2012 Time for Change

Inspiration

2012: Time for Change is the result of a collaboration between many people, but most especially between director João Amorim and author Daniel Pinchbeck.

As Joao tells the story:

One late night near the end of 2006, in an East Village apartment, I was engaged in a long conversation with some Serbian friends. One of the Serbs, Nino, started talking about 2012 and Daniel Pinchbeck. Being a skeptic, I initially dismissed the talk as New Age nonsense. Nino insisted it wasn?t crap, and eventually convinced me to go get Daniel?s book.

While reading it, I could not help but find myself identifying profoundly with the views expressed in it. The idea that we are steadily moving toward oblivion, that somehow our system has enslaved us to an erroneous notion of time, and that we need to re-align ourselves with the natural world and evolve our consciousness, had a profound resonance with my own ideas. The book revived many of my earliest ideals, and also memories of my own shamanic experiences, which I had suppressed as I entered the working world, running large-scale animation productions and directing commercials.

By the time I finished the book, I was convinced that a movie around these ideas, one that combined an investigation into our potential for conscious evolution with practical solutions, was absolutely necessary. I also realized that my skills in animation could help illustrate these ideas, creating a compelling narrative that could help people in their own process of self-realization and the actual work of transformation.

Seized with inspiration, I wanted to find this Pinchbeck character, as I knew he lived in New York City. I tried to get in touch with my Serbian friend, but he was away. A few weeks later, I ran into him and asked him about Pinchbeck. He did not have his number but said he would try to find it and get back to me.

Anxiously after a week, not having heard from Nino, I called him. Nino said he had bad news, as he did not know how to get a hold of Daniel. Five minutes later, I?m at a friend?s house staring at Daniel?s book cover, feeling quite frustrated, when the phone rings. It is Nino, he had just run in to Daniel who told him I should call him. Synchronicity is a major theme in the book, and this was a nice synchronicity, I thought?

From then on Daniel and I became friends and colleagues. Our first project was a a short film entitled ?Toward 2012?, featuring groundbreaking animation that explored Daniel?s ideas on the evolution of consciousness and the nature of time. We formed the company Postmodern Times with Nikos Katsaounis and developed the animated series ?Beyond 2012, Perspectives on the next age?, (available on DVD through UFOTV). The series lead eventually to the development of a treatment for an animated feature documentary, ?2012 Time for Change?. Giancarlo Canavesio from Mangusta Production loved the project and partnered up with Postmodern Times and Curious Pictures to bring this dream to life.

João Amorim

As Daniel tells the story:

After 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl came out in the spring of 2006, I was approached by a number of New York production houses and directors. I met with them but somehow wasn?t inspired to want to work out a deal with any of them, until I met Joao Amorim. As soon as we met, I knew he was the guy. His passion for the subject and his intelligent understanding of the ideas were very inspiring to me. We became fast friends and colleagues. While I sparked the project, this amazing film is the result of Joao?s incredible persistence and artistic vision. I believe it will be watched and studied by people for many years to come.

Daniel Pinchbeck