Good afterlife documentaries are rare here in the States. When two are released in the same year, that’s big news!
This could be the year.
A couple of weeks ago I shared a rough cut of Dan Drasin’s landmark film, Calling Earth, which examines technical spirit communication with a focused, analytical eye… and which is close to completion.
Another film is scheduled for release soon… The Life After Death Project, by Paul Davids… and a short introductory trailer was posted this week.
I’ll include below some links to the two films and their producers, and to the new trailer. But first, let’s talk about this latest film by Paul Davids.
First I should warn you that the biggest surprise you’re likely to see in Paul’s trailer is the segment with me in it, which gets a little spooky… and I’ll explain in a moment what I think is happening with the gas-like emissions, shape-shifting and other distortions. Meanwhile….
Paul’s film seems to be geared (moreso than Dan’s film) to the general public and mainstream market, for various reasons:
- It revolves loosely around a central plot, which is the life and possible afterlife activities of one Forrest J Ackerman, an avid writer, editor, agent, and researcher of sci-fi literature and monster movies. Ackerman was an atheist during lifetime, but apparently changed his tune in the afterlife. Paul Davids presents evidence that Ackerman has been busy since his death in 2008, creating strange anomalies in our world. Many of the interviews in the film are used to support that idea, while lending some insight in the nature of the spirit worlds and how they interplay with our world. (The weird goings-on during my interview might be a case in point.)
- The film is drawn more toward spooky anomalies (troubled spirits, bumps in the night….) than to serious spiritual influences on our world (inspiration, meaningful communications, loving transworld connections, our ancient spiritual heritage and paradise destiny….), and this bias toward the dark side is typical of mainstream films. It stirs hormones and attracts an audience.
- The film includes a wide spectrum of interviewees—nurses, doctors, filmmakers, scientists, afterlife researchers, psychic mediums, NDE survivors, and others with strange stories to share.
- A token skeptic is included in the film in the name of “fair and balanced reporting,” a principle that originated in early journalism to promote objective reporting… but has evolved into something of a festering tumor in the body of modern journalism. The traditional mainstream media today (CBS, NBC, ABC, daily newspapers…) often insist on dissenting views in the reports they publish. A recent example of how objective journalism has evolved into a media sickness is global warming. Though it is accepted as reality by more than 90 percent of climate scientists, mainstream reports about global warming usually give equal voice to a few loud, vocal detractors, who are often funded by energy companies and far-right political groups that choose to be in denial of the historic dangers posed by global warming, usually for financial, religious, and political purposes. In the case of afterlife reporting, decades of serious research can be undermined, negated and neutralized in a few seconds of film footage by the shallow comments of one or two skeptics.
All that said, Paul Davids’s film is inventive, fascinating, and enjoyable, and I think it’s something the public could enjoy… and learn from.
So… here’s the 8-minute trailer to Paul’s film:
And here’s what might be happening during my segment, which begins about 6 minutes into the trailer. First, there’s an emanation of spiritual substance (ectoplasm) from my hands. Then, the spirit group present at the event tries hard to open the veil between our world and theirs in a way that will manifest on digital recording media… not an easy feat! The result is a melting-away of physical structure, especially my body. The strangest part is the last few frames, in which my face morphs into something kind of freaky… which (yeah, I suppose it’s possible) the spirit team could indeed have planned in honor of Mr Ackerman. Why me? If the above scenario is correct, then maybe the spirit group involved that day figures that I understand the spirit worlds (and the playful nature of some of our spirit friends) well enough to see the humor in this kind of thing without being ‘spooked.’ 
This, of course, is speculation that makes sense to me based on 20+ years of afterlife research, especially ITC.
Other people will certainly have other speculations about those anomalies (most notably, pixel distortion due to flawed recording media)… but I’d be leery of any views that are expressed with “certainty”… as certainty in cases like this often reflect an overcompensation for insecurity.
More about Paul Davids… and his film….
A Huffington Post article about Paul’s film…
More about Dan Drasin… and his film….
