Secrets, Dreams, Faith and Wonder: A Visual Music Film by Stephen T. Pope and Friends

"Secrets, Dreams, Faith and Wonder" is a multi-award-winning feature-length non-narrative "visual music” film; its five movements (the short-subject contains one section from each movement) use computer animation, painted film, and photographic sources (together with an original electronic-music soundtrack), and map loosely onto the sections of the catholic mass (but with an epistle lesson from Martin Luther King and a credo by Mahatma Gandhi).

The five pieces of music incorporate voices in Latin, English and Arabic (texts from the Bible, by M. L. King and M. K. Gandhi) as well as bird and whale songs. Each of the videos was made to fit the music of the respective movement.

The motivation for "Secrets, Dreams, Faith and Wonder," for making a new mass for the new millennium, is summed up in the following paraphrased quote from the late Joseph Campbell, "Those who have heard the rhythms and hymns of the angels, who have understood any of the words of the angels, will try to recite those hymns in such a way that the angels will be attracted."

Quotes from reviews: Riveting - a tour de force - a hypnotic flow - this is deep electroacoustic music - a fluid and engaging rhythmic and harmonic sense - works both as music and as ritual - incredibly profound - the sonic landscape is pristine - mesmerizing - I can't wait to see it again!

The film is available in 78-minute feature and 21-minute short-subject edits, with a 4-minute trailer.

Please note that because of the nature of the computer-generated videos that comprise the film, and the compression used by the streaming video servers, the on-line screeners have serious visible compression artifacts; reviewers are requested to view the film on Blu-Ray disc if at all possible.

  • Stephen Travis Pope
    Director
    Ritual and Memory
  • Stephen Travis Pope
    Writer
    Ritual and Memory
  • Stephen Travis Pope
    Producer
    Ritual and Memory
  • Stephen Travis Pope
    Animations
  • R. Lane Clark
    Animations
  • Lance Putnam
    Animations
  • Graham Wakefield and Haru Ji
    Animations
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Feature, Music Video
  • Genres:
    Experimental, Visual-Music, Spiritual
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 18 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 9, 2018
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Louisville Int'l Film Festival
    Louisville, KY
    November 15, 2012
  • Awareness Film Festival
    Hollywood, CA
    May 16, 2013
    Audience Award
  • Columbia Gorge Film Festival
    Portland, OR
    September 4, 2013
  • Lucerne Int'l Film Festival
    Lucerne, Switzerland
    December 12, 2012
  • ISEA: Int'l Symposium for Electronic Art
    Albuquerque, NM
    April 9, 2013
  • Understanding Visual Music
    Buenos Aires, Argentina
    September 18, 2013
  • Int'l Festival for Spiritual, Religious and Visionary Films
    Jakarta, Indonesia
    August 6, 2013
    Best Original Score
  • Awakened World Film Festival
    Santa Barbara, CA
    October 22, 2014
  • Columbus Int'l Film Festival
    Columbus, OH
    November 14, 2014
    "Chris" Stauette Award of Excellence
  • YoFiFest
    Yonkers, NY
    October 18, 2014
  • Magikal Charm Film Festival
    NYC
    February 25, 2015
  • Richmond Film Festival
    Richmond, VA
    February 27, 2015
  • Stockholm Independent Film Festival
    Stockholm
    Sweden
    July 14, 2017
  • Berlin Int'l Festival of World Cinema
    Berlin
    Germany
    November 23, 2016
    Best Animated Film
  • Blow-up Art House Film Festival
    Chicago
  • Ecos Urbanos Festival
    Mexico DF
    Mexico
    Closing event
  • Great Lakes Film Festival
    Erie, PA
  • Finow Int'l Film & Script Festival
    Berlin
    Germany
  • Williamsburg Film Festival
    New York, Nedw York
    United States
    September 16, 2017
  • Many other screenings: see web site or promo materials
Director Biography - Stephen Travis Pope

Stephen Travis Pope (soundtrack composer, videographer, producer) is a composer, computer scientist, videographer and social and spiritual activist based in Santa Barbara, California. He has realized his musical works at studios in America (Toronto, Stanford, Berkeley, Santa Barbara) and Europe (Paris, Salzburg, Vienna, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin). His music is available from Centaur Records, Perspectives of New Music, Touch Media, SBC Records, Disc-O Records, and the Electronic Music Foundation, who released a triple-disc anthology of his work called Ritual and Memory in 2007. Stephen was educated at Cornell University, the Vienna Music Academy, and the "Mozarteum" Music Academy in Salzburg, Austria. He has taught and conducted research at Mozarteum, Stanford University, the Technical University of Berlin and the University of California, Berkeley. From 1995-2010 he was on the faculty of the University of California Santa Barbara, first in Dept. of Music, then the Dept. of Computer Science, and finally in the Graduate Program in Media Arts and Technology.
His music and video compositions are released through HeavenEverywhere Media. Stephen is also a practicing Quaker, a conscientious objection counsellor, a trained Reiki practitioner, a facilitator with the Alternatives to Violence Project, and active prison clergy registered with the California Dept. of Corrections.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The motivation for Secrets, Dreams, Faith and Wonder, for making a new mass for the new millennium, is summed up in the following paraphrased quote from the late Joseph Campbell, "Those who have heard the rhythms and hymns of the angels, who have understood any of the words of the angels, will try to recite those hymns in such a way that the angels will be attracted."