Rebel | Angel
Catalogue Number: RTV056
Producer: RESEARCHTV INC.
Producers: Lowry, Christopher
Directors: Lowry, Christopher
Producing Agencies: Ecotone Productions
Subject: Arts, Biography, Documentary, Guidance, Health, Literature, Psychology, Social Issues, Social Sciences, Sociology
Language: English
Grade Level: 9 - 12, Post Secondary, Adult
Country Of Origin: Canada
Copyright Year: 2020
Running Time: 89:20
Rebel Angel is a film about identity, love, dysfunctional families, despair, the redemptive power of art, and the long, relentless reach of mentorship.
Seven years in the making, Rebel Angel paints a portrait of the evanescent cultural figure Ross Woodman (1922-2014), Jungian author Marion Woodman, and their extraordinary marriage. Ross played a key role in the 'Regionalist' art scene in London, Ontario in the 1960s which gave us many of Canada's most significant artists from that period. Marion was first introduced to Jung’s thought by Ross before they were married in the late 1950s. He accompanied Marion through her journey as a pioneering Jungian analyst who is credited with bringing the Feminine into depth psychology. A champion of creative imagination, he was also an original interpreter of depth psychology in the context of his profound knowledge of world literature and religions, in particular the Baha’i faith. His generosity as a mentor, and his pure artistry as a lecturer on Blake, Shelley and the Romantic poets made him unforgettable, life changing. Through the prism of Woodman's deeply troubled life, the film maker explores the dynamic among, love, creativity and madness in movies, poetry and art.
Writer/Director Chris Lowry was one of many students of Woodman who went on to make a difference in the arts, media and education. They include Dora-winning playwright David Young (Inexpressible Island, Glenn), sports journalists Scott Russell and Stephen Brunt, actress Kate Nelligan (Eye of the Needle, Prince of Tides).
"I laughed, I wept. I was overwhelmed. A glorious celebration and a beautiful film in every way."
—Karen Mulhallen, Poet, Editor of Descant magazine, Professor Emeritus Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson)
"Far-reaching... It is a wonderful study of a cultural moment in Canada’s maturing cultural life... It seemed to say things about you (or me) or anyone who has fallen under the intense spell of the Romantic vision." —Johanne Clare, author and Professor, George Brown College
"A masterful labour of love." —Deanne Bogdan, Professor Emerita, Department of Social Justice Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
"I am utterly stunned by the brilliance and beauty and depth of Rebel Angel. Truly a masterpiece. " —David Haenke, Poet and Forest Manager, Ozark Regional Land Trust
"So much love there with zero sentimentality! I can’t remember watching a movie like that before." —John Hoedl, Jungian Analyst, President of the International Society for Psychology as the Discipline of Interiority
“Having Ross Woodman as my professor was both a blessing and a curse,” narrates Lowry. “My life became a series of experiments. I was a producer, a community organizer, a writer, and a dreamer. Ross provoked me to reform the world, one project at a time.”
“I started working on Rebel Angel in 2016,” says Lowry. “But it really started seventeen years earlier in 1999, when I interviewed Ross about his life and his ideas, an unfinished project. After he died, I saw that footage as if for the first time, and realized it was the spine of a film.”
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