Watts Up!
Watts Up!: Demaria's Journey from Watts to the Frontiers of Consciousness is a one-hour documentary, focusing on seventeen-year-old Demaria Perry, born and raised in the Nickerson Gardens Projects in Watts, East Los Angeles, California. Demaria is well known, loved and widely respected in his community and recognized for his vision and for being a harbinger of change in a harsh place, where many do not live to see their eighteenth birthday. Through his relationship with mentor Dedan Gills, Demaria is invited to attend the Quest for Global Healing Conference in Bali, Indonesia in December 2004. Thus begins the fulfillment of a vision that Demaria holds that he will some day be a leader and help transform his community.
While attending the conference in Bali, Demaria, who suffers from asthma, is able to breathe without hardship for the first time. Physically as well as metaphorically, Demaria's is a journey of health and healing. The film chronicles how Demaria comes to understand his connectedness to the global community and his development as a young leader making a difference in the world. For instance, to honor those who had shown him care, taught him, and communed with him, Demaria gathers them on stage into a circle of prayer to share fellowship and their common bond.
Watts Up! Demaria's Journey relates not only Demaria's transformation but how Demaria's conversations with many of the global conference participants changes them—inspiring them to deepen their own understanding. The film insightfully shares conversations between Demaria and many of the world's greatest minds—peace builders, scientists, poets, scholars, activists, artists, and world leaders—during the Quest for Global Healing Conference in Bali, as well as conversations conducted upon Demaria's return to the United States to deepen his own transformation. Such conversations include:
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu
- Apollo 14 astronaut and Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) founder Edgar Mitchell
- Lynne Twist, founder of the Hunger Project and co-founder of the Pachamama Alliance
- Celebrated international human rights advocate, musician, and Cambodian Killing Fields survivor, Arn Chorn Pond
In today's world with all too few documented examples of young people setting out to change the world for the better, Watts Up! Demaria's Journey is a story that requires telling. A unique film, this documentary has a lot to add to the conversation about global healing. During a time of war, violence and environmental devastation, people around the world are contemplating their roles in global healing. Watts Up! Demaria's Journey takes the viewer into a profound conversation and reveals the impact of one person's epiphany and how individual transformation has the ability to make us look at our own lives and desires for positive change.
Watts Up! Demaria's Journey is executive produced by writer, educator and television producer, Belvie Rooks, who also hosts the ConverZations That Matter channel on ShiftinAction.com. It was co-produced by Marjan Tehrani, and directed by Damani Baker.
This project has received support from James O'Dea and the Institute of Noetic Sciences; Danny Glover and Carrie Productions, Inc.; Lola Moonfrog and the Pond Foundation; Tommy E. Short Charitable Foundation; Institute for International Education; Hari Dillon and the Vanguard Public Foundation; Sam Mills; Judith Thompson; Carole Angermeir; Wilford Welch and Cross Cultural Journeys; Afeni Shakur, Gust Davis, Set Shakur, Gloria Cox and the Tupac Amaru Family Foundation; Marcia Jaffe and Jaffe Enterprises; Janet Hanna Kransberg; Sarisa Middleton; Judith Ming; Ann Andersson; Stephen Dinan; Molly Leach; Dedan Gills; Marla Greenway; Thelma Simmons.
Watts Up! homepage: www.wattsupjourney.com
