Barnet Bain Tells 'Milton’s Secret'
Who is Barnet Bain?
According to his website - “Barnet Bain is an award-winning motion picture producer and director, radio broadcaster, author, podcaster, and creativity expert.”
This description, however, does very little justice for the man I recently came to know. If you asked me, I’d say "Barnet Bain is a voice of clarity, discontent with idling at the surface of any story or life in general.” Barnet digs ‘deeper’, broaching every project, opportunity and experience from a healthy, aware and soulful plane where very few live, today, despite the desperate need.
This is what gives his newest film Milton’s Secret the ability to transcend all physical realities, making the viewer feel just as much a part of the movie as the actors, themselves -- and who wouldn’t revel in the possibility of working with Donald Sutherland? Barnet Bain’s unique perspectives bring insight into the realities of bullying beyond what I have ever understood before. If you think you know it all about this flaw in our current society, think again.
Watch the movie and read his interview below. You will learn a ton.
What is your personal mantra?
My litmus test is comprised of two realities in my life: I am more concerned with where I’m going than where I have been; I am more concerned with what I can learn than reaffirm.
Provide a bit about your personal background.
I grew up in small town in Northern Quebec, where I spent a great deal of time outdoors. Skiing was a gym activity if you can imagine that. I now live in a similar town in California -- also small - where mountains meet the sea and nature floods the senses. I feel blessed to live here. The beauty helps counteract the madness of life.
Share with us the reason you chose to make the film Milton’s Secret.
A number of years ago, the publisher of Milton’s Secret showed me the book through galleys and a manuscript. I realized that this book provided a very nice platform for a family story that would deal with some of the societal issues I was personally concerned with -- the most obvious one being “bullying.” This learned behavior begins at a much younger age than most realize and arises within even the most loving home environments. Bullying, eventually, evolves into “bullying self talk” which colors our lives and the world in unpleasant shades that permeate everything. Milton’s Secret shares this problem while providing needed solutions and relief.
What surprised you about working with this cast?
It took me a long time to find this cast. I spent half a year. I admire many things about them, but what they all have in common is that they possess the ability to connect with each other at a level enormously important to an actor and movie. They brought excitement, authenticity, and spontaneity to the experience. I am extremely grateful to all of them.
How can people see this movie?
The movie is in theaters now but it is also available on Amazon.
You have adopted so many roles in your life stemming from a deeply spiritual core. How and when did this spiritual awakening happen for you?
My spiritual awakening happened to me on my mother’s death bed but that first instance gave way to countless others, down through the years. We are all spiritual beings and we all, eventually, wake up to that truth.
You’ve written two books thus far - ‘The Book of Doing and Being: Rediscovering Creativity in Life, Love and Work’, (Atria, 2015) and ‘The Third Story: Awakening the Love that Transforms’, (Spindrift, 2013). Do you believe that our nation is spiritually starving?
No, I don’t. I believe our nation is spectacularly, spiritually courageous. What is going on in our nation - as difficult as it is - is a beacon to the entire world. What those in my industry call “shadow material” is bubbling up to the surface, providing us the ability to “put everything out on the table” and eventually work it all in together. As leaders of the free world, what we use to understand leadership to be is going through a spiritual rebirth. This country is a place of spiritual giants.
You partnered with “Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Foundation”, which means that millions of community, corporate and educational leaders (including the White House) are using your creativity content in their 2016-2107 curriculum for communities, schools and corporations. What exactly is the basis of this creative content you have provided?
Our imaginations, once free, become highly structured by age three.. My creative content helps to push back those boundaries to help free the imagination to grow and flourish. In today’s society, we believe that the humanities are dispensable. It is not. Without the humanities, PEOPLE devolve.
When all is said and done, how do you want to be remembered?
I loved.
They say that “Great minds think alike.” I don’t agree as I have yet to meet anyone who thinks and interprets anything close to Barnet Bain. He pushes his audience into new realms through everything he takes on -- whether that be a project or a simple conversation. We need more thinkers like him because these are the type of people that yield the ability to explain truth in its purest, most accurate, and humanest of forms, -- unlike that which much of this world seems to have become accustomed too -- cold, hard, and disconnected.
Many thanks to Barnet Bain and Jive Communications for making this interview possible