In the Hands of Heaven

Greenscreen, Music, Narrative, Poetic

Beings from another dimension are sent on a mission to take control of a simple street performer’s life- for his own benefit.

However, that’s just the story on the surface. This is not really meant to be a commercial film or even a purely straightforward story. Intentionally ambiguous, the goal is to toy with the ideas of free will and determinism.

It’s best enjoyed by watching it first for some excitement and just to absorb it as a whole. Then go back to understand better what’s going on and get at the bigger existential questions as they apply to our actual lives. How much of life is decided by individual choice, and how much if it is affected by external circumstances beyond our control? What if we could affect those circumstances albeit subtly, is it then still an expression of our will? Does belief in either an all-encompassing nature or an all-powerful God necessarily negate the possibility for free choice?

Ultimately, I think the answers to these questions can only be explored by a poetic sort of logic. And that’s what this video is truly- a poem, an allegory, a big thought bubble. It’s my hope that the viewer walks away entertained, but also intrigued to mediate on paradoxes like this and come to their own answers, frame the question in their own language and dreams- and have fun doing it ;)

Speaking of language… for non-Hebrew speakers, there are only two things you need to know:

1) The lyrics are- “Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except for fear of Heaven.” And then it switches to “Everything is in the hands of Heaven, including fear of Heaven”. That’s it. This comes from a Rabbi known as the Ishbitzer Rebbe who was famous for challenging the conventional notion of free will.

2) The Hebrew sign you see throughout is a single word which means “Theater”.

The Hebrew writing you see on the hand is not easily decipherable even to a native Hebrew speaker, so I leave that as a mystery here too :)

Enjoy!

Job: Writer, Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Actor