In the past 11 months director/producer Bill Bennett has been criss-crossing the globe, filming interviews with holy men in India and the Himalayas, Aboriginal elders at Uluru, a direct descendant of the Sufi mystic Rumi in central Turkey, and theologians and philosophers at the Vatican.
Accompanied by his partner/producer Jennifer Cluff he’s roamed the US to talk to research scientists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists and psychologists.
All that is in the service of his most personal project, the feature documentary PGS (Personal Guidance System) the Film.
Bennett, whose credits include Backlash, Spider & Rose, Kiss or Kill and The Nugget, embarked on a quest to understand what intuition is, where it comes from, and how to tap into it after a near-death experience.
“Several years ago I would have died in a car crash, if not for a flash of intuition,” he says. “In the end, I just want to know what saved my life. And why.”
His odyssey began in Dallas after an astrologer in Mumbai told the filmmaker he would make untold wealth and live like a king if he spent at least 15 days in the US city- but it may take 12 years.
In Dallas he met Joni Patry, a Vedic astrologer, who introduced him to a Turkish-based spiritualist, who in turn introduced him to a wealthy London-based jewellery designer, who helped raise money for the film. Another influential supporter is Dallas billionaire Trammell Crow, who has taken a keen interest in the project.
His travels are far from over. Bennett has been invited to Bhutan by the Royal family to shoot there and he intends to film in China and possibly South America too. Another trip to the US is on the itinerary.
Subject to finance, the film will be completed next May and will be released theatrically and VOD in November.
“What has come through very clearly with the people I’ve interviewed is that to really be in a position to access your intuition, you need to clean up your act personally,” he says.
“That means getting rid of anger, resentment, jealousy, hubris of all kinds, putting aside your ego, and learning to embrace humility. And the big one is pay attention. I was surprised that almost everyone I spoke to used those words. Pay attention to the little things around you – but also to yourself. To the thoughts that arise, to how you feel about things, and people. And acknowledge that these are legitimate and very real pointers to your intuitive powers.”