Team photo, from left to right:
Fokke van Saane – Sound
Jean Counet – Camera
Vanja Palmers – Zen master
Franz Vollenweider – Psychiatrist and Neuroscientist
Maartje Nevejan – Director movie
Annette Badenhorst – Co producer and production Switzerland
Not in the picture above, co-producers:
Monette de Botton (www.monettedebotton.com)
Bohdana Tamas
Monette de Botton
Bohdana Tamas
DESCENDING THE MOUNTAIN CAST
Vanja Palmers
Franz Vollenweider
Sister Theresia Raberger
Dr. Peter Gasser
Auréle Masson Gianoli – Little Franz
Magnus Huser – Little Vanja
Assistants in fMRI room
Patricia Dürler
Nathalie M. Rieser
Philipp Stämpfli
John Smallridge
Klemens Egger
Assistants during the experiment
Lukasz Smigielski
David Andel
Michael Kometer
Milan Scheidegger
. . .
With very special thanks to the participants of the Felsentor experiment 2015-2020 and Barbara Coolen for connecting the dots
. . .
CREW
Director/script – Maartje Nevejan
Editor – Gys Zevenbergen
Director of photography – Jean Counet
Sound – Fokke van Saane
Drone, 2nd unit – Christian Mülhauser
Production Global Inside – Milly Schloss
Production Switzerland – Annette Badenhorst
Assistant editor – Sandro Ligtenberg
Titles, mycelial graphics – Rogério Lira
Archive research – Milly Schloss
Lighting mushrooms – Mas Jansma
Animation and VFX artist – Douwe Dijkstra
A.I. creator and producer – Seyhan Lee
A.I. director – Pinar Seyhan Demirdag
A.I. artist – Feileacan McCormick
Music – Cosmo Sheldrake
Original music – Michel Banabila
FELSENTOR 2015 ARCHIVE FOOTAGE
Director – Miloš Savić
Director of photography – Alexander Boëthius
Sound – Reto Stamm
Post-production – Fever Film
Post-production supervision – Jessica Akkermans
Online edit – Nino Oosterwijk
Color grading – Michiel Rummens
Sound editor – Fokke van Saane
Re-recording mix – Alex Booy
Color grading – Michiel Rummens
Subtitling – Invision
Camera rental – Het Raam
S8 material – Super 8 Reversal Lab
PR – BAAS Amsterdam
Distribution Development – Robert Clauser
Website – la rotonde du monde
Website assistant – Talia Rose Spiro
Design PR material – Studio Rogério Lira
PRODUCERS
Global Inside – Sanne Nolst Trenité, Jet Rutgers, Iris Robles
Co-producers – Annette Badenhorst, Monette de Botton, Bohdana Tamas
Special thanks to
Hugo Uys, Joshua Bloom, Eylin Bloom, Alix Adams
Ineke Nevejan-Broekhoven, Annick Nevejan,
Binnen-Reizen, Allegra Feingold, Chris Westendorp,
Esther Lune, Hidde Schröder, Anja Seidl, Brit Wijngaarden
Raymond van Mil, Tamara Vuurmans, Barbara Truyen
Atelier Orlando – Alex Pixley
Love to
Rein–Mas–Noa–Abel Jansma
For their beauty we thank Mount Rigi and the Felsentor Temple.
For inspiration we thank Merlin Sheldrake, William James, Alan Watts, Michael Pollan, William Kentridge, Robert MacFarlane
And Melvin Sheldrake
For guidance we thank John, Rieka, Dolph, Sven en Chantal.
VERY SPECIAL THANKS
To the people of Felsentor and Frohmatte: Manfred Hellrigl, Miro JiKo Lucchi and Frida Huser
To the Felsentor Foundation, founded in 1999 by Zen master Vanja Palmers and the Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast.
To the Psychiatrischen Universitätsklinik Zürich
(PUK/Burghölzli)
Archive material
Maria Sabina, Mujer Espiritu
(Nicolas Echevarria)
Hofmann’s Potion
(Connie Littlefield)
The Psychedelic Renaissance – from Drug to Medicine
(Andries de Smet & Robin van Nuffel)
LSD: The Spring Grove Experiment
(Archive.org)
LSD Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Psychedelic Drug Film
(Archive.org)
The Mind-Benders: LSD and the Hallucinogens
(Archive.org)
Music
Cosmo Sheldrake – Wake Up Calls album
(Skylark / Owl / Cuckoo / Nightingale1 / Forest)
Cosmo Sheldrake – Galapagos album
(Fish / Seals / Crabs)
Original music composed for Descending the Mountain and ‘Humans and Nonhumans’
Michel Banabila
Composed & performed by Michel Banabila
‘Yarra’ – Banabila & Machinefabriek
Composed & performed by Michel Banabila & Rutger Zuydervelt
‘Ears Tell Us Where We Are In Space (Voix du Fou 08 remix)’
Composed & performed by Michel Banabila
ADDITIONAL MUSIC
‘Crystal Dawn’ – Bodhi Setchko
(Crystal Wind Music)
‘Coral Dirge’ – Mauro Ottolini
(Azurra Music SRL)
‘Echo Affinity’ – Taylor Deupree
Courtesy of 12k Published by 12k Music (ASCAP)
originally appeared on the Field Works album Ultrasonic
A.I. SEQUENCE ARTWORKS
Der Wanderer
über dem Nebelmeer
(Caspar David Friedrich)
The Red Rigi
(J.M.W. Turner)
She Who Leads
(Nicolaj Rjorich)
Caves of Manacor
(William de Gouve de Nuncques)
Deep Twilight, Pyrenees
(James Dickson Innes)
Native Fight on the Lower Goulburn River in 1842
(Caroline le Souef)
High Mountain Landscape with Pilgrims
(Joost de Momper)
The Golden Hour
(Thomas Moran)
The Land is So Rich in Beauty
(Fu Baoshi)
The Course of the Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State
(Thomas Cole)
Hara
(Ando Hiroshige)
Vampire
Edvard Munch
Ecstasy
(Gerhard Munthe)
The Triomphal Procession of Bacchus
(Maarten van Heemskerck)
The Rape of Persephone
(Rupert Bunny)
The Dawn
(John LaFarge)
The Moon and the Earth
(Paul Gauguin)
Toteninsel
(Arnold Böcklin)
The New Generation
(Jan Toorop)
Tangka
(Tibetan art)
The Ecstasy of Saint Francis
(Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli)
Het Lam Gods
(Jan van Eyck)
Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy
(Artemisia Gentileschi)
Tissu Kuba
(République démocratique du Congo)
No animals were hurt during this production
Descending the Mountain was written, shot and edited during the COVID lockdown of 2020–2021.
The filmmakers have made a reasonable effort to find and contact all the rights holders of photos or clips that were used in the film, not deemed to be fair use. However, people who think they own the right to a clip or photo used in the film may contact Global Inside Foundation in Amsterdam.
© Global Inside 2021
Website director Maartje Nevejan: www.nevejan.nl