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Marc Israel had been filming his life for a decade, including hitchhiking & street-performing adventures, love connections, and ongoing mental struggles. Then, in 2004, a series of near-plagues occurred one after another: a severe case of lovesickness after a failed long-term relationship, an invasion of ants, followed by moths, into his apartment, physical injuries including two massive earaches, a frightful accident concerning his private parts, and, finally, the sudden loss of function in his arms due to tendonitis. Deep in despair, Marc by chance came across a T.V. documentary on the internationally renowned 'Miracle Man' healer, John of God, and quickly booked a flight to Brazil. What follows is an exploration of the Self, via encounters with the mysterious and controversial John of God, his community of pilgrims and self-styled spiritualists, the sacred ceremonies of the Fulnio Indians, the jungles rife with strange life, all of which are interwoven with ghostlike flashbacks drawn from years of constant video self-surveillance. Through images both real and surreal, conversations with friends, visits to doctors and therapists, intimate video journals, detailed probes into the natural world, and the editing process of the film itself (also documentary fodder), Marc's pathology and innate wisdom often coemerge to provide surprisingly humorous and lighthearted moments of relief.

I'm super happy to offer up for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure - ya can't please 'em all, folks!) my first ever music video, made in honor of the 2nd anniversary of my cat Barkley & I. Enjoy this bit o' free entertainment brought to you by the good folks at Phenomenal World Cinema, where "if something happens, it's worth filming" (take it up with our PR person if you don't like the motto). For a better quality viewing experience of this video, go to: http://www.vimeo.com/1381222 Yours truly, Marc www.myspace.com/marcisraelfilms www.myspace.com/marcisraelmusic

This is a trailer for Phenomenal World Cinema's first feature-length documentary. I'm proud to now offer it on DVD. By 1997, I'd been a traveling musician for 5 years. May thru October were spent on the road, hitchhiking, street-performing as a one-man-band, criss-crossing the USA & Europe dozens of times, In winters, I'd stay in New York City, often at the apartment of poet Allen Ginsberg. He was a good friend, a great teacher, & I'd accompany him on guitar for various performances. In April of '97 I witnessed his passing. With a mind now pondering Death (and my other usual obsession, sex!), I hit the road again, only this time I brought a videocamera! Get on the road and discuss deathbed manners with urban speculator Geoff Manaugh (mastermind pioneer of bldgblog.blogspot.com) in Chapel Hill, sample drunken ecstatic southerners at the Memphis Blues Festival, stay the night at the World's Most-Cluttered Home in Oklahoma City, visit close Ginsberg friends Steven Taylor (of The Fugs) and poet Anne Waldman in Boulder, share in a titillating liaison in Pocatello, Idaho, alight upon naked hippies singing in an Olympia, Washington shower, savor the vibrant musical flavors of Seattle's Folklife Festival, verse yourself in drug-addled philosophy from Portland street kids, discover the true identity of Bigfoot in Ashland, then head to San Francisco to meet Frank Harrison, a man intent on blowing up the White House. Back east in Vermont, spend a month in group retreat at Karme Choling Buddhist Meditation Center before returning to the Big Wormy Apple. All this, while getting to know a multitude of car & truck-driving cattlemen, immigrants. prostitutes, river rats, paleontologists, ex-cons, & reg'lar blue-collar men who tell often-hilarious stories to filmmaking hitchhikers! Featuring music by Marc Israel. For more info on Phenomenal World Cinema please visit: www.myspace.com/marcisraelfilms

"Delightful & enormously entertaining...An amazing & meaningful gem!"- Davy Rothbart, This American Life In the middle of a suicide mission, Marc Israel becomes intoxicated with a "rebirth of wonder" after imbibing copious amounts of mind-altering Kombucha tea. Thus begins an epic & often hilarious quest investigating a mysterious international motorbike balancing contest. Lean into the world, via Israel's roving camera, & rub intimate eyeballs with a medley of renegade personalities. Get to know Austin's Museum of Natural & Artificial Ephemerata and its eccentric curators, who spend all their time covering the museum in bottle caps & catfood tins. Venture to Iowa City, where the charismatic Optimist Club founder Skutter performs his one-man-show "A Piñata in My Heart" & lectures at the University on a balancing contest in Vietnam. Hop a freight train with Skutter to L.A. and discover a self-described "towel-face artist" who can make your bath towel resemble Whoopi Goldberg within minutes. Lastly, catch a plane to Thailand, hitchhike through Cambodia, finally arriving in Vietnam where a motley assortment of bikers get ready to balance boxes, refrigerators, & entire families on the back of their humble bicycles & mopeds! For more info go to www.myspace.com/marcisraelfilms "A Balancing Act" - winner of BEST COMEDY DOCUMENTARY at Atlanta International Documentary Festival, Opening Night Film at Montezuma International Film Festival, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, and Atlanta Docufest.