R. Bruce Elder - The Book of Praise

A series of films and videos about the search for salvation through the beauty of nature. The series is inspired by the poetry of Kenneth Rexroth and Dante’s Divine Comedy. The cycle comprises A Man Whose Life Was Full of Woe Has Been Surprised by Joy (1997), Crack, Brutal Grief (2000), Eros and Wonder (2003), Infunde Lumen Cordibus (2004), The Young Prince (2007), What Troubles The Peace at Brandenberg? (2011), A Gathering Of Crystals (2015), Return to Nature! The True Natural Method Of Healing and Living and the True Salvation Of the Soul: Paradise Regained—The Core Of the Body—Water, Human Curative Power, Light, Air, Earth, Food, Fruit Culture (2012), A Gathering of Crystals (2015), Alone (All Flesh Shall It Together) (2023)

“Elder’s work is without equal in the history of cinema. At a time when nearly all cultural statements partake of the moral and cultural experience of the post-modern experience, in his films and in his writings, Elder champions and recreates with extreme courage the profound questioning of the European philosophical tradition. In this way, his work is intensely Canadian.” Peter Harcourt