HUMANUM

THE HUMANUM SERIES

We were commissioned by the Vatican to produce a series of documentary films for a historic gathering of religious and cultural leaders from around the world, hosted by Pope Francis. The theme of the gathering was the complementarity of Man and Woman. THE HUMANUM SERIES was received with universal acclaim, blending human experiences, social sciences, art, animation, religion, and philosophy into a short-form documentary format. The production included shoots in France, Nigeria, Lebanon, Mexico, Scotland, England, and the United States.

The design of Man and Woman has been revered in all cultures throughout human history. The yin and the yang, the masculine and the feminine, are timeless and elemental. Man & Woman "fit" within with the cosmos like complementary colors.

An example of the universality of this ancient, ecological wisdom is the ever-present "garden" metaphor for Man, Woman, and Child. In the film series, the garden metaphor appears in a Chinese symbol for society, an African mural depicting the generations, a Mexican child's image of her family, and the Hebrew poetry of the Song of Songs.

You can read coverage about the HUMANUM Colloquium and the HUMANUM SERIES here in Our Sunday Visitor, The National Catholic Register, and Aleteia.

EPISODE 1:

The Destiny of Humanity: On The Meaning of Marriage

Episodes 2-6

2 : The Cradle of Life & Love

3 : Understanding Man & Woman

4 : A Hidden Sweetness

5 : Challenge & Hope for a New Generation

6 : Marriage, Culture & Civil Society

HUMANUM SHORTS

EARTH & SKY: Many Voices, One Promise

EARTH & SKY is a meditation on Man and Woman featuring footage of real couples from around the world. The narration features sacred texts and love poetry from the world's religious traditions including the Torah, the Hindu Rite of the Seven Steps, the Koran, a Greek Orthodox Christian Wedding Liturgy, the New Testament as well as Buddhist and Jewish love poetry.

The world's religious traditions understand Man and Woman as an expression of the complementarities present in all of creation. This wondrous way of seeing that our humanity "fits" in with the cosmos, is often forgotten in the West. This spirit of wonder and wisdom was at the heart of the original Humanum Colloquim.

The title "Earth & Sky" is a reference to the Hindu Rite of Seven Steps in which the husband says to his beloved, "I am the sky and you are the earth."

EARTH & SKY was screened before a global audience at the 2015 World Meeting of Families. You can find it here at 47 min. into this link of C-Span's broadcast at the Festival of Families.

LAUDATO SÍ - Papal Encyclical Trailer

LAUDATO SÍ, Pope Francis' second encyclical, is a beautiful meditation on the interdependence between the human person, the family, our neighbor, the natural world, and the Divine. HUMANUM commissioned us to produce a trailer for the encyclical that would be evocative of themes of "human ecology"- this idea that the book of nature is one and indivisible, encompassing both natural and social environments.

WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES

HUMANUM was featured at the 2015 World Meeting of Families. It was an honor to produce these shorts that introduced each of the keynote speakers including Bishop Robert Barron, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Helen Alvaré, Dr. Juan Francisco de la Guardia Brin and Mrs. Gabriela N. de la Guardia, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap. and Pastor Richard “Rick” Warren.