New feature documentary from meditation expert, Tom Cronin, takes an inside-out approach exploring how everyday people overcome challenging obstacles.
NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES (October 17, 2019) – Mangurama, a partnership between Abramorama and Giancarlo Canavesio’s Mangusta Productions announced today the North American theatrical run for Tom Cronin and Jacqui Fifer’s groundbreaking documentary THE PORTAL. The film will be released in theaters across North America starting November 1, 2019 (current list of dates is below).
“The time is certainly ripe for THE PORTAL,” stated Abramorama CEO Richard Abramowitz, “The film’s healing potential is exactly what we need at this moment.”
Directed and written by first-time Australian director, Jacqui Fifer, and written and produced by international meditation expert, Tom Cronin (The Stillness Project) the captivating film has inspired crowds throughout the world and audiences across North America will get their chance to experience THE PORTAL this fall.
“We’re thrilled to be working with the amazing team at Mangurama to help bring THE PORTAL to cinemas across North America,” said Cronin. “The film facilitates a collective shift on the planet that takes us into a new era of united living; it had to be groundbreaking, and unique.” THE PORTAL is truly a film for everyone. Its commercially viability raises the genre bar while remaining true to its core message,” Cronin continued.
Mangurama brings THE PORTAL, to theaters opening on November 1st at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in Los Angeles and on November 15th at The Village East Cinema in New York City with additional nationwide engagements below. The film will also be released in Australia and New Zealand around the same time.
THE PORTAL ASKS: As the doomsday clock ticks progressively louder: What would happen if 7 billion people meditated? Could it shift the trajectory of our planet?
THE PORTAL IS: An immersive, cinematic experience that answers the question: How can we really change the world?
Through heart-opening contemplation and shared experiences of transformation on a personal scale, with global implications, six ordinary people (and a robot) show how stillness and mindfulness can unlock personal change and ignite a planetary shift, providing hope to humankind.
Filmed in the USA, Canada, Australia and a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, THE PORTAL is richly visual and sonically powerful. Mesmerizing cinematography and the raw intimate stories draw the audience in, while the immersive soundscape breaks ground in film history with its use of binaural beats in an already evocative score.
“I believe real-time change is possible, and that through the poignant personal stories and ideas unfolding and weaving together in this way we’ve got a portal to our greatest potential,” said Fifer. “This project has been a catalyst for many of us and I’m seeing it jump-start a lot of other people too. I couldn’t have found a more perfect project for my first foray into feature docs and directing. I’ve spent my life preparing for this film, without realizing, and watching many facets of me emerge and harmonize in order to weave it together–the filmmaker, the musician, the dreamer, the feminine and so on–has been a fun process.”
Featuring an impressive and diverse cast and crew, led by people from all over the world and all walks of life from military veterans, to scientists, performers and more, There is Ron ‘Booda’ Taylor—a retired US serviceman managing PTSD, Human Rights Expert Amandine Roche whose commitment to global peace took her on a quest for inner peace, Vietnamese refugee Due Quach who overcame developmental trauma through ‘mind hacking’, elite athlete Heather Hennessy who reinvented herself following a career-ending injury, Rabbi Ronnie Cahana who found freedom in the confines of a personal catastrophe, and neurosurgeon James R Doty MD who had to lose everything to find the meaning of life.
Supported by insights from three of the world’s foremost futurists—and a robot—the stories unfold as a beautiful, audiovisual spectacle that takes the viewer on their own mindfulness journey through the pain, joy and memory fragments of life. As THE PORTAL juxtaposes chaos with calm to provoke an emotional and psychological shift in the audience, experts Mikey Siegel, Dr Julia Mossbridge, and Daniel Schmachtenberger unpack concepts that are emerging from the zeitgeist, inviting us to consider the bigger questions facing our society. How can we approach life in a new way? Is technology a tool for transformation? What does it mean to be human?
ENTER THE PORTAL
Supported by insights from three of the world’s foremost futurists and philosophers, THE PORTAL opens hearts and minds to an exciting vision for humanity transformed. Said Cronin, “This is not sci-fi—this is real life. Humankind is staring into an abyss, yet within us all we have the capability to bring ourselves (and our species) back from the brink. We’re part of a growing movement of game-changers to create a reimagined global future—I think people are ready for something different.”
THE PORTAL weaves a captivating and vibrant tapestry of technology, love, existentialism, human potential, brain-hacking, stillness and inner peace. It is an experiential and genre-defining approach to personal change as we embark on the next phase of human evolution.
“It’s clear we just can’t play by the same old rules anymore when there’s an urgent need for meaning, connection, and harmony staring us in the face,” said Fifer, “We wanted to create a gateway to experience those missing pieces.”
Is an enlightened planet possible? Enter THE PORTAL and see. Screenings that are confirmed as of 10/24 are as follows:
| City | Dates | Theater |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Monica, CA | 11/1 – 11/7 (week) | Laemmle Monica Film Center |
| Berkeley, CA | 11/3 (one day) | Rialto Cinemas Elmwood |
| Sebastopol, CA | 11/4 (one day) | Rialto Cinemas Sebastopol |
| San Rafael, CA | 11/4 (one day) | Smith Rafael Film Center |
| San Francisco, CA | 11/5 (one day) | Roxie Theater |
| Portland, OR | 11/6 (one day) | Cinema 21 |
| Seattle, WA | 11/7 (one day) | Landmark Crest Cinema Center |
| Bellingham, WA | 11/8 (one day) | Pickford Film Center |
| Taos, NM | 11/10 – 11/13 (4 days) | Taos Center for the Arts |
| Santa Fe, NM | 11/10 | The Screen |
| Camas, WA | 11/11 & 11/14 (2 days) | Liberty Theatre |
| Anchorage, AK | 11/14 (one day) | Bear Tooth Theatrepub |
| New York, NY | 11/15 – 11/21 (week) | Village East Cinema |
| Philadelphia, PA | 11/18 (one day) | Landmark’s Ritz Five |
| Boulder, CO | 11/19 (one day) | Dairy Arts Center |
| San Diego, CA | 11/20 (one day) | Landmark Hillcrest |
| State College, PA | 11/20 (one day) | The State Theatre |
| Encinitas, CA | 11/21 (one day) | La Paloma Theater |
| Long Beach, CA | 11/23 & 11/24 (2 days) | Art Theatre of Long Beach |
| Miami Beach, FL | 11/24 (one day) | O Cinema |
| Sedona, AZ | 11/25 (one day) | Mary D. Fisher Theatre |
| South Burlington, VT | 12/3 (one day) | Palace 9 Cinema |
| Nevada City, CA | 12/15 (one day) | Nevada Theatre |
| Hopewell, NJ | 12/24 (one day) | Hopewell Theater |
Please note most of these screenings will feature post-film Q&As with the filmmakers and some will include some of the film’s subjects as well.
Click here to view the press kit
Click here for stills from the film
Click here to view the trailer
For more information on THE PORTAL, please visit www.entertheportal.com