in itself, Tomi, is extremely helpful!
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
* * * * *
1
“Monogamy?”
This feature length documentary will be a fast paced, funny, at times satirical, but never unscientific exploration of monogamy and its many alternatives. A journey through history, the animal world, different cultures; through past and present, public and personal, failed and successful experiments in freer arrangements between lovers. The filmmakers won’t shy away from exploring the far corners of the Himalayas, from interviewing experts, sexperts and other professionals, as well as from listening in on the opinions of the average Joe & Jane on the street. But there is no reason to do all the legwork ourselves, a wide range of filmed material already exists: From wildlife footage, to excerpts of documentaries, to Hollywood outtakes, it will all flow together into a colorful collage about this controversial and sexy subject.
In Freedom,
Frank Moore
* * * * *
1
“Monogamy?”
This feature length documentary will be a fast paced, funny, at times satirical, but never unscientific exploration of monogamy and its many alternatives. A journey through history, the animal world, different cultures; through past and present, public and personal, failed and successful experiments in freer arrangements between lovers. The filmmakers won’t shy away from exploring the far corners of the Himalayas, from interviewing experts, sexperts and other professionals, as well as from listening in on the opinions of the average Joe & Jane on the street. But there is no reason to do all the legwork ourselves, a wide range of filmed material already exists: From wildlife footage, to excerpts of documentaries, to Hollywood outtakes, it will all flow together into a colorful collage about this controversial and sexy subject.
Synopsis
A lovely chapel, the people in the pews touched by the event, the couple standing in front of the priest in awe. He is about to say his conclusive (and all exclusive) words: Till death do you part… Are they serious, are they really gonna give their word on this? Yes… we are in love… so it’s only natural that “we do”… Natural? Looking at it from a purely statistical point, there is a high probability this marriage will end with affairs and/or visits to prostitutes, and/or in divorce. Maybe because it doesn’t take into account the nature of the beast? More precisely our natural predisposition. Maybe monogamous marriage is an unnatural construct, for most destined to fail— and in the course making many a couple disillusioned and miserable? At least looking at the animal world, this conclusion doesn’t seem too farfetched. We’re one of the very few mammals that tries to stay monogamous.
As far back as we can research, humans always have been polygamous. It was only with the Christians and their new testament that this peculiar concept of one woman, one man, and “forever”, started to be propagated on a broader scale. At first most weren’t convinced—from Muslims to Mormons, many cultures remain polygamous to date.
2
The only little problem is, that while these cultures take care of the needs and desires of their men, women really get the short end of the stick. There are actually exceptions, even in traditional cultures. For example in the Himalayas where it is common for a woman to have several husbands. Either way around, a system that leaves out the needs of half its members is a frustrating solution. Some groups took “liberté, égalité, fraternité” to heart and started experimenting with free love that respected both sexes. As early as the 1840s the Oneida Community flourished in upper New York. Well, that it ended with the founder, John Humphrey Noyes, claiming to have fathered 300 children in a single year only shows how hard it is to break out of the patriarchal mold of our society… Finally ‘68 came around and accompanied by songs like David Crosby’s “Triad” the lid was blown off for good. Since then many groups have been and still are experimenting with polygamous relations. But there are also many personal “experiments” of famous people like Warren Buffet, Tilda Swinton, etc., and not so famous ones, like Marion and her two men that reside on three floors of a Paris flat. Living on the middle floor Marion brings up two kids, one from each “husband”. These “unsung heroes” have quietly gone about their personal constellations, happily living in ways that society doesn’t sanction. But back to our couple that’s still eagerly awaiting to get married. Are you still sure this is the right, the “natural” thing to do? They hesitate… Don’t worry, maybe we can bring this to a happy end after all. There are actually animals that get married for life, like the penguins. They don’t care all that much if it’s between opposing sexes. Look at this couple of male penguins…. and their egg… a stone. Actually, once you give them a real egg, as they did in 2004 at the Central Park Zoo, they brood it till the baby cracks the hard shell, then bring it up very fatherly. Or look at the swans, they too are married for life. While in the past we believed that that also meant that they only have sex with their partner, DNA tests now show that the eggs they are hatching are actually fertilized by various fathers… Maybe that’s a concept our newlyweds could adopt? Till death do us part we shall be together… and love many others too. Maybe this way the unnatural construct of monogamy could finally be brought to sing its swansong?!
3
Behind this project are: Tomi Streiff, director of the romantic road moo-vie “The Wedding Cow” that won 20 awards while participating in over 50 international film festivals on 5 continents. Line producer & director of the feature length documentary “Guevote” and DP on many documentaries, lastly on Sacha Baron Cohen/Larry Charles’s pseudodoc “Brüno”. Jane Hallisey, researcher, writer and interviewer on many non-fiction pieces like “Choosing Sides: Vietnam”, “Lifetime Portraits of Esther & Amelia Earhart” & “Warrior Tradition: The Samurai” for print & TV.
A lovely chapel, the people in the pews touched by the event, the couple standing in front of the priest in awe. He is about to say his conclusive (and all exclusive) words: Till death do you part… Are they serious, are they really gonna give their word on this? Yes… we are in love… so it’s only natural that “we do”… Natural? Looking at it from a purely statistical point, there is a high probability this marriage will end with affairs and/or visits to prostitutes, and/or in divorce. Maybe because it doesn’t take into account the nature of the beast? More precisely our natural predisposition. Maybe monogamous marriage is an unnatural construct, for most destined to fail— and in the course making many a couple disillusioned and miserable? At least looking at the animal world, this conclusion doesn’t seem too farfetched. We’re one of the very few mammals that tries to stay monogamous.
As far back as we can research, humans always have been polygamous. It was only with the Christians and their new testament that this peculiar concept of one woman, one man, and “forever”, started to be propagated on a broader scale. At first most weren’t convinced—from Muslims to Mormons, many cultures remain polygamous to date.
2
The only little problem is, that while these cultures take care of the needs and desires of their men, women really get the short end of the stick. There are actually exceptions, even in traditional cultures. For example in the Himalayas where it is common for a woman to have several husbands. Either way around, a system that leaves out the needs of half its members is a frustrating solution. Some groups took “liberté, égalité, fraternité” to heart and started experimenting with free love that respected both sexes. As early as the 1840s the Oneida Community flourished in upper New York. Well, that it ended with the founder, John Humphrey Noyes, claiming to have fathered 300 children in a single year only shows how hard it is to break out of the patriarchal mold of our society… Finally ‘68 came around and accompanied by songs like David Crosby’s “Triad” the lid was blown off for good. Since then many groups have been and still are experimenting with polygamous relations. But there are also many personal “experiments” of famous people like Warren Buffet, Tilda Swinton, etc., and not so famous ones, like Marion and her two men that reside on three floors of a Paris flat. Living on the middle floor Marion brings up two kids, one from each “husband”. These “unsung heroes” have quietly gone about their personal constellations, happily living in ways that society doesn’t sanction. But back to our couple that’s still eagerly awaiting to get married. Are you still sure this is the right, the “natural” thing to do? They hesitate… Don’t worry, maybe we can bring this to a happy end after all. There are actually animals that get married for life, like the penguins. They don’t care all that much if it’s between opposing sexes. Look at this couple of male penguins…. and their egg… a stone. Actually, once you give them a real egg, as they did in 2004 at the Central Park Zoo, they brood it till the baby cracks the hard shell, then bring it up very fatherly. Or look at the swans, they too are married for life. While in the past we believed that that also meant that they only have sex with their partner, DNA tests now show that the eggs they are hatching are actually fertilized by various fathers… Maybe that’s a concept our newlyweds could adopt? Till death do us part we shall be together… and love many others too. Maybe this way the unnatural construct of monogamy could finally be brought to sing its swansong?!
3
Behind this project are: Tomi Streiff, director of the romantic road moo-vie “The Wedding Cow” that won 20 awards while participating in over 50 international film festivals on 5 continents. Line producer & director of the feature length documentary “Guevote” and DP on many documentaries, lastly on Sacha Baron Cohen/Larry Charles’s pseudodoc “Brüno”. Jane Hallisey, researcher, writer and interviewer on many non-fiction pieces like “Choosing Sides: Vietnam”, “Lifetime Portraits of Esther & Amelia Earhart” & “Warrior Tradition: The Samurai” for print & TV.
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