Now available on DVD: EAT THE SUN
Peter Sorcher’s feature documentary debut about sungazers has had a handful of screenings at select festivals, including Mill Valley, SF Doc Fest and Big Sky. It’s just been released on DVD and will have its cable broadcast premiere on the Documentary Channel on the Summer Solstice, June 21, with iTunes and other VOD to follow later this summer.
The film follows Mason, a SF man who initially subscribes to the practice of sungazing, a pseudo-meditative/spiritual practice whose users claim energizes the body and makes eating unnecessary, as he seeks out other sungazers to see how they deal with living in society while engaging in something so far on the fringe. Among these are Gene Savoy, the real-life inspiration for Indiana Jones, now the leader of a Church based around the belief that Jesus was a sungazer; and, most interestingly HRM, an Indian guru who claims to have gone years without eating. While Mason goes on his quest, the filmmaker does his own investigation of HRM, with surprising results. EAT THE SUN offers a fascinating look at an unorthodox (and potentially dangerous) practice without indulging in mocking its practicioners, and raises provocative questions about the power of and need for beliefs.
what (not) to doc 