Vishner leading an anti war demonstration in which dozens of young men turned in their draft cards, April 3 1968 at the Bandshell in Central Park. Joan Baez also sang.
Our towns are chock full of many talented and creative people. One that locals might have crossed paths with is David Mehlman, a Maplewood father of four who also happens to be an accomplished documentary filmmaker.
After receiving a master’s degree from Stanford University in Documentary Film and Video Production, Mehlman and his business partner, (whom he met at Stanford) Justin Schein, founded Shadowbox Films. Since then, Mehlman has worked on dozens of projects in many different capacities including editor, sound designer, producer and director. One of his latest endeavors, Left On Purpose, is making its New York City debut later this week.
To Mehlman and Schein’s surprise, the film has become one of the most heart-wrenching and poignant projects they have ever worked on. It started out as a short profile of 1960’s anti-war activist Mayer Vishner, but after shooting began, the filmmakers realized it was turning into something they didn’t expect.
Vishner was one of the original members of the Youth International Party (known as the Yippies). As a teenager he became involved with counter-culture revolutionaries such as Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Phil Ochs. Though he was much younger than many of his comrades, Vishner’s ideas were a driving force behind the movement. But, as the era of peace and love wound down, the group lost its purpose; many of its members scattered or fell into drug and alcohol abuse, some, including Hoffman and Ochs, committed suicide.
Meeting up with Vishner nearly fifty years after his heyday, Schein expected to make a film about a vital contributor who shaped our nation’s history. Instead, he found an intensely lonely man struggling with depression and addiction. Without his fellow activists or a cause to fight for, Vishner felt he had become irrelevant and obsolete.
Mayer Vishner
It wasn’t far into the project when Vishner announced to Schein that he intended to end his life. This was the turning point of the movie. It is also when Mehlman and Shein decided to do something that most documentaries don’t usually do; Schein stepped out from behind the camera and integrated himself into his subject’s life (or, in this case, death). Schein felt a responsibility to Vishner. He felt like he had an ethical obligation to try to help him change his mind. As the film unfolds, the audience goes on a soul-searching journey with the filmmaker as well as Vishner. In the end, Vishner couldn’t be saved. He was 63 when he killed himself.
Schein shot the film for nearly three years before Mehlman stepped in to piece it together. While feature films follow a script and the story is in place from the beginning, often times a documentary’s focus comes out during post-production. Mehlman sorted through hundreds of hours of footage and gathered archival material to bring out the historical significance of Vishner’s life. The end result is a chronicle of a deeply thoughtful but troubled man, who many of us may have passed on the street and taken for just another old Greenwich Village hippie.
Mayer Vishner sitting between Tom Forcade (left) and Abbie Hoffman, 1971.
Left On Purpose has been making the rounds on the documentary festival circuit. It has been shown in Woodstock, NY, where it won the audience award, as well as at the ASTRA film festival in Romania and in Leeds, England.
It can be seen on Friday, Nov. 13 at 9:30 p.m. and Monday Nov. 16 at 12:30 p.m. at the IFC Center in New York City. Click here for ticket information.
Look for one of David Mehlman’s many upcoming projects – These C*cksucking Tears, a portrait of the first openly gay country singer as well as two episodes of Morgan Spurlock Inside Man airing on CNN starting in January.
One of Justin Schein’s new films is a look into the palliative care revolution featuring Dr. Meier of Mount Sinai Hospital (who can also be seen in Left On Purpose). It will be a mixture of verite and animation.
