Shamanic Theatre

a film by Nicole P. Drakulič Trninić

DIRECTORS STATEMENT

DIRECTORS STATEMENT

On my way as a shamanic practitioner I met an interesting woman named Dr. Sylvia Marianne Wohlfarter from Graz, Styria, a woman who was deep into shamanism, shamanic healing as well as scientific research of shamanism, with all her heart and passion. In the years of her shamanic work she developed a method called Shamanic Theatre.

I was compelled to this method from the first time I took part in this ritual. It is a strong, powerful and demanding ritual on all taking part in it. And it works. Each time it was done, there was a change, a healing done, a knowledge given.

The structure of the film is quite a classical one it has an opening, a core and a conclusion. And it is Sylvias thoughts on shamanism that, like a red thread, interweave all the parts together.

The biggest challenge I encountered while preparing the film, was how to envision the reality of spirits, to make them visible and present. How to make the powers they posses palpable to a spectator. To make them real.

And everything regarding the camera work, editing, music, sound was meant to be part of that whole, that made the invisible visible, palpable.

And now, the film being done, I can say that making it felt like the idea being born, beard for a long time and finally brought to our world, to life.

SYNOPSYS

SHAMANIC THEATRE SYNOPSIS

Small wooden house nested under the chestnut tress on top of a hill. Strong light is penetrating in the room. Giving light to the place and to four human beings, two of them woman, two of them man. Interaction between them is strong. Is growing. Reaching its peak. No control. The power is too strong. Fear. The door opens and a person in panic leaves the room. Running headlessly down the hill.

That was the first shamanic theatre. An idea, a try, no structure, no control.

Film starts with reconstruction of the shamanic ritual later called Shamanic Theatre which took place near Graz, Styria and was initiated by Dr. Sylvia Marianne Wohlfarter.

Shamanism is based on structures, on knowledge and experiences, passed trough centuries from father to son, from mother to daughter and yet it stays subjective, dependent on person and his/her spirits. Shamanic Theatre is a form of discovering mans own spiritual powers and dimensions but above all efficient healing method.

It is telling the story of people who realized that ordinary reality is just a little fragment in immense web of different realities existing. About people who learned through their shamanic work of spirits, of their powers, which are compared to ours, immense. About people who trust in this spirits and believe that with their help it is possible to heal, to help, to solve problems, be it of personal or greater scale.

In film not only the image is the storyteller, but everything that there is: metaphors, associations, hidden memories, ideas and smells of the future. Sound of the drum, the whistle, moments of silence. Rhythm. And the spaces between where the whole is happening.

THE FILMMAKERS

Nicole P. Drakulič Trninić Writer and Director
was born in Tübingen, Germany. Few years later her family moved to Slovenia, where she finished education in History of Art at Filozofska Fakulteta, University of Ljubljana. Since 2014 she is a member of Foundation for Shamanic Studies Europe.

Shortly after graduation she was compelled to filmmaking, started as camera assistant and was later on exploring and thinking of different ways of telling the stories of life. Shamanic Theatre is her debut as writer and director.