Imagine getting a team of African healers to spend four years channeling spiritual energy to help you launch a documentary film!

That’s what’s happening to film producer, James Weeks. His long anticipated film, Across the King’s River, which explores how African healing traditions intersect with science, is currently in production.

Weeks will share the core messages of the film at a symposium entitled “Sacred Healing & Wholeness in Africa & the Americas” which will be held at Harvard University on Friday, April 13, 2012. The Orisa CDC is a co-sponsor of the symposium, which has been organized by Funlayo E. Wood, an Orisa CDC Board Member and Harvard doctoral student.

“Aside from being a beautiful and touching film, ‘Across the King’s River’ will shed light on some of Africa’s traditions that have been maligned and misunderstood in the West,” says Funlayo. She adds,
“The world needs more healing than ever before. The environment is being destroyed; people are hurting and are dulling their pain in negative and destructive ways. We are becoming more and more estranged from our humanity.”

Directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, Stanley Nelson, “Across The King’s River” follows Weeks and his daughter on a journey of self-transformation that gives viewers insight into three sacred African traditions: the Yoruba, of Southwest Nigeria, the Dagara of Burkina Faso, and the Lebu of Senegal.

“One of the goals of the film is to inspire others to follow their visions,” Weeks said.

Robert Voeks, PhD, Professor of Geography at Cal-state University, Fullerton, says“Across The King’s River” is a critically important film project and should be completed sooner, rather than later.

“The world is witnessing a global crisis of cultural erosion. Indigenous understanding of the healing properties of nature is declining as rapidly as the languages that sustain it,” Voeks says.

To register for the symposium, visit www.AseIre.com/events

For more information about “Across The King’s River,” visit www.acrossthekingsriver.com