The Fear Engine project is a combination of concept album and multi award-winning documentary which attempts to ask how we might make the world a better place for all.
A cross section of people from artists, scholars, innovators, farmers, builders children and everyday people are all asked the same sequence of 10 disarmingly simple but thought provoking questions on the nature of human behaviour and the values that we live by.
The Interviews
STEVE EPSTIEN
Award winning builder and promoter of green building practise
BUILDER
HOWARD JONES
Musician and songwriter who has sold over 8 million albums and continues to perform across the globe
MUSICIAN
LAURA SOLOMON
Specialist in producing photographic images on copper plate
PHOTOGRAPHER
PROFESSOR
MARK STEVENSON
Futurist author and advisor to Virgin Earth Challenge, Atlas of the Future, and others
AUTHOR
MARIE BENTON
Founder of the 'Choir With No Name' a choir for homeless and marginalised people.
CHIEF EXECTUIVE
ALASTAIR RYLATT
Philosopher and award winning author
PHILOSOPHER
LARA
5 YEAR OLD GIRL
MAX
STEVE HARRADINE
sheep farmer
FARMER
POLLY HIGGINS
Climate activist and leading advocate for International Ecocide Law
BARRISTER
DAN THOMPSON
Social artist writer and speaker. Instigated post riot clean up phenomenon in UK
SOCIAL ARTIST
JOHN PAUL FLINTOFF
Author, broadcaster, and journalist TED speaker
JOUNALIST
PETER ROSS
Co Founder of Ross & Brown Interior design
DESIGNER
14 YEAR OLD BOY
SIMON BEAUFOY
Academy Award winner for 'Slumdog Millionaire' and Golden Globe and BAFTA award winner
SCREEN WRITER
ROMAN KRZNARIC
Founding member of 'The School of Life'. Adviser to Oxfam and the United Nations
SOCIAL PHILOSOPHER
GRAHAM STRONG
Australian of the year 2008 for widespread tree belt re generation
SHEEP FARMER
PROF GEOFFREY
BURNSTOCK
Discoverer of purinergic signalling in the brain. Nobel Prize nominee.
NEURO SCIENTIST
DAISY
8 YEAR OLD GIRL
Thankyou to the camera operators Will Thaxter, Keith Saunders and Graham Strong who gave up their time to help with the camerawork.
Special thanks to Mark Stevenson who arranged many of the interviews and maintained endless optimism throughout.
Dedicated to the memory of two extraordinary agents of change, Alastair Rylatt and Polly Higgins. R.I.P.
What is preventing us from achieving a more harmonious world?
PROF HUGH MONTGOMERY
Pioneer in genetic research. Climate change speaker and founding member of the UK Climate and Health Council.
The Suited Man
The interviews are interwoven with a conceptual ‘art film’ which depicts an ordinary businessman with suit and brief case walking aimlessly from the city into the wilderness where he confronts a symbolic orb. This is ‘ The Fear Engine’ a metaphor for his deepest fears and his unconscious desire for significance
The Questions
1 WHY DO PEOPLE TELL LIES?
2 WHY DO PEOPLE WANT TO BE FAMOUS?
3 DO YOU DISTRUST ANYONE ?
4 DO PEOPLE NEED EACH OTHER TO BE HAPPY?
5 WHEN HAVE YOU FELT MOST ALIVE?
6 WHAT IS AN ARTIST?
7 WHY DO PEOPLE FEAR FAILURE?
8 DOES THE WORLD NEED TO BE A BETTER PLACE?
9 HOW CAN WE MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE?
10 IF YOU KNEW YOU COULDN'T FAIL ... WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
The Awards
The film was completed early 2020 and since then has picked up many awards 5 official awards including best documentary feature at the Festigious Film Awards Los Angeles
🏆 WINNER Best Documentary Feature
Festigious Film Awards Los Angeles 2020
🏆 FINALIST & Honourable Mention: Feature Documentary
Florence Film Awards 2020
🎖FINALIST
International Independent Film Awards -2020
LOS ANGELES
🎖FINALIST
Oniros Film Awards®New York 2020
NEW YORK U.S.A .
🏆Award of Excellence: Documentary Feature
The IndieFEST Film Awards.2020
LOS ANGELES U.S.A .
🏆Award of Excellence: Contemporary Issues
🏆Award of Excellence: Awareness Raising
The IndieFEST Film Awards 2020
LOS ANGELES U.S.A .
🎖SEMI FINALIST
Los Angeles Film Awards 2020
LOS ANGELES U.S.A .
⭐️ Official Selection
Paris Lift-Off Film Festival 2020
PARIS,FRANCE
⭐️ Official Selection
Amsterdam Lift-Off Film Festival. 2020
AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND
⭐️ Official Selection
Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival 2020
LOS ANGELES U.S.A .
⭐️ Official Selection
Sydney Lift-Off Film Festival 2020
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
⭐️ Official Selection
Melbourne Lift-Off Film Festival 2020
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Andy Ross Film maker
Andy Ross has had a long career in music working as musician, composer , recording artist, record producer, and artist mentor. In recent years he turned his hand to film making.
He has made one film before which won Best Short at the Reel Earth International Film Festival with 'Well Beyond Water.
That film has since gone on to be utilised in many environmental organisations around the world. Including ‘The International Centre for Climate Governance’
THE FEAR ENGINE is my second film which I made mostly alone over the course of several years.
Andy Ross Rolls : Director / Producer / DOP / Cameraman / Editor / SFX / Sound design/ Composer / Actor
Additional credits must go to Willam Thas
Artist Statement
THE FEAR ENGINE
DOCUMENTARY
Can 10 simple questions make a difference?
THE FEAR ENGINE is a multi award winning feature documentary that asks a variety of individuals 10 simple but probing questions about the nature of human behaviour and how we might make the world a better place. Interwoven around the interviews is the journey of a suited man walking from city to wilderness where he confronts the fear engine, a metaphor for the driver of our unconscious fears....
The Fear Engine film is the result of a life long interest in our behaviours and why we do what we do. The Fear Engine, represented by a floating silver ball adorned with images of ancient monsters and demons, is a metaphor for the driver of our unconscious fears. 70,000 years ago was the birth of the cognitive revolution in humans. The conceptual mind evolved and in doing so ushered in the birth of imagination. But with it came elevated levels of fear and anxiety about imagined threats. A blight we sill live with today. The Fear Engine is an attempt to pose questions that will get people talking about the pathologies that lie at the root of our behaviour and encourage us to reflect on how we might work with them for a better world, to promote the better side of human nature and in doing so work towards the possibility of cultivating a world were we experience kinship, connection, peace, and mutual respect and deny the engine of fear the fuel it needs to burn.
