Earlier today, Ryan Martin, owner of Dais Records and manager of Psychic TV and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge announced that he’s teamed with co-producers Caleb Braaten, Sacred Bones Records, Aldona Watts and director Jacqueline Castel to begin production of a full length documentary film about Thee Temple ov Psychic Youth … its founding, growth and decline as well as its crucial impact on modern Western culture. The film is titled A MESSAGE FROM THE TEMPLE.
They’ve now launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production, have self-funded a year and a half of pre-production.
Their Kickstarter page states:
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth has been convened in order to act as a catalyst and focus for the Individual development off all those who wish to reach inwards and strike out. Maybe you are already one of these, already feeling different, dissatisfied, separate from the mass around you, instinctive and alert? You are already one of us. The fact that you have this message is a start in itself.
Conceived in the aftermath of the punk and industrial countercultures, Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) was an “anti-cult” that drew on the tenets of provocation, transgression, and the DIY ethos to form an internationally reaching network bound together by an esoteric sensibility.
With experimental pop group Psychic TV serving as the public’s access to Temple doctrine (shattering a Guinness World Record for musical output in the process), the decade long spiritual, intellectual, and sexual revolution that TOPY would instigate, for tens of thousands of members worldwide, represented an unprecedented model for radical communion.
TOPY strove to transcend the normative constructs of culture, sexuality, order, and reason, examine and undermine systems of power, and reach ecstatic states of being. In doing so its members often hurdled past the outer limits of propriety, arousing the moral wrath of “Satanic Panic” era British authorities and causing the subsequent Scotland Yard raid and political exile of the group’s central figurehead, artist and provocateur Genesis P-Orridge.
A MESSAGE FROM THE TEMPLE is the first authorized documentary about Thee Temple Of Psychick Youth (years 1981-1991), tracing its influences and inception to its dramatic downfall and enduring legacy.
Told with unprecedented access through the eyes of its members, collaborators, and persecutors via contemporary interviews, personal archives, and historical accounts from the mainstream media, A MESSAGE FROM THE TEMPLE will provide an intimate portrait of the artists, occultists, and rock stars that surrounded Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth.
It is our belief as filmmakers that stories such as this must be told if human history is to survive, progress, or have any meaning whatsoever.
A MESSAGE FROM THE TEMPLE isn’t just a film, it’s a call to arms. We seek Individuals to preserve the Temple that resides within us all.
If you are attracted in any way by what we have already said we suggest the following action.
Our initial raise represents a small portion of what we need to make this project, but it will get us started. Any additional funds will go towards our complete budget of $200,000, which includes post production and finishing costs for the film. Should this occur, a variety of new and exclusive rewards will be offered. You hold Thee Key.
Our initial costs are as follows:
PRODUCTION This includes the purchase and rental of equipment, and any other fees incurred during the production.
TRAVEL A large portion of our production costs relate to international travel for interviews and archival research, with trips to the UK, Europe, and across the US. Costs include flights, accommodations, car rentals and gas for our team.
PRESERVATION & RESTORATION The vast archive of films, videocassettes, audio cassettes, photographs, and original documents that require high quality digital transfers, preservation, and in some cases, costly restoration fees.
LICENSING AND RIGHTS USAGE for the archival music & footage used in the film, and the ability to distribute the final product across all relevant platforms upon its release.
COMPENSATION The hiring of an editor to manage the vast archival material and contemporary interviews generated from this project.
Read more about the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/uncleanpictures/a-message-from-the-temple
Website: http://www.amessagefromthetemple.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amessagefromthetemple/
