You are on page 1of 8

PRESS MATERIALS

–––––––––––
Contact: press@greenfusefilms.com or 917.797.1229 (US)

US BROADCAST ON PBS’S INDEPENDENT LENS 2009/2010 SEASON, Dec 2009

Official Selection of ITVS’s COMMUNITY CINEMA National Film Series, Nov 2009

25+ US and foreign film festivals, including:

BEST DOCUMENTARY, AUDIENCE AWARD | Brooklyn International Film Festival


BEST DOCUMENTARY | Cinema Society of San Diego
BEST DOCUMENTARY | Indie Spirit Film Festival
AUDIENCE AWARD | New Hampshire Film Festival
AUDIENCE AWARD, GRAND PRIZE | Rhode Island International Film Festival
BEST FILM | SCINEMA International Film Festival
Official Selection, Hamptons International Film Festival
Official Selection, San Francisco DocFest
Official Selection, Maui Film Festival
PRODUCTION STILLS

EXPRESSIVE FRENCH MASTER ERIC JOISEL PAPER SCULPTURE THAT PLAYS WITH
HAS A MOMENT OF INSPIRATION MOVEMENT AND LIGHT

MODIGLIANI-LIKE FIGURES BY ARTIST PAUL JACKSON DECONSTRUCTS


VIETNAMESE FOLDER GIANG DINH THE MYTH OF REALISM IN ORIGAMI

REDEFINING BOUNDARIES WITH ABSTRACT “CRUMPLED” ORIGAMI


MATHEMATICAL ORIGAMI FROM JAPAN FROM FRANCE

PHYSICIST ROBERT LANG CHALLENGES THE YOUNG KIDS IN ISRAEL LEARN MATH
PHYSICS OF A FOLDED SQUARE TO ACHIEVE THROUGH ORIGAMI
A KIND OF HYPER-REALISM IN HIS WORK
INTRODUCTION
GREEN FUSE FILMS’ award-winning documentary, Between the Folds, chronicles the stories of 10
fine artists, theoretical mathematicians and intrepid scientists who have abandoned conventional
jobs and scoffed at hard-earned graduate degrees – all to forge lives as modern-day paperfolders.
As these offbeat and varied characters converge on the unusual medium of origami, they reinvent an
ancient art, and illustrate the innumerable ways that creativity and ingenuity come to bear in the age-
old effort to understand and honor the world around us.

With beautiful cinematography, animation and an original score featuring the Budapest Symphony
Orchestra, the film paints an arresting portrait of the mysterious artistic and scientific threads that fuel
these remarkable minds, bringing forth a rich mix of sensibilities towards art, abstraction, science,
creativity, and meaning.

Stars and Stripes, Opus 500, Robert Lang.

SYNOPSIS
THE FILM opens with three of the world's foremost paper artists - a former sculptor in France folding
caricatures in paper rivaling the figures of Daumier and Picasso; a hyper-realist who walked away
from a successful physics career to instead challenge the physics of a folded square; and an artisanal
papermaker who folds impressionistic creations from the very same medium he makes from scratch.

As the film progresses, however, the artists become less conventional, and the post-modern
concepts of abstraction, minimalism, deconstruction, process, and empiricism take root - mirroring
20th century art itself. Abstract artists emerge with a greater emphasis on process and concept,
rattling the fundamental roots of realism that have long dominated traditional paperfolding.
Eventually science emerges as another front in the exploration of folded paper - featuring advanced
mathematicians and a remarkable scientist from the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT and
winner of the MacArthur “Genius” Award for his computational origami research.
While debates arise on issues of technique, symbolism and purpose, the film ultimately culminates
with the notion that art and science are but two different interpretations of the very same world
around us. And the medium of paperfolding - a blank, uncut square - emerges as a resounding
metaphor for the creative potential and transformation of us all.

To Fly, Giang Dinh

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

At its heart, "Between The Folds" is a film about potential. The potential of an uncut paper square.
The potential of a wild scientific idea. The potential to see things differently.

For as long as I can remember, the driving impulses behind art, science, sculpture and math have
seemed deeply connected – all ways of interpreting our experiences in a language that's universal.
When I first learned about the curious phenomenon of fine artists, scientists and mathematicians
from all over the world working in the very same medium of origami, I knew there had to be
something special about it – that in the simplicity of a square must be hiding some untold potential
for creativity and new ideas.

All of us involved in this project have been incredibly energized by the challenge of making a
documentary film about ideas. And all along, we knew its central themes would speak to different
people in different ways, as any film about ideas should. Therefore, it was of great importance that its
themes be presented subtly and flexibly, so that every viewer can experience the film in ways that
are both universally resonant and personally meaningful.

For me, as a filmmaker, this has also been a project about transformation – not only of paper
squares, but of people and lives also. Most of those featured in the film left traditional lives to devote
themselves to the thing they love most – paperfolding: the magical process of transforming 2
dimensions into 3 dimensions. And their remarkable stories resonated so strongly with me upon
abandoning my own former work, that I was determined to bring their inspiring stories to light. And
so, my devotion to this film rests in the hope that others take inspiration from these incredible stories
of transformation, as well.
PRODUCTION NOTES & ANECDOTAL ACCOUNTS

A FEW WORDS ABOUT ORIGAMI TODAY

THIS is the only documentary that we know of about origami. In the past several years, however,
origami's popularity has increased by astonishing measures. The New York Times has featured it in
five lengthy articles in their magazine, Science Times and Arts sections, as have other mainstream
media outlets including The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, The LA Times, Wired, Smithsonian
Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, Guardian UK, ABC, CBS, WNYC and WBUR/NPR.

Dr. Erik Demaine, one of the film's primary subjects, recently won the MacArthur "Genius" Award for
his work in Computational Origami, and presently has artwork in the collection of the Museum of
Modern Art in NYC. He was also featured as one of Time Magazine's Top Science Innovators in
2005. Another one of the film’s subjects, Dr. Robert Lang, has been featured on numerous television
networks across the country and was also a featured speaker at the recent 2008 TED conference.
Museums worldwide have sponsored extensive origami exhibits, including the Mingei International
Museum in San Diego, Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY, the Peabody Essex Museum and
the international "Masters of Origami" exhibit in Salzburg, Austria which hosted over 53,000 visitors
in under three months.

Furthermore, without any formal marketing, the film's website has attracted over 80,000 hits and has
been "googled" in over 40 countries around the world. Its various trailers have been watched over
40,000 times on YouTube and other websites. Considering these trends, we feel confident that it's a
remarkable time for a documentary to reach the public about this underappreciated global art form,
its practitioners and the fascinating and simple principles that make it so unique.

Pangolin, Eric Joisel


MAKING THE SOUNDTRACK WITH PAPER

WHEN our composer Gil Talmi suggested using paper in our soundtrack, I was speechless. On one
level it almost seemed obvious - we're making a film about the incredible versatility of paper and its
ability to encourage and embolden creativity – a film about paper's qualities as both a technical and
totally freeing medium. But it also seemed like it would be so hard to pull off well!

But so it went . . . and the next time Gil and I met we were in a custom-fashioned sound booth
(courtesy of Gil), made just for making noise with paper – paper of all textures, thicknesses, grains
and timbres. We made it up as we went along – learning the sounds of paper by ripping, crumpling,
hitting, flicking, drumming – and, of course, folding.

It's been a thrill to be able to supplement the amazing original score that Gil is writing with paper
sounds. So many of the ideas about paper that the film aims to convey visually are now also being
communicated through sound. It's such a fitting score for our project, bringing bring origami to life
through music, finding inspiration in the complex and the simple, the restrained and the boundless –
like the art form itself.

FOLDING THROUGH THE EYES OF THEORETICAL SCIENTISTS AT MIT

ON a cold day in January 2007, our crew arrived in Boston to spend 2 days filming with Dr. Erik
Demaine at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Not yet 30 years old, Erik is a prodigy who has made remarkable advancements in the field of
Computational Origami - a field determined to understand what's possible with folding. Erik is MIT's
youngest-ever tenured professor, and in 2004 he won the MacArthur "Genius" Award for his origami
research. Ever since, he's been heavily featured in the press for using such a strange and creative
medium as origami for advanced theoretical and scientific research.

Erik introduced us to his father, Martin, who holds a research post at MIT. Martin homeschooled Erik
and taught Erik to be curious and look for answers in everything.

As we spoke, Martin likened science to sculpture, and explained that while folding paper he can
create something beautiful while also understanding the world a bit better.

We spent two days together, exploring the Lab and talking about paper and folding. I never
expected that amongst the cavernous and computer-filled halls of MIT would I meet such remarkably
creative people.
Cosmosphere, Miyuki Kawamura

FOLDING WITH ARAB AND JEWISH KIDS IN ISRAEL

NEVER did the truly democratic and versatile qualities of paper as a creative medium ever seem so
clear to me as they did during the week our crew spent in Israel with Miri Golan and Paul Jackson,
two of our film's primary subjects.

We began at Melawe'er, an all-girls Muslim school in the Old City of Jerusalem. Later we visited Gilo,
a hard-line coed Jewish school. The children at both schools took to the paper instantly: first as
something to explore, but also as a tool to learn basic math - part of the teaching program created
by Miri Golan, and briefly presented in the film. Not long after, we visited Ein Kerem, a location
where both Muslim and Jewish children met to fold paper together.

The creative activity created new bonds between the children - children who were otherwise most
likely taught that they had nothing to share with each other. Here, however, the folding transcended
language and religion, and they laughed and helped each other, demonstrating with their hands,
smiles and body language how to do the folds.

As I watched, the power of this abundant and simple medium struck me. Paper is everywhere. And
people – regardless of age, race, religion, wealth, or skill – can access it. Everyone can create
something unique out of it – whether an object or an experience.
PROJECT PERSONNEL
PRODUCTION & EDITORIAL TEAM BOARD OF CREATIVE ADVISORS

DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, WRITER – VANESSA GOULD DAVID ATWOOD: PBS, WGBH, other television - Senior
Vanessa Gould studied astrophysics and architecture at Producer, Director, and Editor
Columbia University and has worked in the arts and non- David Atwood produced and directed shows and series
profit sectors, as a freelance book researcher and for PBS and WGBH in Boston for 18 years including
computer programmer, at WNYC Radio and the Harvard- “Antiques Roadshow” and introductions to “Masterpiece
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. She is also a pianist Theatre” with Alistair Cooke and has edited numerous
and painter. Several of her films related to this project PBS “Frontline” documentaries, including one which won
have been installed at museums across US and Europe. an Emmy Award. David currently produces and directs
independent video.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER – SALLY ROSENTHAL
Sally Rosenthal is a veteran creative force in emerging DAVID GELBER: “60 Minutes”, “ABC World News with
technologies, and an avid collector of pop-up and Peter Jennings” - Executive Producer
movable books. Like Between the Folds, her life and Emmy award-winning producer David Gelber is currently
career are a blend of art, math, design, science, music, Executive Producer of Ed Bradley’s segments on CBS’s
and learning in unconventional ways. She serves on the “60 Minutes”. Prior to joining “60 Minutes”, David was
board of Quest to Learn school in New York City. Executive Producer of ABC’s “Peter Jennings
Reporting” . He has won numerous awards including
COMPOSER – GIL TALMI several Emmy’s and the DuPont Award.
Gil Talmi is a world-renowned Emmy nominated
composer whose music can be heard in a variety of films, KENN RABIN: PBS, WNET, WGBH, Fulcrum Media,
documentaries, television programs, TV commercials, documentary & feature – Writer/Researcher/Archivist
theatre and dance productions. Gil's most recent work Two-time Emmy nominee Kenn Rabin has worked as a
includes music for the award winning documentary writer and archivist for over 20 years on credits including:
feature "New Year Baby" (Broken English Prods/ITVS), “MILK”, “GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK” , “T h e
the epic "Galapagos" (BBC/National Geographic), "The Good German”, “Daughter from Danang”, “Fight in the
Mummy Who Would Be King" (Nova/PBS), "TED: The Fields”, “Eyes on the Prize”, “The Indian Runner”,
Future We Will Create" (Independent) and the Bravo TV “Cadillac Desert” and “Bill Moyers’ Journal”, and WGBH
series "TV Revolutions”. Gil studied composition at projects including “Frontline” and “The American
UCLA with Ian Krouse and the late David Raksin and his Experience” . Kenn is currently nominated for FOCAL
clients have included HBO, PBS, Bravo, and Paramount. 2006 International Award for Best Use of Archival
He received a "National News & Documentary Emmy Footage for his work on “GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD
Award" nomination for his work on "CBS Evening News LUCK”.
with Dan Rather".
CHRISTIANNA HANNUM: Swim Pictures - Documentary
ANIMATOR – TODD SINES, + SCALE | NEW YORK Filmmaker, “Keeping Sound”
Todd Sines is the director of +SCALE, an award-winning Documentary filmmaker Christianna Hannum formed
multidisciplinary studio working in design, film, and Swim Pictures in 1996 and directed “Keeping Sound”, a
video. His work for Miramax, Tri-Star Pictures, Palm documentary exploring landscape and her childhood
Pictures, Apple, Adobe, and HP has awarded him roots in Chester County, Pennsylvania and the life of her
recognition from One Show Interactive, Communicating grandmother.
Arts Interactive & CSCA's Creative Best.
J. WARD REGAN, Ph.D.: New York University, Pratt
CINEMATOGRAPHY – MELISSA DONOVAN Institute of Design - Cultural Historian
Melissa Donovan is an award-winning cinematographer J. Ward Regan teaches history and philosophy at New
based in New York City. Most recently, she was a York University and Pratt Institute of Design and is an
director of photography on “An Unreasonable Man” and expert in cultural history and a regular speaker for the
“Finding Billy” (PBS). Donovan has shot several national New York Council on the Humanities.
commercials for Kmart, Stoneyfield Farms Yogurt, Herbal
Essence, Oxygen Channel, Cartoon Network, as well as
operating on spots for Verizon, Panasonic, Mountain
Dew and other sponsors.

You might also like