Known to many CineSource readers, Marin County's Tiffany Shlain is an internationally renowned multi-media producer/writer/director, speaker, author, innovator, and new media leader. Just a partial list of her accomplishments is, well, intimidating. In her short life on this planet Shlain has produced ten short films, four of which were screened at the Sundance Film Festival. She also co-founded the Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, founded The Webby Awards, and her first feature, "Connected", was screened at this year's Sundance.
Eschewing the countless technological dystopias of science fiction literature and Hollywood films, Shlain lives joyfully on the leading edge of technology and media. That life is no more apparent than in her production of, and presence in, "Connected."
The film asks several questions. The first, near the beginning, is a core question. After introducing the phenomenon of technology creating mass connections between the peoples of the world—one billion online so far—and then following that with an environmental example of how the loss of honey bees could lead quickly to mass starvation, Shlain asks, "So, if one change in our over-connected world can have such far-reaching consequences, how do we use the power of all these connections to turn things around?"
TIffany Shlain director/writer/producer of 'Connected'. photo: courtesy T. Shlain
The answer lies in human evolution, history, bi-lateral brain functioning, gender, art, politics, the Internet, and, especially, in the meanings of the word 'interdependence'. Via a well-sequenced cornucopia of concepts and a practically nonstop montage of images, Shlain surmises that the use of the Internet stimulates, in a balanced fashion, both sides of the user's brain—by virtue of the Web's integration of text and image.
"If this rewiring of the brain, is happening on an individual level, on each person who uses the Web," Shlain states, "Imagine the cumulative effect of a da Vinci-type brain synthesis [a left/right hemispheres functional integration] on a global scale.... We're at the beginning of a participatory revolution where people's ideas are free to interact, reproduce, and cross-pollinate instantaneously—creating new, hybrid ideas that combine perspectives from all over the world, connecting ideas, data, and cultures from millions of brains into a global thinking structure with infinite possibilities, where each text, hyperlink , or tweet is like a neural synapse firing out to everyone you're connected to.... The Internet is rewiring our brains to think interdependently, changing the way we connect to the world online and off."
Shlain continues, building, supporting, and clarifying her vision of a positive human evolution, a vision of a world saved.
"Connected" is a multi-layered film, reflecting Shlain's brilliance, and one of those layers is a 'making-of' the film. It is in this layer that we early-on learn about Shlain's father, Leonard Shlain, a surgeon and best-selling author. His thinking and beingness are foundational to the film. Indeed, he was to be the film's co-writer with his daughter, but was tragically diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer early in production.
The genius of his mind, the wondrousness of his fatherhood, and the pain of his passing are woven throughout. Like the most powerful of Joni Mitchell's songs, Shlain deftly, movingly weaves a narrative of the personal and deeply intimate with that of the impersonal and universal. "Connected" touches the heart as deeply as it provokes the mind.
It is great to see that in the download digital era, filmmakers are still doing posters' here's 'Connected''s. photo: courtesy T. Shlain
"Connected" opens on September 16th in San Francisco, at the Landmark Embarcadero; in Berkeley at the Shattuck 10; and in Mill Valley, at the CinéArts at Sequoia theater. It will be released nationally shortly thereafter. The film will also screen at the Napa Valley Film Festival on November 11. Shlain will be at the Landmark on, the 16th, doing a Q&A; Saturday night at the CinéArts at Sequoia, and Sunday afternoon at the Shattuck 10. "There will be a lot of good things happening around the premieres," she wrote to me in an email, "people can stay posted through our Facebook page, "Connected the Film".
When asked about what's in her future, Shlain responded, "We have a whole educational kit that goes with the film, with a curriculum, conversation cards and a book. We are excited to get that out to educators after the theatrical run. We also received a grant to make six more short films. People can see the first one in a month on our connectedthefilm.com website."
is an actor, writer and doc maven living in Marin. Posted on Aug 25, 2011 - 08:15 AM