Imagine having every mystery of human existence finally answered.
That’s what former Minnesota native and Hollywood film producer Roger Nygard says he can do with his new documentary, “The Nature of Existence.”

Through four years of traveling the world and 170 in-depth interviews with prominent religious leaders, Nygard has collected the world’s opinions on why humans exist and what our purpose is in life. “The Nature of Existence” has toured 20 cities throughout the summer, and the grand finale screening will take place in Minneapolis with the Twin Cities Film Festival on Oct. 1 and a screening at Parkway Theater on Oct. 2. Nygard will be in attendance to answer questions about the film and his experiences. The film will continue to be shown at the Parkway Theater for the remainder of that week.

So…why do we exist?

Nygard says that his films are first and foremost to make him laugh and be entertaining, but also to be a challenge and teach him something new. His hope is simply that the audience can experience what he experienced in the making of the film.

“I’ve been called a closet anthropologist because I’m fascinated by human behavior,” Nygard said. “My films are portraits not of individuals, but of cultures and subcultures of humanity.”

In his latest film, Nygard interviewed Daoists, Confucianists, Jainists, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Anglicans, Native Americans, Satanists, Atheists, and others, explaining that he learned something from each interview that challenged his ways of thinking.“Sometimes I warn people that they shouldn’t see the movie because it messes with your mind a little bit,” he said. “But if your mind is already messy, then you’ll be fine. If everything is neatly stacked and you’re working really hard to keep everything that way, you might get jostled a bit.”

So what is the answer to the nature of existence? Nygard says it’s right there in the movie.“I find answers in the journey,” he said. “You don’t ever want to ‘arrive’ because then it’s done and you get off the stage. You want to stay on the journey your whole life.” From what he collected in his research, Nygard discovered that happiness is a false goal. Instead, happiness is a byproduct of having purpose in life, so the real question is, “What is your purpose and how do you find it?”

Nygard also concluded that on a basic level, people want to be accepted by their social group, they want to love and be loved, and they want to make just enough money to take care of themselves and their family.“The better I began to understand why people believe what they believe, the less I was afraid of the differences between me and people in other cultures,” he said. “I started to realize that they’re not the others. They have the same needs and desires as I do or anybody else does.” Filmmaker at the age of seven After discovering his father’s 8mm camera when he was seven years old, Nygard began a lifetime hobby of shooting movies. He grew up in Long Lake and graduated from Orono High School in 1980, saying that at the time, “It was literally a high school surrounded by corn fields.” He then attended the University of Minnesota for his Bachelor of Arts in Speech-Communications. “When I graduated from the University of Minnesota, I packed up my little Celica and drove it over the mountains to California, and I’ve worked out here ever since,” he said. “I looked at it as a big adventure, and it’s an adventure that’s ongoing.” Today, Nygard is a professional director, editor, screenwriter, and producer in Los Angeles.

Nygard’s first feature movie was “High Strung,” which featured Steve Oedekerk, Fred Willard, Denise Crosby, Kirsten Dunst and Jim Carrey. It wasn’t long before he developed a reputation for working on “quirky” projects such as “Trekkies,” which followed Star Trek enthusiasts and attempted to understand their behaviors and fascination with the popular sci-fi series. He did a similar documentary about UFO enthusiasts called “Six Days in Roswell.” “I think life is absurd – I’ve always thought that,” he said. “You have to laugh or you go insane.” Never one to let his to-do list get fully crossed off, Nygard continues to find projects to keep him busy. He has directed or edited for television series such as The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Bernie Mac Show and others, along with numerous commercials.

He credits his success in the industry to his parents, who encouraged him no matter what it was he wanted to pursue. “Any kid in Minnesota can grow up and make a movie or do whatever you want,” he said. “From a little town in Minneapolis to the most sacred mountain in China, I’ve been all over the place and I highly recommend it.

Jennie Olson
Sun Newspapers
Published: Thursday, September 16, 2010

What would you do if you could go anywhere in the world, and ask anyone you wanted any question you wanted? How about all the questions you wanted? Yes, even “the big questions.”

Well, that’s exactly what filmmaker Roger Nygard (maker of the acclaimed documentary “Trekkies”) did. For 4 whole years.

For 4 years, he went around the world, asking hundreds of people the toughest 85 questions he could think of, all about the purpose and nature of existence.

What kinds of people, you ask? Everyone from his neighbor’s 7th grade daughter to Buddhist monks, Confucian scholars, a 24th generation taoist master, an Orthodox Jewish lesbian, a Magus of the Church of Satan, the arch-druid of Stonehenge (I’m not kidding!), Catholic and Anglican Bishops, the director of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, a guy actually named King Arthur Pendragon (again, not kidding), string theorists and particle physicists from Stanford and Oxford, psychology professors, an ex-Scientologist, atheist evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, a university-campus Evangelist, the pastor of a Texas gay mega-church, Baptist preachers, spiritual gurus, an Iranian taxi driver, a chef, an imam, science fiction authors, poets, Native American spiritual leaders, an alien channeler, and a Christian Wrestling Minister (who plans to have perfect abs in Heaven). And a Hasidic Rabbi in East Jerusalem, of course.

The result is this movie.

THE QUESTIONS include such doozies as:

• Why do we exist and what are we supposed to do about it?
• What started the Universe and was it a mistake?
• Does God exist and why does he seem so interested in our sex lives?

The film essentially features 2 stories — one is the story of Minnesota-boy Roger, going around the world, looking for answers (and interesting people willing to talk to this friendly American about their place in the universe). The other is the story of what they actually tell him. These side-by-side glimpses into the world views of all these very different people, from so many very different places and faiths, is nothing short of fascinating. And somehow, rather positive and uplifting. And at times, quite amusing, as well.

All this adds up to a movie that’s surprisingly light, surprisingly funny, and yet very thoughtful, and thought-provoking. You’ll leave with a smile on your face, but it’ll be a thoughtful smile, a late-night-discussion-over-drinks smile.  The filmmaker is not pushing any point of view on you — he just lays out his journey, and leaves the rest up to you. If you loved that comparative-religions class in college, or if you’re just interested in what other people might be thinking, and like to have a few laughs along the way — this film is for you!

I should probably mention that at the screening I attended, the filmmaker himself told the audience that

“you probably should not see this movie, because it will mess with your mind a little bit.”

I guess I must enjoy having my mind messed with. Apparently, so do a whole lot of other people, as more than 70% of the audience stayed for the Q&A session after (this is one movie made for Q&A sessions!)

Some of my favorite quotes from the film include:

Religion is the banana skin

In a certain sense, we do not exist (from a physicist)

God is into unique methods

Masturbation is promiscuity, but always with a perfect partner

I suppose a total idiot can be happy

And the film’s final (and highly appropriate) words:
“Unless we’re wrong”

If you still need further convincing, the film’s co-producer is a guy named Paul Tarantino. He says he’s no relation, but any film made by a Tarantino has got to be good, right?

The preview trailer, plus several clips from the film — arranged by subject (including drag racing, aliens, and premarital sex) - are available here, if you’d like to check them out.

The movie is playing this week — through Thursday, October 7th — at The Parkway Theater — 4814 Chicago Ave S. in Minneapolis.

Showtimes are:

• Saturday, 10/2:  2:00 - 4:20 - 6:40 - 9:00
• Sunday, 10/3: 1:40 - 3:30 - 5:20 - 7:10 - 9:00
• Monday, 10/4, through Thursday, 10/7: 5:20 - 7:10 - 9:00

The film will also be available on DVD on November 23d.

Final note: if you go, stay to the end of the credits. It’s worth it.

JENNA MITELMAN
TCJewFolk.com
http://tcjewfolk.com/sages-opine-nature-existence/

Roger Nygard’s head was filled with existential angst prior to embarking on his four-year odyssey directing his new documentary, The Nature of Existence. But the Orono, Minnesota, native knew that by traveling the world with a camera and asking life’s greatest philosophical questions of a diverse group of people from a variety of spiritual disciplines, he could not only earn himself a little peace of mind but also pull together an intriguing kaleidoscope of human beliefs suitable for the big screen.

“I decided to make a list of the 85 toughest questions I could think of,” Nygard says, “starting with the biggest one of all, Why do we exist? I gave them to over a hundred spiritual leaders, scholars, scientists, gurus, even atheists, all over the world. I asked, What is man’s purpose? What is truth? What is the best way to find happiness? Is there an afterlife? And so on.”

The answers form the building blocks of Nygard’s documentary, opening Saturday at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis. It’s the last release in a series of openings Nygard has staged across the country. All showings on Saturday will be followed by a question-and-answer session, which Nygard has been routinely offering since first bringing his documentary to film festivals over a year ago.

He says these Q-and-A sessions have proven to be as controversial and diverse as the film itself.

“I tend to look at this film as a comedy, because I think life is ultimately rather absurd,” Nygard says. “I honestly think if we couldn’t laugh at it, we’d all go insane. But I’ve had people get quite angry with me after seeing this film. I’ve had people become real sad or start crying. I’ve had people pressuring me to choose a ‘winner’ from the various views presented, or questioning why ‘their side’ wasn’t better represented.”

Nygard says he has warned people before viewing the documentary that, depending on where they’re coming from, “the film could mess them up.”

“At one release we had a woman stand up after the film was over and tell the audience she had recently completed her last chemotherapy session and that throughout her cancer treatments she had this strong belief system that she had clung to for support. She was in tears as she said that this film had just shaken the foundations of all she’d been hanging onto.”

Nygard says he’s come to see the film as a Rorschach test for audiences. What they see in the film tends to say more about their own lives, he says, than it does about the perspectives conveyed. “Some people come to this film hoping their view will win out. When it doesn’t, they feel quite threatened.”

Although Nygard says he never intended his efforts to deliver any definitive cosmic truth, he believes clues can be found throughout the film that direct people to answers as important and meaningful as any that are out there.

For his part, he says, he actually found much of the peace of mind he’d been searching for, though perhaps not exactly what he’d expected to discover when first embarking on the journey.

“For me, the thing that gradually became clear was that the universe was created, we don’t know by whom, or by what, but this creation unfolded, and continues to unfold, and we’re all obviously a part of that. Our sense of contentment is derived from participating in it. Our joy seems to come from jumping into the flow of that creation, not doing the opposite, which is destroying, and not being a bystander either. Whether we’re designing a garden or a dance or a poem or bringing a new baby into the world, we’re aligning ourselves with the great vibe of this universe, and happiness is the byproduct of that—the byproduct of immersing ourselves in our purpose, which is to share in creation.”

What Nygard says he took from some 450 hours of film footage may not be what others take from the 93-minute final product he presents, but he says all will end up encountering a wondrous world of beliefs as varied and sundry as the flora and fauna of the planet itself, and they’ll have several surprising laughs in the process.

As is human nature, however, Nygard says those laughs will tend to come when the “other person’s views” are being discussed.

“If you arrive at this film with entrenched perspectives,” Nygard says, “it might not be as entertaining. You’re probably going to walk away a little less comfortable.”

By TD Mischke Wednesday, Sep 29 2010
http://www.citypages.com/2010-09-29/news/knocking-on-heaven-s-door/

The article can also be found on documentary.org

Director Roger Nygard traveled the world asking theologians, scientists, skeptics, and everyday people 85 tough questions to try to understand The Nature of Existence! Now that he’s asked the experts, it’s YOUR TURN! To offer your own insights on today’s question, “Should political leaders invoke a deity in decisions or policy?“, Leave a Reply below!

Director Roger Nygard traveled the world asking theologians, scientists, skeptics, and everyday people 85 tough questions to try to understand The Nature of Existence! Now that he’s asked the experts, it’s YOUR TURN! To offer your own insights on today’s question, “Should different cultures be preserved, or are our cultural differences the source of strife?“, Leave a Reply below!

Director Roger Nygard traveled the world asking theologians, scientists, skeptics, and everyday people 85 tough questions to try to understand The Nature of Existence! Now that he’s asked the experts, it’s YOUR TURN! To offer your own insights on today’s question, “How do we stop conflict?“, Leave a Reply below!

Director Roger Nygard traveled the world asking theologians, scientists, skeptics, and everyday people 85 tough questions to try to understand The Nature of Existence! Now that he’s asked the experts, it’s YOUR TURN! To offer your own insights on today’s question, “What is the greatest danger facing man’s existence?“, Leave a Reply below!

Director Roger Nygard traveled the world asking theologians, scientists, skeptics, and everyday people 85 tough questions to try to understand The Nature of Existence! Now that he’s asked the experts, it’s YOUR TURN! To offer your own insights on today’s question, “Will there be a doomsday?“, Leave a Reply below!