For the arts industry, 2020 was an unprecedented year. Musicians saw incomes instantly wiped out when live venues were forced to close due to lockdowns. The filmmakers and the industry came to a screeching halt as production studios and sets shut down indefinitely. Countless individuals, from sound technicians to makeup artists, were labeled “unessential” by authorities. But being labeled unessential doesn’t stop bills from coming due, or your child from needing food.
And it doesn’t stop artists from creating.
If anything, it emboldens us to create like never before.
Call it insanity. Call it stubbornness. But the artists who make history are those with an indomitable will. Governments can burn their manuscripts. Industries can blacklist them and label them dangerous individuals. But like soldiers in the trenches of spiritual warfare, when an adversary tries to snuff them out, they fight back. The winning is in the fighting.
As the effects of forced lockdowns reached far and wide, some artists spoke out about the devastating economic toll it was taking on millions of lives. Eric Clapton and Van Morrison joined forces to write and release the anti-lockdown song Stand and Deliver which highlights the importance of stages both big and small around the globe. Other musicians refused to play at festivals that would require vaccine passports for attendance, saying they would not condone violating their fans’ medical privacy in such a way.
Sound Mind Creative Group is a collaboration of several professionals in the film world who are passionate about promoting artistic freedom of expression, the importance of individualism, and liberty based on sound, rational thought.
Their latest undertaking is a documentary called Follow the Science: On Lockdowns and Liberty. The film plans to highlight scientists such as Nick Hudson from Panda, an organization who questioned sweeping, compulsory measures due to the politicization and manipulation of pandemic data. It will also include healthcare policy advisors like Scott Atlas, who speaks out against the erosion of personal liberties. Finally, it plans to feature individuals and families whose lives were torn apart by privileged authorities who didn’t have to obey the mandates they enacted on citizens.
The trailer is out now. In just a few short minutes, the filmmakers pull you in featuring opposing sides. One side represents the mainstream narrative we’ve all become accustomed to, and the other side represents professionals who’ve risked their careers simply because they question authority due to differing conclusions based on data, research, and experience.
It is easy to see while watching the trailer, this isn’t just a battle of statistics, it’s a battle of opposing philosophies.
The trailer concludes by featuring a portion of California business owner Angela Marsden’s emotional video filmed at her restaurant, Pineapple Hill Saloon and Bar. The venue was ordered to shut down even though she had a spacious patio, and a production crew was allowed to set up an outdoor dining area mere feet from her establishment.
The project was recently featured on the Tom Woods show, and it has garnered attention across social media as fundraising gets underway. So far, over $70,000 has been contributed to the project, revealing an audience just as passionate about viewing this type of documentary as the filmmakers are passionate about making it.
The project comprises industry professionals who are committed to creating a first-class documentary highlighting the scientific side and human side of this frightfully underreported story.
During the trailer, Governor Andrew Cuomo is highlighted saying in regards to draconian mandates, “If everything we do saves just one life, I’ll be happy.” But the reality is, if just one life is sacrificed because of policies forbidding an individual from meeting their most basic human needs, the cost is too high.
The first part of Follow the Science is set to debut in the fall of 2021, with a full-length feature documentary premiering in 2022.