From Sara Dosa and Shane Boris (The Edge of Democracy), the award-winning feature documentary THE SEER AND THE UNSEEN is a magic realist fable about invisible elves, financial markets and the power of belief.
Releasing on AppleTV & Altavod this month on August 17th, 2021.
Through the story of one Icelandic grandmother, Ragnhildur Jónsdóttir, (Ragga) the film explores the power of belief and invisible forces – be they elves or the market – that shape our visible worlds and transform our natural landscapes. Set against the spectacular landscape of Iceland, THE SEER AND THE UNSEEN follows Ragnhildur “Ragga” Jónsdóttir, a grandmother and “seer” who has the ability to communicate directly with a parallel realm of elves – invisible spirits of nature that over half of Iceland believes in. As a respected seer, government officials, businesses and individuals ask Ragga to consult the elves to learn where they can and cannot develop land. But not everyone listens. The elves enlist Ragga to help save an ecologically important lava field set to be razed by road construction – just one of the many needless development projects spurred by Iceland’s sensational financial meltdown in 2008
A magic realist documentary follows an Icelandic grandmother who communicates with elves, who urge her to protect a lava field set to be razed by road construction.
‘RAGGA” as she is called in this magical authentic story of a woman native to Iceland, helps to shine a light on ecology, economy, and respecting the elves that call Iceland home.
Sara uses ‘Ragga’ to tell the story of the Ancient Elves that live in Iceland, whose homes are being destroyed by corporate greed and an outdated mode of thinking.
Ragga is a ‘Wise Woman’. She stands up for those who she considers to have been marginalized or wronged in society, in doing so demonstrating a strength, fierceness and protectiveness. She looks out for those she considers in need of protection. The Wise Woman understands the value of knowledge, history and tradition. She is the keeper of the stories of the ages and is determined to pass these on to the coming generations, understanding the importance of past culture and learning in influencing the future.
Sara Dosa is an Indie Spirit Award-nominated doc director and Peabody award-winning producer whose interests lay in telling character-driven stories about the human relationship to ecology and economy. Her first feature as a director, “The Last Season”, which tells the story of two former soldiers turned wild mushroom hunters, took home a Golden Gate Award at its SFIFF 2014 premiere, and was nominated for the Indie Spirit Truer than Fiction Award.
Recently, Dosa co-directed an Emmy nominated episode of the Netflix music series Re-Mastered about Johnny Cash’s 1970 concert for Richard Nixon. Dosa’s third feature as a director, “The Seer & The Unseen,” premiered in 2019, winning awards at a number of festivals, including the McBaine Bay Area Documentary Prize at its SFIFF premiere and Best Foreign Documentary at the Oslo Independent Film Festival. “The Seer & The Unseen” was called “Captivating, strong and surprising” by The Hollywood Reporter and “Elegant, deft and inquisitive” by Variety, and “Sublime” by The Playlist.
As a documentary producer, she produced the Peabody Award-winning “Audrie & Daisy” (2016 Sundance / Netflix Originals); and the Peabody and Emmy-nominated “Survivors” (2018 IDFA / POV). Dosa co-produced the Academy Award-nominated “The Edge of Democracy” (2019 Sundance / Netflix Originals) as well as “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” (2017 Sundance / Paramount), the follow up to Al Gore’s seminal 2006 “An Inconvenient Truth.”
In 2018, DOC NYC named Sara Dosa to the inaugural “40 under 40” class of documentary filmmakers to watch and was also inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Documentary Branch. She graduated from Wesleyan University holds a joint Masters in Anthropology and International Development Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science. She lives and works in San Francisco, California.
I was excited to speak Sara Dosa, the Director of this extraordinary documentary “The Seer and the Unseen”.
What inspired you to become involved making documentaries about Activism and Justice?
Sara Dosa: Film can be a catalyst for positive change in the environment and society. I’m a filmmaker and a storyteller. Telling true stories that engage people on a journey of discovery and raising awareness feels natural to me. I always feel inspired in this realm of storytelling.
While watching ‘The Seer and the Unseen’ I didn’t feel like I was watching a documentary, it felt like I was watching living mythology. Was that your intention?
Sara Dosa: Personally I enjoy stories that are stranger than fiction, and the environment and nature are my upmost concerns. Hearing about Ragga, I was able to weave in the concept that just because we don’t ‘see’ something doesn’t mean it isn’t there, and that we don’t have to respect it. So Yes! My intention was to tell a story about the history and the magic and mystery of Earth.
What’s next for Sara Dosa?
Sara Dosa: After making ‘The Seer and the Unseen’ I was fascinated by lava and volcanoes. I heard the true story of Katia and Maurice Krafft, , French volcanologists who died in a pyroclastic lava flow on Mount Unzen in Japan. The Kraffts were known for being pioneers in filming, photographing and recording volcanoes, often getting within feet of lava flows. We have been able to obtain some of the archival imagery that is powerful as well as gorgeous. Right now the documentary film is titled ‘Fire of Love”.
Thank you Sara! Be sure to catch ‘The seer and the Unseen’ streaming on Appletv beginninging August 17.
Website: http://www.theseerandtheunseen.com/
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