supplemental material

I’ve included a short video where I tell the story and reflect briefly on it. In addition to this, I’ve provided a link to another short film we made called Making Love. Making Love and Allone are being combined with a third film called Jamaica, to create a trilogy of short films that explore our confrontation with the ‘Gaze’ (a concept that I talked about in the seminar that introduced this week). I’ve also included A Guide to Making Love (a commentary where I explore the themes of Making Love) and a link to a page that describes more about the wider project.

reflection

I’d just like to comment briefly on the title of the short film. I wanted to find a word that captured three meanings simultaneously, and because no word existed, I had to make one up. The word ‘Allone’ is a portmanteau that blends the following,

• Alone

• All Alone

• All One

This reflects the journey of the film itself. The woman is struggling with a profound loss, and feels isolated. Over time she discovers that everyone has suffered loss. Finally she realizes that we are all unified in our aloneness. It is this movement that captures something of the Cure in pyrotheology. Where we find ourselves connected to the other by acknowledging how our own lack is reflected in the other and shared by the other.

Allone

Allone is a short film set in pre-Christian Ireland, that is inspired by an ancient Buddhist parable. The story is one that I have told many times over the years. It captures so powerfully and succinctly much of what I explore in Pyrotheology.

Recently we set about getting this story made into a short film and this is the result! We are premiering the film here as part of Atheism for Lent, so you are the first people to see the final product!