by Floyd Byars, Bernt Capra, and Fritjof Capra,
with Scientific Commentary by Fritjof Capra,
a Director’s Note by Bernt Capra,
and behind-the-scenes Photos
Brass Tacks Press, 2021
Available at www.brasstackspress.com
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Since its release in 1991, Mindwalk has become a cult classic, showing not only in theaters, but in college courses and business seminars… and it can be viewed for free on YouTube!
The film is based on The Turning Point (1982) by Fritjof Capra, the author of numerous science books, including the bestseller The Tao of Physics (1975). Fritjof’s younger brother Bernt Capra created the story for the film and directed it.
Bernt lives in Topanga with his daughter Michele, who was born during the making of Mindwalk. She is named after the film’s location, the tidal island of Mont-Saint-Michel in northern France. Bernt’s son Pablo Capra, who founded Brass Tacks Press in Lower Topanga in 2002, published the book.
Fritjof Capra wrote the book The Turning Point (1982), and his brother Bernt Capra created the story for the film and directed it.
The lead characters are a physicist, a politician, and a poet (played by Liv Ullmann, Sam Waterston, and John Heard) who enter into a philosophical discussion patterned after Galileo Galilei’s classic Dialogue on Two World Systems (1632). Social and environmental concerns are at the heart of the film, which proposes alternative solutions based on Systems Theory, along with insights into Quantum Mechanics and Particle Physics.
Bernt Capra describes the challenges of trying to bring this heady subject matter to the screen.
“I come from a design background and my next draft included a lot of stage design... but that didn’t hold up either, because at the core of our story lies the fact that the realities of modern physics can no longer be visualized by any human being. This is when I came up with the name ‘Mindwalk’... and the idea of having a lot of dialogue. I didn’t mind that at all, because a good dialogue is what I really enjoy most in movies. That’s when I get a true feeling of discovery: I, the invisible observer, stand right next to the people who share their very personal thoughts and feelings. That gives me the sensation of seeing a piece of life through somebody else’s eyes. Action sequences, even great ones, never turn me on like this....”
Upon Mindwalk’s release, Daily Variety magazine called it “An extraordinary piece of renegade filmmaking.” American Movie Classics said, “Mindwalk is a must for every thoughtful, intelligent, well-educated person.”
Bursting with poetic insights and ideas for how to change the world, Mindwalk still points to the future 30 years later. Fritjof Capra explains, “The implications of the profound change of paradigms from a mechanistic to a systemic and ecological worldview, which lies at the heart of Mindwalk, are even more relevant today.”
The book invites deeper study, and is enhanced with behind-the-scenes photos and scientific commentary by Fritjof Capra.
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| Fritjof Capra wrote the book The Turning Point (1982), and his brother Bernt Capra created the story for the film and directed it. Photo c/o the Capra family, November 1991. |
