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Soul-Films, Inc. is a non-profit organization established in New York City. Its mission is to create artistic documentaries that tackle today’s global topics by empowering people to speak up about what could have been and what could be – while keeping at bay the greatest menace to us all: complacency.
Today, the board of directors for Soul-Films, Inc. consist of three members, the founder, Remi Vaughn, and two advisors – Dr. Gary A. Freitas, psychologist and artist, and Andrew Theisen, game developer.
My name is Isa Remi Vaughn, but I go by Remi. Very early on, family and friends called me Izzy REM because I always had my head in the clouds, dreaming up of new worlds. By some twist of irony, my last name, Perrève, means “father who dreams” in French. So, somewhere, back in time, one of my ancestors must have been a dreamer, or maybe it was the whole tribe. Regardless, I am blessed to have inherited these “dreamer” genes.
As a visual storyteller, I am passionate about capturing the words and images of our world, but it wasn’t enough for me. I’ve always felt that “something” was missing; that “something” which is below the surface of our words and images, not visible to the naked eye. In today’s cynical world, you might accuse me of creating fake news or a fake reality. But it is not my intent. Although we may hear the same words and see the same images, we all interpret this reality through our own unique socio-economic, political, and cultural filters.
So, my goal, as a documentary filmmaker, is to unlock these filters, make them visible to all, and unleash all the “what could have been” and “what could be” – in other words, all of these what-if realities that people often dare not say out loud in real life. Thanks to my “dreamer” genes, I can visualize these what-if realities, empowering people to see the “what could have been” and “what could be” – and then take action to change their own reality.
I know that I haven’t always succeeded in representing these what-if realities in my projects. However, over time, I’ve learned what has worked and not worked. Critics may not always appreciate my creative choices, stating that my what-if approach belongs more in the world of fiction.
I do not agree. Why can’t documentaries be a means to express our unique hidden filters? I find this goal very exciting and rewarding. True, it can be frustrating at times, as it’s not always easy (or cost effective) to include these what-if realities in a documentary. But when I strike the right balance, I know I can create a documentary that’s unlike any other.
If you’re interested in financing or commissioning a documentary working with me and my team, I am available to meet and, of course, I can provide you with my formal resume (I promise it’s the real thing, and not the “what could have been” resume).
Gary A. Freitas currently resides in Phoenix, AZ. Prior to this he was a life-long child of the San Francisco Bay Area. He has earned a B.A. in political science and Ph.D. in psychology. Gary has a son who is currently working towards a doctorate in computer science.
Gary’s art represents 15 years of effort devoted to developing an experimental art medium utilizing computer and electronic components, resulting in over 100+ sculptures. He notes that art arrived late in his life and without provenance, but he has known since childhood that he wanted to be an artist, adding, “I do not know where the impulse comes from or why it has this particular expression. The drive and motivation to be an artist have never been revealed to me.” Regarding his art, he states, “I believe it is an effort to communicate – not unlike the very large Atacama radio antenna array on the desert plateau of northern Chile – seeking out faint signals of life across the vast expanse of our universe.” But with the caveat, “that in all the confusion of this metaphor, I am not sure if I am the radio telescope or the faint signal it is seeking.” He subscribes to author Norman Mailer’s description of art and the Dionysian – the rebellious imperative of the self to simply be.”
His art has been exhibited in museums of contemporary art across the United States (People’s Biennial by the Independent Curators International in 2012); Art Basil Miami (2017); NY Art Expo (2018). They have also been featured at the Disney Sottil and Wyland galleries in FL. He is author to multiple books and professional works unrelated to his art.
I believe in the arts too much credence is given to subjectivity. I believe this is both a cause and a symptom of a larger and ongoing cultural shift in modernity to destroy meaning, leaving humans more depressed, anxious, and with no desire to build even basic infrastructure for our future. Yes, much is subjective, but it does not destroy the objective. The job of a meteorologist is not to tell you how to feel about the weather, but merely provide you with information. How you react to the weather report is your own. It doesn’t change if it’s sunny or raining. Similarly, an artist is not meant to tell you how to feel, but provide a foundation for which you can build connections. This act of pattern matching is guided by the artwork but never explicitly dictated. An artwork guides your thoughts but never tells you what they should be. This allows you to bring this heightened sense of searching outside of the artwork itself. Individuals share these connections with each other and go on to shape an ever evolving shared meaning. Thus our intersubjective spaces are also heightened so we can all better understand ourselves and our world.
I have much work to do to achieve some semblance of this. Art is inherently interdisciplinary, fundamentally connected to all endeavors of human study. It is also a craft that requires relentless training and practice. It is with this in mind that I focus a lot of energy on learning math, computer engineering, music, and composition from the greats. It is also imperative to look beyond these bounds and explore orthogonal subjects, even if only in my periphery, such as physics and philosophy.
As an artist, I want to build these doorways to meaning without defining what exists when you peer in from the threshold. I want to use interactive virtual spaces to put you in a witnessing mode, constantly tearing through sculpted layers of virtual systems. The act of curiosity and exploration is required by the user where no language tells you how these systems work, and certainly nothing tells you what they mean. I merely present the tools, with the hope you can bring them with you wherever you may go.
Andrew currently lives in Copenhagen, Denmark where he is a Technical Artist at Unity Technologies. Andrew has a BFA in DXARTS (Digital and Experimental Arts) from the University of Washington.
Below is one of Andrew’s favorite quotes, which could apply to any art form:
“Music is not a language. Every musical piece is like a complex rock formed with ridges and designs engraved within and without, that can be interpreted in a thousand different ways without a single one being the best or the most true. By virtue of this multiple exegesis, music inspires all sorts of fantastic imaginings, like a crystal catalyst.”
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