Hey folks, Harry here... Last year, in Father Geek's top films of the year list he put in the documentary NOBELITY. A film - literally - nobody has heard of really. Sadly, most people in this world don't attend great documentaries - some of us do, but most don't. The filmmaker in question on this film is a fella by the name of Turk Pipkin. I first met Turk when I was younger than my nephew. My parents sold arts & crafts on the 23rd Street Rennaissance Market across from the University of Texas - and Turk, on weekends, would come out and juggle and walk the slack line and balance things on his face and perform little feats of magic... all in clownface. Turk was my childhood clown and he taught me how to juggle two balls - never could get that third one to stay off the floor.
Well, last year he invited my father, my best friend Roland (behind the scenes champion on AICN) and myself to see an early rough assembly digital showing of his documentary - NOBELITY. The premise as he told me was that for the last several years - he's been tracking down the finest Nobel Laureates - some of the greatest minds in the world - and devoid of politics - putting to them the question regarding the greatest problems that the Earth faces in the next 50 years - and how we today can help to prevent them. There are no jabs at any political parties, it's just cold hard facts and breathtaking brilliance.
It didn't hit my top ten list for last year solely because it was a work in progress and Turk had more work to do upon it, but it was slight. The fact is - it is absolutely brilliant. Listening to these minds share their insight upon the problems facing everyone upon every bit of this planet and how to solve them is essentially just stunning. This is one of the absolute most important films of this year or any year. It premieres at SXSW this year, but has a theatrical release - here's what Turk says:
Our national release will be Earth Day weekend, April 20 - 22, and we hope to have as many as a thousand "Call to Action" screenings around the country in partnership with Artists for Amnesty International, interfaith church groups, and fifteen other big non-profits. If all goes well, a regular theatrical run will follow.
