A NEW DOCUMENTARY FROM DIRECTORS LAURA DUNN & JEF SEWELL

ALL ILLUSIONS MUST BE BROKEN

“For those who love documentaries filled with provocative ideas that demand engagement, Illusions packs a walloping punch in the face of complacency and acceptance of a global social order that remains plagued with horrific, ceaseless environmental destruction as well as unrelenting warfare and grinding degradation of our own species.”

“[All Illusions Must Be Broken is] a new documentary about Becker's life and thought. I was thrilled to watch it and sort of rediscover Becker's ideas, which always struck me as timeless in the way great works of philosophy are. The movie, like Becker's book, gets into your head and stays there. And that, as much as anything, speaks to the enduring power of the message.”

- Sean Illing, The Gray Area

Produced & Directed by
Laura Dunn & Jef Sewell

Executive Producers
Terrence Malick, Robert Redford
Nick Offerman, Nelda Buckman

Producer
Owsley Brown

Co-Producer
Marie Becker

Editor
Laura Dunn

Cinematography/Design
Jef Sewell

Composer
Katy Jarzebowski

Sound
Pete Horner & Skywalker Sound

ABOUT THE FILM

All Illusions Must Be Broken is a cinematic contemporization of the last interview made with American cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker whose book The Denial of Death won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction in 1974. Becker’s multi-disciplinary exploration of human nature and his own personal testimony challenge us to move beyond our fears and see the beauty that surrounds our fragile lives.

Using Becker’s brilliantly conceived framework, the film examines unexpected consequences that stem from denaturing children’s formative years. Increasingly, cultural & virtual environments are replacing our actual, natural environment. In the process, as Becker’s ideas help to show, we only further our tendencies toward self-deception.

Part film essay, part verité study, the narrative interleaves Becker’s profound insights, contemporary interviews on the re-patterning power of screens, and scenes from a boyhood ages birth to 13.

CREDITS

“Children are asking us, ‘Who am I? ’

The kid wants to know what he’s doing on this planet. And we don’t know, so we lie to him, and we tell him how he came to be here, which is not really how he came to be, since we don’t know.

And the one dangerous thing that we do with that – however well-intentioned we are when we do it – is we eclipse the dimension of mystery.

We make the child think

there’s no mystery in the world.”

— Ernest Becker