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About the directors..."Their life is a giant performance-art piece," says Chair of the Visual and Dramatic Arts Department at Rice University Brian Huberman. "They remind us of an earlier time, when artists were infused with the equivalent of religious fervor." (Houston Chronicle 01/16/02) Gregory Owen Pearse and Maria Wagner (pronounced Vagner) Pearse received their education at Rice University, where they majored in music and took an interest in filmmaking. They were married in 1985. Maria came to the United States from the former Soviet Union and was for many years an award-winning pianist and organist. Gregory, born in New York, started composing classical music at the age of 12 and wrote his first symphony at the age of 18 and an opera at 21. In 1990 Gregory started creating "object art" and collages, which were similar to miniature mise-en-scenes. Many of these works can be seen in their first short film made in 1991. Since then they have made nine more short films, most of which can be viewed on their website. In 1999 they began work on their first full-length feature film, Return to Light: a Spiritual Odyssey (2002), shot in Houston, Galveston,
Germany and
Austria. Running the gamut of their personal experiences in the spiritual quest for true meaning in their lives, every aspect of the film was a collaborative effort between husband and wife (a fact unusual in and of itself). “Part of the strength of their work is that they are their work.” (Rice film professor Brian Huberman, 88.7 FM interview 01/21/02) Their combined experiences in classical music, art and philosophy give their films a rare lyrical transcendence and spiritual depth.
(June 27, 1993)
(April, 2009)
(March, 2010)
“The strong spiritual agenda of the Pearses in this film [Return to Light], for me, places them in a tradition of the arts that takes me back before the time of cinema, to the time of the Romantic period. I think of the works of the great painters that are trying to engage us with great irrational forces....” (B.H., ibid)
Their philosophy of art and life has its foundation in the work of Abd-ru-shin, "In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message," which offers revelations to all serious seekers of Truth. Together they have taught two film courses: "Way Beyond Cinema" and "Adventures in Good Cinema". Their website Truth-in-CinemaQuest at www.cinemaseekers.com has become quite popular over the years with art-film buffs.
