Gopyaka Films International (GFI), a newly created documentary film company currently on location in indigenous regions of the Yucatan in Mexico, recently discovered an amazing phenomenon while reviewing daily video footage of a “cleansing” by a powerful 94 year-old shaman who lives near the border of Campeche.
Videographer Nicole Rhoe left the digital camera switched on while connected to a tripod when she walked over to receive the shaman’s blessings. Little did she or the crew know that the camera would zoom in, out, zoom in again, and pan up without the assistance of an operator. Talk about “automatic” camera settings. There were seven witnesses! To see this footage go to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGviYwoYif8]
GFI Executive Director Philip Melnick has traveled and lived in Southern Mexico and Central America on-and-off for the past thirty years. “Some people call this kind of occurrence ‘magic,’ but psycho-spiritual energy is what’s really at work here. Genuine shamans have unbelievable powers, but it’s difficult to separate the real ones from the charlatans.”
Gopyaka Films International is a not-for-profit organization based in Los Angeles and Merida. Board Members include Melnick and Rhoe, internationally acclaimed singer Flora Purim, Dr. Karl Abrams of the University of California in Irvine, Howard Kling, Director of Labor and Media at the University of Minnesota, Jim Smith, Editor of Free Venice Beachhead, and Fernando Homa Cen of Halacho, Yucatan. Currently awaiting IRS non-profit status, GFI is funded by a small consortium of investors and supporters.
“Right now we’re working on the first segment of a multi-part documentary that will take viewers where no television or motion picture crews have been allowed access before,” said Melnick. “This episode is called Healers and focuses on shamans, curanderos, and a dentist who bought a bus, converted it into a dental clinic, and provides free care to the indigenous people of Chichen Itza. We explore the healing power of music, art, plants, gems, and sounds against the background of newly excavated and untouched pyramids, temples, and hieroglyphics.”
Flora Purim wrote: “Dear Philip. I am honored to be invited to be on the Board of Directors of this project. I always believed in you and your passion for the human race, besides your talent. We’ve know each other for a long time and you have never given up or ran away from oportunities like this. I wish you the best and you can count on me.”
Gopyaka Films International (Los Angeles)
22546 Haynes Street
West Hills, CA. 91307
Gopyaka Films International (Merida, MX.)
Calle 61A #573 D
Borjorques, Merida
Yucatan, MX.
