Marc Israel
Encyclopedia
Marc Israel is a filmmaker and musician. He started his career as a traveling "one-man band", but later changed his focus to making documentaries and films about his life.
and primitive country music. Beginning in 1994, Israel lived and performed with Allen Ginsberg
on and off until the poet's death. His first feature-length film, How I Spent My Summer Vacation (1997), documented one of his cross-country hitchhikes as well as the effects and aftershocks of Ginsberg's passing on his close friends. It featured conversations with futurist Geoff Manaugh, poet Anne Waldman
, and a host of strangers in their cars.
In 1999, due to mounting stage fright, Israel ceased performing music, but continued creating films of various lengths, genres, and styles, often focusing on his own emotional troubles, presented with candor and humor. In 2000, he completed the low-budget comic/horror fiction film Frankenstein's Little Monster, a re-visioning of Mary Shelley
's novel focusing on the monster's frenzied sexual desires and eventual spiritual awakening. It included Beat Generation
poet Peter Orlovsky
in the role of Hindu holyman Rick Shaw. The documentary La Hamburguesa Magica (2003) presents a plagued and near-fatal Mexico misadventure undertaken by Israel and then-girlfriend Elyse Allen. By film's end they have separated and Marc is in a mental hospital. Nearer My God to Thee (2005), then follows a heartbroken and fragile Israel to Brazil, where he is seeking the help of famed "miracle man" João de Deus (medium)
(John of God). It also explores the previous year's difficulties leading to this journey, including tendinitis, an invasion of ants into his house, an accidental wound to his penis, the aforementioned heartbreak, and a newly-failed relationship. A Balancing Act (2007), which won "Best Comedy Documentary" at both the Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival and Montezuma International Film Festival, begins by tracking Israel as he presents Nearer My God to Thee at festivals, but departs from his trademark self-surveillance style as he learns about a mysterious event in Vietnam where contestants balance various objects on motorbikes. His curiosity leads him first to the Museum of Ephemerata in Texas where the curators restore him to health with their life-affirming attitudes and endless supply of Kombucha
tea, then to Iowa City where he develops a strong kinship with an eccentric university scholar who lectures on the balancing contest, and eventually to Southeast Asia, hitchhiking through Thailand, Cambodia, and finally Vietnam, where the contest takes place.
After A Balancing Act, Marc Israel has created a series of short films including Encounters With Sarah(commissioned by Found Magazine
founder Davy Rothbart
), a music video about his cat Barkley, a documentary about folk music legend Michael Hurley, and "an epic sea odyssey" filmed entirely in his bathtub using rubber duckies.
While Israel's personal documentaries have been lauded for their emotional honesty, some viewers have questioned the legitimacy of Israel's claims to mental illness. "Supposedly suffering from an undiagnosable condition....the more he dwells on himself, the more convinced he is (and the less convinced the viewer is) of his mysterious handicaps", writes one film critic. Alternately, there has been some speculation about whether the Museum of Ephemerata's "unique" Kombucha brew really had the positive mental health effects Israel claimed. "I no longer wanted to kill myself or anyone else. It caused a 'rebirth of wonder' within my whole molecular structure", says Israel in A Balancing Act. Mr. Israel started his own Kombucha brand, Phenomenal World Kombucha (named after his production company Phenomenal World Cinema), but halted operations due to an overwhelming increase of supply and demand inspired by word-of-mouth, association with his films, and endorsements by Michael Hurley.
Frankenstein's Little Monster (2000)
The Motion-Pixeled Museum of Moving Magic (2001)
CONOR (2002)
La Hamburguesa Magica (2003)
Nearer My God to Thee (2006)
A Balancing Act (2007)
Barkley The Cat [Music Video] (2008)
Encounters with Sarah: A Short Film about Love (2009)
Snock 'N Roll: Adventures With Michael Hurley (2009)
Trouble The Water: A Short Epic Sea Odyssey (2009)
Life and Work
Marc Israel was born and raised in Cinnaminson, New Jersey. A graduate of the New School for Social Research, Israel spent the remainder of his twenties hitchhiking the world and performing as a one-man-band. His often-improvised songs were of a humorous and sometimes bawdy nature, based on early American musical forms such as Delta BluesDelta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
and primitive country music. Beginning in 1994, Israel lived and performed with Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
on and off until the poet's death. His first feature-length film, How I Spent My Summer Vacation (1997), documented one of his cross-country hitchhikes as well as the effects and aftershocks of Ginsberg's passing on his close friends. It featured conversations with futurist Geoff Manaugh, poet Anne Waldman
Anne Waldman
Anne Waldman is an American poet.Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the “Outrider” experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activist....
, and a host of strangers in their cars.
In 1999, due to mounting stage fright, Israel ceased performing music, but continued creating films of various lengths, genres, and styles, often focusing on his own emotional troubles, presented with candor and humor. In 2000, he completed the low-budget comic/horror fiction film Frankenstein's Little Monster, a re-visioning of Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
's novel focusing on the monster's frenzied sexual desires and eventual spiritual awakening. It included Beat Generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
poet Peter Orlovsky
Peter Orlovsky
Peter Anton Orlovsky was an American poet.-Life and work:Orlovsky was born in the Lower East Side of New York City, the son of Katherine and Oleg Orlovsky, a Russian immigrant. He was raised in poverty and was forced to drop out of Newtown High School in his senior year so he could support his...
in the role of Hindu holyman Rick Shaw. The documentary La Hamburguesa Magica (2003) presents a plagued and near-fatal Mexico misadventure undertaken by Israel and then-girlfriend Elyse Allen. By film's end they have separated and Marc is in a mental hospital. Nearer My God to Thee (2005), then follows a heartbroken and fragile Israel to Brazil, where he is seeking the help of famed "miracle man" João de Deus (medium)
João de Deus (medium)
João Teixeira de Faria , known also as João de Deus , is a self-described medium and "psychic surgeon" from Brazil. He is based in Abadiânia, a small town in the state of Goiás, southwest of Brasília.-Early life:...
(John of God). It also explores the previous year's difficulties leading to this journey, including tendinitis, an invasion of ants into his house, an accidental wound to his penis, the aforementioned heartbreak, and a newly-failed relationship. A Balancing Act (2007), which won "Best Comedy Documentary" at both the Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival and Montezuma International Film Festival, begins by tracking Israel as he presents Nearer My God to Thee at festivals, but departs from his trademark self-surveillance style as he learns about a mysterious event in Vietnam where contestants balance various objects on motorbikes. His curiosity leads him first to the Museum of Ephemerata in Texas where the curators restore him to health with their life-affirming attitudes and endless supply of Kombucha
Kombucha
Kombucha is an effervescent tea-based beverage that is often drunk for its anecdotal health benefits or medicinal purposes. Kombucha is available commercially and can be made at home by fermenting tea using a visible, solid mass of yeast and bacteria which forms the kombucha culture, often referred...
tea, then to Iowa City where he develops a strong kinship with an eccentric university scholar who lectures on the balancing contest, and eventually to Southeast Asia, hitchhiking through Thailand, Cambodia, and finally Vietnam, where the contest takes place.
After A Balancing Act, Marc Israel has created a series of short films including Encounters With Sarah(commissioned by Found Magazine
Found Magazine
Found Magazine, created by Davy Rothbart and Jason Bitner and based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and New York City, collects and catalogs found notes, photos, and other interesting items, publishing them in an irregularly-issued magazine, in books, and on its website...
founder Davy Rothbart
Davy Rothbart
Davy Rothbart is an author, filmmaker, contributor to This American Life, and the editor/publisher of Found Magazine.-Background:...
), a music video about his cat Barkley, a documentary about folk music legend Michael Hurley, and "an epic sea odyssey" filmed entirely in his bathtub using rubber duckies.
While Israel's personal documentaries have been lauded for their emotional honesty, some viewers have questioned the legitimacy of Israel's claims to mental illness. "Supposedly suffering from an undiagnosable condition....the more he dwells on himself, the more convinced he is (and the less convinced the viewer is) of his mysterious handicaps", writes one film critic. Alternately, there has been some speculation about whether the Museum of Ephemerata's "unique" Kombucha brew really had the positive mental health effects Israel claimed. "I no longer wanted to kill myself or anyone else. It caused a 'rebirth of wonder' within my whole molecular structure", says Israel in A Balancing Act. Mr. Israel started his own Kombucha brand, Phenomenal World Kombucha (named after his production company Phenomenal World Cinema), but halted operations due to an overwhelming increase of supply and demand inspired by word-of-mouth, association with his films, and endorsements by Michael Hurley.
Filmography
How I Spent My Summer Vacation (1997)Frankenstein's Little Monster (2000)
The Motion-Pixeled Museum of Moving Magic (2001)
CONOR (2002)
La Hamburguesa Magica (2003)
Nearer My God to Thee (2006)
A Balancing Act (2007)
Barkley The Cat [Music Video] (2008)
Encounters with Sarah: A Short Film about Love (2009)
Snock 'N Roll: Adventures With Michael Hurley (2009)
Trouble The Water: A Short Epic Sea Odyssey (2009)