Local filmmaker Brigham Maher has posted his collection of interviews about Rocketdyne on youtube.
Will you do me a favor? Please watch a clip or two and leave some feedback here for him. Remember, you don't need to use your real name or email address and you don't need to register.
Here is the intro:
If you go to his youtube account you can see the rest of the film.
The expansion of religious and political freedom has expanded greatly in the last few decades. I hope that it continues to extend in my lifetime.I haven't watched the whole film yet and I am not endorsing its views. But I am supporting his right to free expression.There are many ideas Brigham goes over in this film that in the old USSR would have had him sent to the gulag.
Speaking of Gulag's an author that changed my worldview just passed away. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn author of the The Gulag Archipelago. His life work and views of the West give all of us something to be uncomfortable with and something to be in awe of at the same time. May he not be forgotten.
The facts he made me confront forced me to understand what I already knew. We should doubt all tyrants and be watchful when they start us down a path we already know. At the same time he reminds us to have faith in God and not imperfect human creations.
Honor his memory by reading through his biography.
Great effort, Brigham! You'll be called unpatriotic and a liar and worse but there needs to be a template for how to expose and address matters of great public concern, like the SSFL...and you're helping to create that model.
Keep it up!
Ok Im lost. It looks like footage of a vacation trip around Southern California with odd music for a background. The man speaking, wasnt interviewed, just rambled about his worksite, looking at some type of map? none of us knows what he was looking at. what is the point here? you call this a film? There is no direction, no intent, no purpose...not even a documentry, where did he go to school?
Nuclear power and its mistakes around this country and world are well documented. Whats being done about it?
make a film that give direction and purpose and I'll watch it next time, this appears as a childish attempt for attention.
Ok Im lost. It looks like footage of a vacation trip around Southern California with odd music for a background. The man speaking, wasnt interviewed, just rambled about his worksite, looking at some type of map? none of us knows what he was looking at. what is the point here? you call this a film? There is no direction, no intent, no purpose...not even a documentry, where did he go to school?
Nuclear power and its mistakes around this country and world are well documented. Whats being done about it?
make a film that give direction and purpose and I'll watch it next time, this appears as a childish attempt for attention.
Hello Paula,
You obviously just don't get my film and thats ok, I knew many wouldn't really like it much. Although You clearly haven't given the film a chance, yes the beginning is slow, yes it does throw some people off, I did'nt create the film for Personal attention, so lets get hat part straight!I created it to spread awareness! The film is not made for distribution it is made for the internet. If you don't like my work than thats great, that's your perspective,thats your problem, but you have to be truly ignorant to tear down the truth. Watch more of the film before your so quick to judge. It purposely doesn't have Narration and is not your typical documentary, but make no mistake it is a documentary. You can keep tearing down my character if thats what you like doing to others, it just proves to everyone that your an ignorant person.
Brigham,
There are always critics and they are hard to ignore.
But you know your film wasn't made to be in Regal Theaters but instead was made to capture the interviews of important people related to this project.
What served as your inspiration to get into film making? What do you plan to do next?
Yes, there are Brian, yet everyone has a voice, if people want to speak poorly of my Character than that is and always will be their own problem. I have gone out of my way to document and create this film, so that frankly people through out the world will understand that Simi Valley is infact a dangerous place to live.I can understand if thats going to bother local residents, but why should we keep quiet about the dangers in Simi ? That just doesn't make any logical sense to do that.
I have been shocked ever since I heard about the Nuclear Meltdowns, and the severe Chemical contamination that has been left behind at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory and now is spread through out Simi Valley, and most likely a good portion of Southern California because it was never cleaned up properly. Some of the Radiation most likely can never be cleaned up.
The first time I heard about all of it was only two years ago. Just two short years ago! I have been living in Simi Valley my entire life.
What is wrong with that picture ?
It wasn't and still isn't a known fact by most of the local public,and by most of the world, and whats truly sad is the fact that so many people are dying of Cancer because of it. I always use to wonder why my Friends and Family members were dying of Cancer. I have lost my Grand Mother, Uncle, Sister, my two Friends, all to Cancers that could have very well been linked to Rocketdyne. I drank the water from the tap for most of my life and I know in my heart that the City of Simi Valley is responsible for not spreading awareness about it, for just letting the problem go unresolved and basicly sweeping the truth under the carpet so to speak.
Setting out to make this film was not an easy task. It took alot of hard work and dedication, and a whole lot of tolerance and even now the tolerance with the non stop ignorance that I get from local people that are in denial about the deadly situation that has been going on in Simi Valley, and will continue to go on and on as long as people have a poor attitude about it. I will admit that it is tough to face the truth especially when it's your home town. It's sad to know about all of it, but thats not going to fix any of the problems.
People can choose the easy way out and tear down my film or they can watch the whole thing and gain some Knowledge.
I had a really tough time making this film and even more of a complex time cutting it together, so that the information does make sense, and it does! It all fits together as to the points I was trying to make. I am allowing my audience to see everything the way that I saw it, without adding my perspective. I will admit that it's not your typical type of film, it doesn't have any Narration for several reasons. I knew I would throw some people off with doing that. It's not particularly a film that I am proud of as far as the craft of film making goes, but it truly isn't about wether it's a great film or not, It's about spreading awareness! It's beyond sad, how some people just can't seem to understand that.
To anwser your question, I was first inspired to make films, back in early 2002. I've always watched lots of different films and I started to appreciate the craft of film making, so I thought I'd give it a try and started to learn everything about the craft from reading books to watching interviews of different film makers, from watching behind the scenes, ect.
A few years later I invested in the AG-DVX100 which was the first Digital Video Motion picture camera that was ever made at a Pro-consumer level. From there I have made more than a few films, I have been learning the craft on my own and have not yet made it to the film festivals yet. I always did want to go to film school yet it just didn't work out for me, I happen to know and believe that you don't have to go to School to learn your passion. Film making is a Passion that no one can take from me or anyone else. It's a mentality that you either obtain or you don't. Another reason I wanted to become a film maker is that I feel it is one of the greatest forms of Art in the world. It is a combination of so many different arts all mixed into one and I am a non-professional Artist. I draw, paint and sculpt. I have for years. I very much appreciate Abstract art,which you can probably tell from watching some of my short films that I have made. I am happy I made Corrupted Nature, even if it's misunderstood by some, It's not about how the film was made or put together, it's all about the vital information in the film that the public needs to know about !
One more note.
G.s. Why should I be torn down for documenting the TRUTH ? It's all from real meetings and real interviews with real people. I don't understand how I could be looked at as a liar. That my friend just doesn't make any sense. But understand your just looking out.
It's not a big spectacular film, but none the less a film with the information the public should have already heard !!!!
And for the comment left from Paula about my film looking like a family vacation, all I can say is , yeah right, whatever you say pal. You obviously don't understand film making or the production value that went into making this film. And you have the nerve to say it looks like family vacation footage? It's just goes to show the ignorance you obtain.
I have watched every clip of Brigham's video. I saw much of the footage uncut before it was posted. It was a laborous project that Brigham struggled with because he wanted so much to share his view of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory with the world.
I have been to many of those meetings. Being at them is actually painful - the emotion that the community has - the anger about why their government representatives do not warn them, protect them.
Brigham is trying to show in his first clip that the world appears normal to the viewer. You can't tell by looking about that there is contamination in the Southland - that a lot of this contamination began almost 60 years ago near LAX. The streets of Simi seem safe and calm - it is one of the safest cities in the United States. But is it really?
What are the risks to the community today from that lab up on the hill above Brandeis, above the Knolls, above Runkle?
People have been asking those questions for more than 20 years. And by Brigham making this film, those concerns can be shared with the world - not just Simi Valley. I hope that our elected officials will view these clips, and that many more of them will attend our endless meetings.