of the Mind is an immersive Science Theater project. With this show, I've tried to marry a narrative to the experience of different scientific phenomena that reveal how malleable our perception memory and identity really are.

DAVID BYRNE'S THEATER OF THE MIND - Stories of Impact produced by Simons Foundation & People’s TV

DAVID BYRNE'S THEATER OF THE MIND - Stories of Impact produced by Simons Foundation & People’s TV

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Stories of Impact · People’s TV

Q: Who is David Byrne?
David Byrne: …I have no idea.

Most people know me through music, but when I was in high school I saw science and the arts as being equally creative fields. More recently, I just started taking an interest in how the brain works, and there's been this explosion of literature. As much as I love reading about neuroscience, I realize that experiencing some of the phenomena is just on a different level. I wanted to create an experience that shows us we're not who we think we are. Theater of the Mind is an immersive Science Theater project. With this show, I've tried to marry a narrative to the experience of different scientific phenomena that reveal how malleable our perception memory and identity really are.

FABRIZIO MANCINELLI - Composer, Songwriter, Conductor

FABRIZIO MANCINELLI - Composer, Songwriter, Conductor

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Composer · Songwriter · Conductor
The Land of Dreams ·The Snow Queen 3 · The Boat · Food 2050 · Green Book

I'm always trying to find my place here because, yes, I'm American. I'm an immigrant. I don't want to talk about the difficulties I face in my coming here, but it was not easy. So when I was writing the song called “Give Up”, and it's like a song that I'm singing to myself. Those are things, like there is a lot of personal experience. I was a luxury immigrant on a Fulbright grant on a J-1 Sponsor Visa, you know, with a solid family I could go back to in Italy in case anything went wrong. But at the same time, it was not easy. I want to do my job with a smile on my face, and it brought me to write the lyrics like: 'It's my turn. My time is now.' It's like something that I'm trying, we all try to get our turn to be our moment, to shine our moment. We're all waiting. We don't know if it will happen, but we need to try at least. We need to grab our life with our hands and make it work one way or another. So that's what I mean in my song “Orlando Dreams.”

Highlights - Karina Manashil - Pres. of Mad Solar - Exec. Producer of “Entergalactic”, “Pearl”, “X”

Highlights - Karina Manashil - Pres. of Mad Solar - Exec. Producer of “Entergalactic”, “Pearl”, “X”

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President of Mad Solar · Creative Confidante & Industry Catalyst for Scott Mescudi a.k.a. Kid Cudi
Exec. Producer: Entergalactic starring Mescudi, Jessica Williams & Timothée Chalamet
Pearl · X starring Mia Goth

And what was so moving was when we went into Netflix to the theater to screen the finished product for the first time. You're sitting there and at the end of it, Scott was crying, and I looked over - it made me cry low-key - but Scott was crying and he said – This completely blows my mind because this is the first time I had a vision up here in my head and tried to express it, and then had to trust all 300 plus people, all around the world, working in different time zones, in different places, and each of them putting a hand to it and seeing exactly that vision. And then watching the product, and it is the best version of anything I could have ever possibly had in my head.
So, to us, that's the purest, most beautiful... Again, how fortunate that every hand was moving in tandem and moving in lockstep, and all of it. But that was the beauty of collaboration, this opportunity for a small vision to touch so many hands and become the big vision.

Karina Manashil - President of Mad Solar - Creative Confidante for Kid Cudi - Exec. Producer of “Entergalactic”

Karina Manashil - President of Mad Solar - Creative Confidante for Kid Cudi - Exec. Producer of “Entergalactic”

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President of Mad Solar · Creative Confidante & Industry Catalyst for Scott Mescudi a.k.a. Kid Cudi
Exec. Producer: Entergalactic starring Mescudi, Jessica Williams & Timothée Chalamet
Pearl · X starring Mia Goth

And what was so moving was when we went into Netflix to the theater to screen the finished product for the first time. You're sitting there and at the end of it, Scott was crying, and I looked over - it made me cry low-key - but Scott was crying and he said – This completely blows my mind because this is the first time I had a vision up here in my head and tried to express it, and then had to trust all 300 plus people, all around the world, working in different time zones, in different places, and each of them putting a hand to it and seeing exactly that vision. And then watching the product, and it is the best version of anything I could have ever possibly had in my head.
So, to us, that's the purest, most beautiful... Again, how fortunate that every hand was moving in tandem and moving in lockstep, and all of it. But that was the beauty of collaboration, this opportunity for a small vision to touch so many hands and become the big vision.

(Highlights) ALICE BROOKS

(Highlights) ALICE BROOKS

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Award-winning Cinematographer
In The Heights, Tick, Tick…Boom!

There’s this children’s book called Miss Rumphius, and I’ve carried it around with me my entire life. It’s about a woman who grandfather tells her three things, and the last one is the most difficult thing of all and that’s to fill the world with beauty. And I give this book to every one of my friends who are having babies, I have a copy with me almost at all times, and I’m reminded of that feeling that Jonathan Larson had in Tick, Tick…Boom! Of how much time do we have to do something great.

ALICE BROOKS

ALICE BROOKS

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Award-winning Cinematographer
In The Heights, Tick, Tick…Boom!

There’s this children’s book called Miss Rumphius, and I’ve carried it around with me my entire life. It’s about a woman who grandfather tells her three things, and the last one is the most difficult thing of all and that’s to fill the world with beauty. And I give this book to every one of my friends who are having babies, I have a copy with me almost at all times, and I’m reminded of that feeling that Jonathan Larson had in Tick, Tick…Boom! Of how much time do we have to do something great.

(Highlights) DR. FRANÇOIS CLEMMONS

(Highlights) DR. FRANÇOIS CLEMMONS

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Singer · Author
1st African American Actor on Children’s TV · Officer Clemmons on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

I always find it an ironic thing to think about the fact that Fred Rogers was colour-blind. He could barely tell a blue from a grey. I was young and to him I was a child and I certainly played the role of a child and he played the role of parent… He was profoundly patient.

DR. FRANÇOIS CLEMMONS

DR. FRANÇOIS CLEMMONS

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Singer · Author
1st African American Actor on Children’s TV · Officer Clemmons on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

I always find it an ironic thing to think about the fact that Fred Rogers was colour-blind. He could barely tell a blue from a grey. I was young and to him I was a child and I certainly played the role of a child and he played the role of parent… He was profoundly patient.

(Highlights) CARTER BURWELL

(Highlights) CARTER BURWELL

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Interview Highlights

So my musical education just completely killed any interest in music I would have had. And it was only later when I was a teenager a friend showed me a little bit about improvisation on the piano and that got me back into playing and that's why I'm doing this now. It was very therapeutic as a teenager, as an adolescent just to sit at the piano and just express things that I couldn't express in some other way.