Love, God and Brain Damage

This year’s ten-day Imagine Science Film Festival kicks off October 15th with an intriguing lineup of over 50 films. More than a week’s worth of indie films about geeky subjects like wormholes and artificial hearts is a dream come true for the likes of me and my nerdy compatriots. To get a personal perspective on the film, we asked Joel Garber, writer and director of The Strange Rebirth of Andre Weil (buy tickets here) a few questions. Described as “A boy meets girl… Boy gets shot in the head… Boy turns to God short film,” TSROAW tackles the complex intersection of neurology, spirituality and identity, but through the lens of romantic comedy.

Your short film, The Strange Rebirth of Andre Weil, was accepted into quite a few film festivals around the country. Since the film’s themes are so closely tied to science, does the Imagine Science Film Festival feel like an especially natural fit?

Absolutely. David Penn, a friend of mine whose music is used in the film, made me aware of the fest after he’d attended last year. I’m honored to be a part of it this year and TSROAW definitely seems like a good match. A number of the narrative devices in the film are rooted in real science.

What sparked your interest in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, the affliction at the center of the film’s plot?

Well the sort of motivating force behind the movie is my great fear that we’re all one traumatic brain injury away from becoming different people, assuming different identities of one sort or another. In doing research on the variety of afflictions that people suffer as a result of head trauma TLE stood out as especially cinematic because it can be tied into questions of spirituality, and I’ve always loved films that deal with issues of faith and religion. Now having said that, it’s important to remember that my film only scratches the surface as far as tackling these ideas. It’s really more of a romantic comedy. And it’s only 16 minutes long!

This year has been coined “ Darwin Year,” since it’s the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. While natural selection is now the standard rallying cry of atheists and non-believers, many of Darwin’s contemporaries found his theory compatible with their religious views. TSROAW explores the idea that religious fervor and brain chemistry could be linked—but do you see that as a refutation of the existence of a divine creator?

No, and it’s a very good question. I’m loathe to point to the ideas in my film as some sort of silver bullet that disproves religion or religious experience, as someone like Richard Dawkins might. My position is that of an agnostic and I think it’s also the position of the film, as you’ll see. The neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran who’s become pretty well known over the last few years believes that the relationship between the temporal lobes and spirituality could be thought of as a sort of antenna into the mysteries of the universe. I like that idea.

Have you seen any of the other films being featured in this year’s Imagine Science festival? Which are you particularly looking forward to?

I haven’t seen any of the films but In Search of Memory, a documentary about the neuroscientist Eric Kandel looks interesting. There’s also a short about CERN, the large hadron collider in Europe, the most expensive science experiment in history, which I’d like to see.

Q5: While there are a handful of science-based films that have achieved broad-based success (Frankenstein, A Beautiful Mind, Awakenings), the genre doesn’t quite have the box office profile of say, slasher films or period dramas. What are some of your under-appreciated favorites? Did any of them influence TSROAW?

Well I think this festival takes pains to draw a distinction between “science films” and “science fiction films.” Of course, sci-fi has been a huge box office draw. I’m a big fan of the Back to the Future series, but that’s not exactly under appreciated eh? Maybe The Man Who Fell to Earth? Alphaville? Contact? Those aren’t really either. And they’re all “sci-fi,” more then “science.” Jeez man, I think you’ve stumped me! I mean there are hundreds of great films that incorporate science that you wouldn’t really think of categorizing firstly as “science films,” right? How about Herzog’s The White Diamond?

(Watch a trailer for The Strange Rebirth of Andre Weil here.)