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Top film awards go to students from Maharishi University of Management, Iowa, USA Dr Craig Pearson, Executive Vice President of Maharishi University of Management (M.U.M.) in Fairfield, Iowa, recently spoke on the Maharishi Global Family Chat and reported student achievements in the area of filmmaking. He began by noting the success of a documentary film made by M.U.M. student Amine Kouider, son of Dr Atmane Kouider, National Leader for the Global Country of World Peace in Algeria. His film, titled 'Malek Salah; majnun layla', won the Award of Excellence at the Iowa Motion Picture Association Awards, the highest honour in the college student category. The 13-minute documentary features contemporary artist Malek Salah, one of the most famous artists in Algeria and a practitioner of the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme, as he prepares for an art exhibition titled 'Majnun Layla'. The documentary was also featured as part of Mr Salah’s exhibit at the recent opening of the museum of Modern Art Museum of Algiers—the first such museum in the Arabic world. According to an article in the M.U.M. Review, ‘The documentary opens with a quote from Maharishi, and then Mr Salah explains that his extraordinary creativity began with his learning the Transcendental Meditation Technique in 1977. “Right away there was a transformation at the level of perception and in my way of being. . . . It opened the doors of creativity,” Mr Salah says in the English subtitles.’ The article said, ‘The documentary shows Mr Salah in his studio vigorously and effortlessly creating an amazing panoply of work and also shows him speaking about his work,’ which includes such media as painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography. The article also explained that, 'Mr Kouider, who is friends with Mr Salah, shot footage when he was visiting Algeria and used this and footage filmed by others. It took him two months to do the editing,' Mr Kouider is a business major and musician, with no former filmmaking 'Famed filmmaker David Lynch saw Mr Kouider's film and said to him, "I love that guy's work, I love that guy, I love what he says, and I love the way you showed it,"' the article said. According to one review, 'The film brings deep insight into the artist's process of creation and its link to consciousness, as well as the artist's relationship to his art and Algerian society.' You can view Mr Kouider's documentary at his website www.vimeo.com. Dr Pearson also mentioned that another M.U.M. student, Geoff Boothby, won a Silver Eddy Award at the recent Cedar Rapids Film Festival for his short film titled 'We Are Theo'. The film, which Boothby completed a year ago, has already won an Award of Excellence from the Iowa Motion Picture Association, and has been accepted to be shown at the Landlock Festival, an Iowa independent film association, this year. © Copyright 2008 Global Good News®
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