Events Archives - Susan von Seggern

Emotional Intelligence Ventures Announces Their Qualification of a Regulation A+ Public Stock Offering

04/06/2021 by Susan von Seggern

New York, NY (March 31, 2021) – Emotional Intelligence Ventures (Ei.Ventures or Ei), Inc, the leader in all-natural psychedelic medicine development, today announced that it has been qualified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list a $50 million exempt public stock offering using the Regulation A+ Tier 2 framework. This is only the second public stock offering in the psychedelic medicine space in the U.S. and the first for a company developing products only from all-natural botanical material. A Regulation A+ offering allows for retail investors to invest in pre-public and private companies. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to accelerate the development and distribution of Ei’s medicinal and functional mushroom product lines.

Ei.Ventures is launching this offering as the public needs real access to novel therapies that can reverse, heal, and treat chronic mental health disorders. Ei is the only company poised to bring botanical psychedelic therapies, functional plant medicines, and integrative technology to the market in an acceptable time frame of under 2 years. Due to Covid, lockdowns, and the economic impact of the pandemic, the state of Americans’ mental health has declined significantly over the past year. Ei.Ventures’ solutions need to come to the market as soon as possible and Ei wants to give the retail-investing public a chance to participate in the upside potential of this exciting new field of healthcare.

“While we have raised money with our friends & family and private placement raises, we are so committed to the unaccredited investor, that we’ve engaged with the SEC for a Reg A+,” said David Nikzad, founder and CEO of Ei.Ventures. “As I’ve been fortunate to invest early in numerous companies like Airbnb, Betterment, and Vidyard, and three equity crowdfunding platforms (WeFunder, RealCrowd, Republic), I’m really passionate about democratizing investment opportunities so any investor can reap the rewards, and take all of the risks of early investment in game-changing companies.”

“We believe that this offering may be the first time an all-natural psychedelic medicine project received approval to access the public U.S. markets and we are excited to continue to pursue our capital markets pathway in the U.S. and Canada” Nikzad continued. “This can potentially set a precedent for others in the industry.”

About Ei.Ventures
Empowering mental wellness through psychoactive compounds and technology, Ei.Ventures’ has the largest psychedelic compound library in the world. Our mission is to provide real access to these sacred medicines and compounds to the billion people world-wide suffering from persistent mental health disorders.

Connect with Ei.Ventures: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Legend: AN OFFERING STATEMENT REGARDING THIS OFFERING HAS BEEN FILED WITH THE SEC. THE SEC HAS QUALIFIED THAT OFFERING STATEMENT, WHICH ONLY MEANS THAT THE COMPANY MAY MAKE SALES OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED BY THE OFFERING STATEMENT. IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE SEC HAS APPROVED, PASSED UPON THE MERITS OR PASSED UPON THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE INFORMATION IN THE OFFERING STATEMENT. THE OFFERING CIRCULAR THAT IS PART OF THAT OFFERING STATEMENT IS AT: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1823182/000110465921038430/a20-30556_1partiiandiii.htm YOU SHOULD READ THE OFFERING CIRCULAR BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT.

Forward Looking Statements: Certain information set forth in this presentation, together with any supplements and any other information that may be furnished to prospective investors by the Company in connection therewith, contains “forward-looking statements” and “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable United States securities legislation (referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements which include but are not limited to statements related to activities, events or developments that Ei.Ventures expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, statements related to the Company’s business strategy objectives and goals, and management’s assessment of future plans and operations which are based on current internal expectations, estimates, projections ,assumptions and beliefs, which may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by the use of words such as “may”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “anticipate”, ‘believe”, expect”, “intend”, “potential”, “estimate”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “plans”, “planned”, “forecasts”, “goals” and similar expressions or the negatives thereof. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of factors and assumptions made by management and considered reasonable at the time such information is provided, and forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Counterculture Poet Melinda Kweskin’s Introspections in Flight is Out Now, Six Years After Her Death, on Noted Poetry Imprint Zeitgeist Press

03/11/2021 by Susan von Seggern

Los Angeles, CA – March 5, 2021 – In the months before noted former Jungle and Breaks DJ and electronic music activist Kat Goldfarb’s mom Melinda Kweskin passed in 2015 Kat compiled her life’s poetry work into a manuscript. After several years of compiling the poems along with photos and tributes, that book arrives in stores today. Kweskin was a poet starting in the late 60s until her death, while some of her work was published while she was alive, much of it wasn’t, until now, in the resulting book Introspections in Flight.

Kat was able to arrange for the book to be published by noted San Francisco Bay Area based utopian literary publisher Zeitgeist Press and it’s due for release today, March 5.

Zeitgeist is part of monthly poetry readings the first Saturday of each month (now online on Zoom) hosted by the non-profit Poetry Promise, Inc. and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Zeitgeist publisher and the first Poet Laureate of Clark County, Nevada Bruce Isaacson will read a selection and host other featured readers including bestselling author Dick Russell, and Melinda Kweskin’s family, giving life to her poems from Introspections in Flight in their first ever public reading tomorrow, March 6. To join the reading, please go here at 2pm PST on Saturday March 6.

Melinda Kweskin was known in artistic circles as noted folk singer Jim Kweskin’s wife. The Jim Kweskin Jug Band released eight albums on Vanguard in the 1960’s and launched the career of noted singer Maria Muldaur. He and Melinda had a daughter in the early 70s, and he has continued to record since.
Melinda started writing poetry in earnest in 1967 when some of her poems were featured in a Boston underground newspaper, Avatar. She began to take her writing very seriously and would type her poems on a classic typewriter. She continued both poetry and prose wiring as a contributor to Avatar, including a series featuring her correspondence with soldiers in Vietnam.

As she got older, she also began writing letters and kept up correspondence with a tremendous amount of people, and kept writing poetry, archived in both print and digitally.

She had a career as an accountant for many large companies around the country up until she had to have emergency quintuple bypass surgery in her early 50s that began a time of health challenges that continued for the rest of her life. She soon moved to Los Angeles with her daughters, and Kat’s twin sister Deirdre became her main caretaker. Her condition declined over the years and in the last years of her life, she was mostly home bound.

During this time, she was constantly writing, and she was able to bring her visions into her work, enabling a unique understanding of the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual realm of those around her. Her selected poetry works in Introspections in Flight seeks to share this understanding with the larger world.
The poems in the book are interspersed with remembrances from some of Melinda’s many friends as well as from her daughters. One friend, Jessie Benton (daughter of noted American painter Thomas Hart Benton) who didn’t contribute but loved the book noted, “I think it is the loveliest tribute to a mother that has ever existed, if perhaps the first.” (referring to some mother tributes that are more about the children working through their feelings rather than a celebration).

Introspections in Flight is available at Zeitgeist Press at https://www.zeitgeist-press.com/index.php/product/introspections-in-flight/, Amazon, and other online booksellers today, March 5. To join the public (Zoom) reading please go here at 2pm PST on Saturday March 6.

Chicago Photographer Noritaka Minami’s SGN Series Opens Tomorrow at Motor Row District’s Artists of Color Focused FLXST Contemporary

02/10/2021 by Susan von Seggern

Chicago, Illinois – January 8, 2020 – Born in Japan, Noritaka Minami is a Chicago-based photographer currently exhibiting his unique and thoughtful SGN photo series, an investigation of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the current state of the steel lattice towers first erected there by the French as utility poles during the early twentieth century to facilitate the development of the Indochinese Union. Despite the passage of time and the tumultuous history experienced in this region since their construction, these lattice towers have endured and remained a consistent presence in the built environment of the city. SGN will open on January 9 with a reception from 5:30 – 8 pm, and runs through February 14 at FLXST Contemporary, 2251 S. Michigan Ave. Suite 220, Chicago, IL 60616. Due to COVID 19 precautions, reception attendance and viewing is by appointment only and can be booked here or on the TOCK app.

The major social, political, and economic developments within Vietnamese society in recent decades have also led to these structures becoming a truly extraordinary visual sight. The number of cables now supported by the lattice towers far exceeds the original capacity of their design and has transformed each one into a unique, sculpture-like object.

The overwhelming quantity of cables that have accumulated on the lattice towers is the product of the rapid socio-economic transformations that Vietnam has experienced since reforms were initiated in 1986 with Đổi Mới (Renovation). The photographs in SGN examine these overlooked remnants of French colonialism in the contemporary landscape of Ho Chi Minh City as structures that represent the historical trajectory of the region as it evolved from one of the centers of the French colonial empire in Southeast Asia to the economic engine of an independent and developing nation attempting to merge socialism with global capitalism.

At this moment, these lattice towers and the innumerable cables they support are also starting to be removed from sight as part of the modernization of the city’s landscape in the twenty-first century. This recent tide of urban redevelopment and the decision to remove what is viewed as “blight” has only increased Minami’s sense of urgency to document these structures before they permanently disappear. With Vietnamese society in the midst of major changes, this photography series meditates on the past and considers the imminent future of this landscape through the presence and disappearance of these lattice towers.

Noritaka Minami is a photographer based in Chicago. He received a B.A. in Art Practice from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004 and an M.F.A. in Studio Art from the University of California, Irvine in 2011. In 2015, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Photography at Loyola University Chicago. He has also taught photography at Harvard University, Wellesley College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, UC Berkeley, and UC Irvine.

He is a recipient of grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Santo Foundation, and Center for Cultural Innovation. In 2015, he published a monograph titled 1972 – Nakagin Capsule Tower (Kehrer Verlag), which received the 2015 Architectural Book Award from the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt, Germany. Solo exhibitions of his works have been held at Kana Kawanishi Gallery (Tokyo), SFO Museum (San Francisco), USC Roski School of Art and Design, UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design, and UC Merced Art Gallery. He has also shown in group exhibitions at Aperture (New York), Somerset House (London), Photo Basel (Basel), Las Cienegas Projects (Los Angeles), New Wight Gallery (Los Angeles), and Kearney Street Workshop (San Francisco). Minami’s works are held in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, and Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago.

Chicago’s FLXST Contemporary Opens Artists of Color Group Show Against Impossibility on February 13

02/10/2021 by Susan von Seggern

Chicago, Illinois – January 19, 2021 – FLXST Contemporary a young but noted fine arts and photography gallery and an arts incubator in Chicago’s historic and transitioning Motor Row District will open their first 2021 group show Against Impossibility on February 13 with a reception at 5:30 pm. The show runs through March 28 and exclusively features five artists of color, three of whom are international artists representing China – Weiyang Gao, Kuwait – Latifa Alajlan, France and Mexico – Alexis de Chaunac; two of whom are African Americans from the South, a black man – Ajmal “Mas Man” Millar and a cis-gendered black woman Siena Smith. FLXST Contemporary is located at 2251 S. Michigan Ave. Suite 220, Chicago, IL 60616. Due to COVID 19 precautions, reception attendance and viewing is by appointment only and can be booked here or on the TOCK app.

Against Impossibility brings together these five emerging contemporary artists who work across the mediums of sculpture, fibers and textiles, mixed-media, and painting who, despite their precarious positions as MFA students in their final year of studies, continue to produce work influenced by the tumult happening around them. FLXST Contemporary intentionally curated MFA students at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to showcase how the current moment has affected this new wave of contemporary artists in Chicago working under extreme constraints because of the pandemic, new modes of learning art, new spaces to produce art outside of the academic setting, and working against impossible conditions.

As young, emerging contemporary creators, these artists had to adjust to the conditions around them and have had to ask difficult and often existential questions about their art practice and their identities as artists. Against Impossibility is about the perseverance of these artists and their work offers possible answers to the question of why art matters during these moments of crisis.
FLXST Contemporary’s gallery director and founder Jan Christian Bernabe is a Filipinx American queer person of color based in Chicago. Jan has given an extensive curatorial statement about the show:

“We ended 2020 with signs of change in the United States, a new elected President, and two promising vaccines to battle the COVID pandemic. Change seemed to be on the horizon, a transformation in American culture that many believed could move us away from the hateful rhetoric against people of color, the LGBTQ community, and immigrants unabashedly condoned by President Trump, his congressional allies, and his supporters. The breakneck speed of the development and approval of two COVID-19 vaccines in December captured the global cooperation of doctors and scientists to finally combat a virus that by the end of the year had killed over 300,000 people in the US alone. The last two months of 2020 looked as though the new year would bring back a semblance of normalcy in the US and around the world.

With the odds stacked against FLXST Contemporary’s survival in 2020, we rolled into the new year working harder than ever developing an art program for 2021 that aligned with our mission to support and exhibit the very best of contemporary art by artists of color, LGBTQ artists, and immigrant artists. Last year showed us that art matters tremendously during times of crisis. Our art programming last year offered Chicagoans a means to cope with all that was happening in the world and ways to think about and to make meaning of moments of racial and social unrest that was happening all around us through the artwork exhibited in the gallery. The insurrection that occurred during the first week of January that we witnessed at the U.S. Capitol fomented by the conservative media, Republican legislators, and the President of the United States proves to us that we continue to live in a state of precarity—a moment of impossibility that as a gallery and as artists, we continue to work against.”

Retreat Celebrating Love, Connection, and The Divine Feminine Energy Taking Place in Desert Hot Springs, May 14-18, 2020

03/13/2020 by Susan von Seggern

Desert Hot Springs, CA – Shakti Fest, the annual yoga and spiritual music festival celebrating the divine feminine energy of the universe will take place in a more intimate “Immersion” format this year. The retreat will take place May 14-18th at Miracle Springs Resort and Spa, 10625 Palm Dr, Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240.

Shakti Immersion is a 3 to 5-day conscious yoga and music retreat, condensing everything attendees have come to love from the festival into an intimate and immersive celebration. The event will be a gathering of like minds and hearts, uniting in consciousness. As always Shakti will feature a wide variety of yoga classes, spiritual workshops, and music, now in a gorgeous resort spa setting, and even closer to the Coachella Valley and Los Angeles!

With this potent design, Shakti Immersion will feature popular yoga teachers from Shakti Fest – Shiva Rea, Saul David Raye, Govind Das and Radha, Hemalayaa, Johanna Beekman, Mas Vidal, Dharma Shakti, Sita Devi, and desert favorite Kristin Olson.

A more intimate setting for spiritual music will benefit both players and listeners with artists including Krishna Das, Amritakripa, DTO Music, Kirtaniyas, Krishna’s Kirtan, Larisa Stowe & Shakti Tribe, Michael Hathaway, and Rob and Melissa.

Similarly, in this year of perfect vision, the workshops bring spirituality into focus with Michael Brian Baker, Dawn Cartwright, Zoe Kors, Dr. Manoj Chalam, Dharma Devi, Josie Keys, Mirabai Devi, Greg Friedman, and Syamarani. Additionally, pre- and post- intensives with Michael Brian Baker, Saul David Raye, and Dawn Cartwright will take place on May 14 and 18.

Nestled in the foothills of Desert Hot Springs, the resort overlooks beautiful Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. Beneath clear blue skies, one can calm the mind, enjoy spectacular landscapes, soak everyday cares away in eight natural hot mineral pools and add on spa treatments to complement this amazing weekend. Discovered centuries ago by the Cahuilla Indians, these springs are known worldwide for their amazing therapeutic benefits. Just miles away from the Joshua Tree National Park, and 12 miles away from Palm Springs International Airport, the 4 star rated Miracle Springs Resort & Spa rooms are fully equipped with free wi-fi, flatscreen TVs, outdoor space, microwaves, and refrigerators. In addition to the regular resort amenities, Shakti Immersion will also feature a curated selection of 30 of Shakti’s most popular clothing, craft, yoga gear, jewelry, and wellness vendors for attendees’ shopping pleasure.

As always, Shakti is an amazing event for families celebrating the divine feminine energy of their own mothers, sisters, and daughters, and people of all ages coming together to connect on a truly divine level.

As festival producer Bella Silberfein notes, “We are so excited to announce this gathering of like-minds and family. A weekend of pure love, ecstatic joy, meditation, sacred music, and all of the offerings we have come to love from our festivals, condensed into its richest form. Namaste.”

Contact in the Desert UFO Conference Brings Leading Experts in Science and the Future Together For Amazing Weekend of Discovery

03/13/2020 by Susan von Seggern

Will 2020 Be a Year of Perfect UFO Sightings?

Indian Wells, CA – March 5, 2020 – On the heels of NASA tracking an unidentified flying object (UFO) for over three hours in their live feed on February 21, comes the 8th Annual Contact in the Desert event, an epic adventure weekend into the science of UFOs, communication with non-human intelligence, ancient astronauts, human origins, crop circles, military sightings, government disclosure, artificial intelligence, downed craft technology, the evolution of consciousness, forbidden archaeology, cosmic teachings, contact experiences, interplanetary living and much more, will take place May 29 to June 1, now in its third year at the Indian Wells Resort & Spa.

The theme for 2020 is “Science and the Future,” and the event will host the most comprehensive group of 70 experts, scientists, researchers and military insiders from throughout the world including Coast2Coast radio host George Noory; the esteemed Honorable Paul Hellyer, former Canadian Minister of Defense (1963-67), noted former British Government Ministry of Defense researcher Nick Pope, UFO openness icon John Lear, plus Dr. Steven Greer, Linda Moulton-Howe, Mary Rodwell, Richard Dolan, Daniel Sheehan, Dr. Michael Salla, Rizwan Virk, Deep Prasad and many, many more!

Contact in the Desert is more than just a conference. This epic weekend event is a gateway through which attendees can have up-close access to the largest group of the most fascinating speakers assembled in the UFO field, from the FBI, NASA, military, and government officials, to ancient alien researchers and scientists, as well as archeologists, astronomers, and cosmologists, all under one roof.

For early attendee arrivals, the event starts off on Thursday May 28 with a tour to explore the beauty of noted Joshua Tree area UFO sighting locations Giant Rock and Crystal Hill. That evening is an Attendees Meet & Greet to get to know each other before the conference officially begins. This year Contact in the Desert includes over 67 lectures, 56 workshops, 8 panels, 3 “Conversations with,” 12 intensives, 3 CE5 fieldwork experiences, and live podcast tapings, as well as a Speakers’ Meet & Greet Event, the always sold out George Noory Luncheon, the CITD Speakers’ Award Dinner, after which guests will enjoy a table round robin with many of the speakers, a Cosmic Cafe Gathering, Cinema Under the Stars and the popular Night Vision Goggle Experience to view the galaxy and any visiting UFOs. Truly at Contact in the Desert, there is something for everyone!

The speakers and subjects this year will be astounding! Some of the event highlights include:

Lucy Pringle, an authority on crop circles, relating the latest images to an Earth intelligence as the cause of this phenomena.
Neurobiologist, computational neurobiologist, chemist, and pharmacologist Dr. Andrew Gallimore will share his cutting-edge research in the use of DMT to communicate with non-human intelligence.
MIT computer scientist Rizwan Virk will share his Simulation Hypothesis, with evidence that our physical reality is part of a matrix – similar to the film The Matrix.
A celebration the 40th Anniversary of the Rendlesham Forest incident joined by eyewitness John Burroughs, alongside Lt. Col. Charles Halt and Nick Pope.
Introduction to the eyewitnesses of the USS Nimitz Event who are engaged with the UAP Expedition Group researching the continual sightings of UFO’s along the coast of California.
Uncovering the mysteries of the pyramids and evidence for an archive under the Sphinx, with Dr. Manu Seyfzadeh, and guarded secrets of sacred sites with Brad Olson, Maria Wheatley, Freddy Silva and others.
Exploring the physics of paranormal phenomena with Dr. Michael Dennin.
Fulbright professor Dr. Bruce Solheim will talk about the worldwide-growth in alien abductions and its relationship to PTSD.
Ancient Aliens host Jason Martell will be discussing aliens and artificial intelligence as a mode for communication
Brooks Agnew, John Desouza, Dr. Diana Pasulka, David Adair, Dr. Michael Salla, and others will talk about space based manufacturing, back-engineering, the newly founded Space Force, Helium Three, and asteroid mining as the future of energy on Earth.
Deep Prasad, a 23-year-old Silicon Valley prodigy, considered the next Einstein, will discuss our future integration with technologically advanced non-human species.
Russell Targ will share the History of Remote Viewing and its techniques alongside Stephan Schwartz, Simeon Hein and Paul Smith.

Close to 100 people attending the annual Contact in the Desert event in 2016 witnessed several UFOs at close range. Luckily, a documentary film crew captured the incident. Reports and video of the sighting were covered in the Daily Express, Coast to Coast AM, and other outlets. Also in 2016, in Indian Wells, the conference’ new home, dozens of bright star-like orbs moving together rapidly across the sky, were observed on July 23. Similar occurrences were documented in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Will there be a sighting in Indian Wells for the event’s 8th year?

5th CoinGeek Conference heads to London’s Old Billingsgate, February 20-21

12/10/2019 by Susan von Seggern

Major event advances Bitcoin SV blockchain

London – December 10, 2019 – Having taken place in Hong Kong, Toronto and Seoul, the CoinGeek band wagon rolls back into London for the second time as they highlight to businesses, developers, media and investors how the fastest-ever growing blockchain, Bitcoin SV (BSV), can provide real life solutions, right now.

Bitcoin SV (BSV) application development has exploded globally, including across Europe, to take advantage of BSV’s greater data capacity and very low-fee, micropayments capabilities. Growing usage has led BSV’s average block sizes and average transaction per block count to regularly surpass BTC. BSV is also the only project that adheres to the original design of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. In short, BSV is Bitcoin.

The last CoinGeek Conference (Seoul, October 2019) saw the announcement about launch of Korean mobile music content service BUSKON built on the BSV blockchain by ONEStore, the second largest mobile app store in South Korea. At CoinGeek Seoul, U.S. gaming technology Bitboss unveiled its hardware device and system that changes how gamblers use and store casino credits, using BSV or BSV tokens with digital wallets on player’s mobile phones. Additional highlights from the Korea event were Pixel Wallet’s plans for a new identity management system built on the BSV blockchain, and presentation about sCrypt – a high-level smart contract language for BSV.

A full roster of speakers for London will be announced shortly but will include Bitcoin creator and Chief Scientist at blockchain technology company nChain, Dr Craig S. Wright, and the Founding President of Bitcoin Association, Jimmy Nguyen. Tickets are on sale now and venue details are available here.

Experiential Meditation Film The Portal, Currently Screening Across the US and Australia to Enthusiastic Response, Launches The Portal App Today

11/18/2019 by Susan von Seggern

Sydney, Australia/New York City – The Portal, a new experiential film that demonstrates the effectiveness of mindful meditation by delving into six powerful personal stories of how the practice brought each of them out of crisis, announced their app launch at their New York City premiere last Friday November 15 at the Village East Cinema (the film’s run there is through November 21). The app is now available globally through the Apple App Store.

The app is designed to facilitate the audience’s ongoing journey into meditation and includes guided meditations, yoga sequences, podcasts, inspirational insights, and behind-the-scenes footage.

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 what is already an evocative score. These landscapes and textures become the sound and visual-scape for the app environment too.

“I believe real-time change is possible, and that through the poignant personal stories and ideas unfolding and weaving together in an immersive way we’ve got a portal to our greatest potential,” said the film’s director, Jacqui Fifer. “This project has been a catalyst for many of us involved and I’m seeing it jump-start a lot of other people too. In hindsight, I’ve spent my life preparing for it and watching many facets of myself 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. I’d say it’s indicative of the times we’re living in, it’s the age of transformation, so to have tools that inspire us and help us move beyond the scars of our past and really come alive to what it is we are here to do is essential right now.”

The film focuses on six deeply moving stories from a diversity of viewpoints – from military veterans to scientists, humanitarians, high-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
Making excellent use of these powerful mediums–film, book… and now app–THE PORTAL opens hearts and minds to an exciting vision for humanity transformed. Said producer and noted meditation leader Tom 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 and technology can play a big role in uplifting us into a brighter future. This is why we created the app to help center people and guide them back to their inner space.”

In the spirit of the cinematic experience, the ENTER THE PORTAL App weaves a captivating and vibrant tapestry of technology, love, human potential, brain-hacking, stillness, and inner peace. Unique to the App experience is the addition of Movement to enhance what is an experiential and genre-defining approach to personal change and to accompany users on the next phase of their 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.”

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ABOUT TOM CRONIN
Tom Cronin a former finance expert with a longstanding successful track record in business, as well as meditation, is the founder of The Stillness Project, a global movement to inspire one billion people to sit in stillness, daily. He is passionate about reducing stress and chaos in people’s lives. Tom’s ongoing work in transformational leadership and cultivating inner peace through meditation takes him around the world presenting keynote talks in such countries as Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, and the USA; hosting retreats; mentoring clients across the globe; teaching in schools; writing books; hosting mindfulness courses in the corporate sector; and creating THE PORTAL film-book experience, all as part of his commitment to the current planetary shift.

ABOUT JACQUI FIFER
Jacqui Fifer has had a dynamic career in the film industry line producing such films as BETTER WATCH OUT (2016), The OSIRIS CHILD (2016) and INFINI (2015) as well as producing the multi-award-winning dramatic feature CONCEALED (2017). She also co-directed the 2012 and 2013 “Dones en Art” (Women and Film) festivals in Spain. An advocate of human capacity development, Jacqui is thrilled to turn her hand towards a subject that is close to her heart with THE PORTAL experience.

ABOUT SUPERHUMAN INTERNATIONAL (SHI)
SHI is pushing the boundaries with this unique and transformational hybrid feature film experience, The Portal. SHI is an Australian company registered in the state of New South Wales. Tom Cronin is the company director. The project qualifies with the Australian Documentary Foundation for tax concessions.

MANGURAMA BRINGS THE PORTAL TO THEATRES ACROSS NORTH AMERICA

11/07/2019 by Susan von Seggern

Calm Your Mind, Open Your Heart, Transform The World
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.

“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.

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

Bitcoin Association President Jimmy Nguyen to Keynote the IADC’s International Corporate Counsel College in Switzerland October 24

10/09/2019 by Susan von Seggern

Rüschlikon, Switzerland – September 25, 2019 – Noted Bitcoin and blockchain expert Jimmy Nguyen, Founding President of the Bitcoin Association, a business organization that seeks to return the Bitcoin and blockchain field to its roots in the Satoshi Vision of the original Bitcoin via Bitcoin SV (BSV), will speak at the International Association of Defense Counsel’s International Corporate Counsel College, an event near Zurich, a global center for banking, finance and cryptocurrency, that brings together in-house counsel and their law firm counterparts for two days of education and discussion on the latest legal issues affecting global companies.

Nguyen will give the event’s keynote speech on the evening of October 24. In addition, on October 25, he will be part of the “Smart Contracts: Everything You Wanted to Know, but Never Dared to Ask” panel that will explore various applications of blockchain and will explain how it is relevant for corporations and their legal counsel. Other panellists include moderator: Ianika Tzankova, of Tzankova Legal Consulting and Tilburg University, in Tilburg, Netherlands; and presenters: Falco Kreis, CMS Hasche Sigle, in Munich, Germany; and Gabriela Lippe-Holst, Co-Founder and Director, Acqupart Holding AG, in Zug, Switzerland. For a taste of Jimmy’s dynamic speaking style please view this video.

Nguyen notes that “Blockchain and smart contracts are game-changing for the legal profession, as well as businesses in all industries. I’m excited to bring what I’ve learned in my two decades of legal experience as a partner at major U.S. law firms, along with my current work in blockchain and cryptocurrency, to this gathering of top corporate lawyers in Europe. This event also gives me the opportunity to further explain how BSV is creating a regulation-friendly ecosystem, unlike so many other cryptocurrency camps, a message which will be supported by major enterprises and their corporate lawyers.

Jimmy Nguyen is one of the world’s leading Bitcoin advocates and a renowned and sought-after public orator, who speaks about Bitcoin and blockchain technology at major events across the world and is also a frequent commentator for online, televised and print media. Jimmy is a global advocate for Bitcoin SV (BSV), the rebirth of the original Bitcoin. Emerging from the contentious November 2018 hard fork of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network, BSV now stands as its own chain and coin – ready to be the world’s new money and global public blockchain for enterprises. Jimmy has served as CEO of nChain Group, the worldwide leader in advisory, research, and development of blockchain technologies, and currently chairs its Strategic Advisory Board.

Jimmy is Founding President of the Bitcoin Association, the first-ever organization dedicated to advance the business of Bitcoin. The association backs Bitcoin SV, and brings together developers, merchants, exchanges, miners and other Bitcoin network participants. Jimmy heads the industry group as it provides global support for Bitcoin SV, as the key to long-term financial success for all participants in the inter-related Bitcoin ecosystem.

About Bitcoin Association:
The Bitcoin Association is the leading global organization for Bitcoin business. It brings together merchants, exchanges, application developers, enterprises, miners and others in the Bitcoin ecosystem to advance the business of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin Association supports Bitcoin SV (BSV) as the original Bitcoin, with a stable protocol and scaling roadmap to become the world’s new money and global public blockchain for enterprise.