MARK THE MEMORY

Creative Details from the editing desk:

work in process

approx.finishing date nov 2025

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Main CHARACTERS:

 

Our hero is Mark Joelson, Marisa’s  father. He is as little Mark the protagonist of the family, little Mark is the author of the memoire this film is based on. Little Mark from his perspective as a little boy also starts commenting interviews we listen to during the documentary.  He also comments historical events from the perspective of a little young boy, who is aware of things still by intuition and by heart,  more than by intellect. 

 

His father, Michel, who is the true hero of the family as he saved the Joelson”s from extinction and is responsible for the survival of the family. Michel is in regards of Mark the conflicting father figure and carries antagonistic moments throughout the hero s journey. Mark on his journey has to learn to deeper understand the trauma of his dad and we learn that Michel used his intuitive and intellectual instinct to foresee not only political and historical events but also to ACT in time. 

 

Marisa  is the female strong character of the new generation as the youngest daughter of Mark. She is the one in the family who steps in the footsteps of her father, and grandfather in carrying the ability to forsee and predict political, historic and economic events on an international global platform. 

She combines sharp intellect with open hearted instinct and is not only a financial analyst but also a creator for diverse art.

 

Tato, married to our Protagonist Mark Joelson is the dedicated mother and house wife. She often was left alone by her successful, professional traveling husband, who became a famous lawyer in Washington DC. She was at home with her children, yet working as a teacher, artist and she was involved in many community projects. She found her passion in painting and she created passionately a painting of the entire survival and immigration journey of Mark’s, her husbands family. 

 

RECREATED CHARACTERS:

Little Mark 

God s perspective: ERIC ROBERTS

 

 

MARK THE HERO and his JOURNEY: Story arch for the editing …from the editing desk

 

Mark (recreated) the child guides us through this personal family memoire. His innocent perspective of an eight  year old boy who tells us the story of his father fleeing with the terminal ill wife, the mother of Mark,  and his family with a de lux ticket  and some last minute visas on a boat from Portugal via Bermuda to the United States of America, New York city. For little Mark as a 9 year old boy this life saving journey feels like an adventure and all seems exciting as he is not fully aware of the deadly danger of extinction through the Nazis they just escaped. In New York , the land of freedom, he starts to face the hurdles of his new life: His mom is dying of cancer very early after the arrival in NYC, yet he still assumes she is alive and in the hospital as his father Michel told him.  For a year he was not told by his dad that his mom was already deceased.  The disappointment and the shock of little Mark to learn his mother was dead since a year already,  and to learn his father just not had told him, not even apologized for his denial, traumatized him deeply. 

This was the trigger for little Mark facing an identity crisis. He wished nothing more than to just be a cool worry free american teenager. Being a jewish immigrant, trying to overcome his accent and the feeling not to belong to this place furthermore caused him to feel lost and struggling to feel and recognize “ who he truly was”.  His father mostly had to leave him alone due to work and the daily struggle of survival and his Austrian grandmother who finally arrived in America was not american either: she was a strict european yet warm hearted austrian grandmother and could not help him to feel like a real American kid. She spoke not much English and even though he loved her austrian dishes  he was caught in a huge crisis of belonging, search of identity and purpose. Yet his life full of struggles became more and more a success story. He started an academic career and found his wife Tatoo with whom he had 3 wonderful children, while he was very successful to provide for his family a safe home and created financial wealth. 

 

Throughout the entire movie we show the main character as a young boy as if he is in a life review being able to comment on the interviewees who also tell stories about him and their own life.  When we have the historical sections in the movie we also interedit the historical factual storyline with emotional reactions of little Mark. Here are quiet some recreated scenes to visualize the audience the events to furthermore being able to identify with our hero.  Through out these comments and the reenactments, we learn about the inner world of little Mark. 

 

As a husband and father Mark was often more focused on work and financial stability for the family so he not showed much emotions and feelings. Through the little Mark perspective and with this memoire we unlock his inner world of this highly traumatized little child: Traumatized by the escape from war and his difficult years as a teenager and the true inner struggles of immigration that trigger safety, belonging, integration and our most inner emotional needs of connection, culture and heritage as a human being. Little Mark throughout his life forced himself in real life to function and suppress feelings if needed to become a successful member in society.

The audience will be emotionally impacted by exploring and being invited to step in the shoes of the hero and feeling for little Mark’s inner world: the struggle of little Mark growing up in a foreign country, having no mother and observing his fathers to struggle for survival caused him to long for safe and conservative family circumstances and values. Little Mark just was wishing for parents who help him to feel connected and to find identity. 

As a result of overcoming the hurdles our hero will become successful academically, yet in retrospective, he opens up about his love, his hate, his struggle and emotions. We learn about the difficulties of families during war and separation, we learn about its trauma and impact for generations to come. Most of it we feel and explore through an innocent perspective of the little boy Mark. Ultimately the audience will be triggered by the emotional brutality of war and separation that is a repetitive reality pattern of human's history tie today. This self destructive pattern causes in our youngest humans our children, our new generations horrific trauma that is affecting us all and forcing us to repeat and recreate the cycle of self destruction of a species. (Trauma causes the traumatized to repeat patterns and traumatizing the weaker)  Our hero, little Mark guides us in this life review through the historical recollection and reflection towards a new hope: the spiritual component, the longing of humans for change and resolution: peace, unison, and empathy towards each other.  And the question emerges: will we ever evolve as humans towards a better a more healthy and safer place with ourselves and each other as a human race? Or will we simply repeat history til we extinct each other before we replace our selfs with AI and artificial intelligence that will be implanted to our brain? 

 

Old philosophical questions will be analyzed by the young boy through the diverse interviewees and the cry for a better world will become loud and emotional triggering. 

 

The timeframe of this life review of little Mark will reach from his father to today as well as the historical arch from WW2 to the potential threat of WW3. More and more diverse voices are going to be integrated in the story. More and more  interview partners from all kind of different backgrounds will show up. In this part of the movie Marisa Joelson is becoming an important player in helping to provide hope for a resolution for a family timeline and a family system: She will connect dots and bring together most diverse characters through her song production of the HUMANITY SONG , which was inspired by her father's memoire and her international work. 

More diverse people come together: Michael the Jamaican singer of the Humanity song will be interviewed: He was born in the same year like Mark, our protagonist, yet he partied in NYC and performed in nightclubs in NYC while Mark was sleeping to succeed in his  disciplined  day schedule to study with the high elite in Washington. Michael starts sharing his story as well… he grew up as a neibourgh of Bob Marley and fled Jamaica to join the military in UK as the first black soldier before he performed as a musician in nightclubs in NYC with musicians who became famous later. The Ukrainian Bass player of the Humanity  produced  by Marisa Joelson and Andy Kravitz (a famous music producer from Venice Beach, California) fled Ukraine with his wife in time to escape the war. Maya found him performing in the streets of Venice Beach, We listen to his story and again we will get reminded of the Horror of War, separation and destruction. 

 

In the end we are not able to interlectiually provide an answer to the audience, even though we interview Psychologists who work with the Swiss family system of Hellinger, Neurologists, who study a common gen all humans inherited , interviewing a Rabbi, interviewing a Quantum physicists about Time, Past present and future, about the idea of what reality is or could be. All these interviews reflect a study and the search for answers about the generational trauma of human history caused through wars and separation, while repeating itself in a vicious cycle. The hope is to search for a pathway to  potentially  break old toxic habits and behaviors to finally reach a higher consciousness for an ultimate better outcome and stop self destruction and extinction. 

 

Yet the storyline interferes always with little Mark who starts opening up how he feels about his mom s death, his struggle to feel lost in Brooklyn NYC, his anger towards his dad, and his suppressed fears and secret feelings…while the hero shows brilliance in his life achievements, starting with his academical carrier and further in his practice as an international lawyer in Washington, we get to know through little Mark all the emotional secrets and suppressed feelings, We dive in his ego, it and super ego (Freud). The audience starts feeling deeply for the protagonist and starts  loving our hero and his message to us: Did I do my best in achieving not only goals in the superficial world but did I achieve my goal serving with my talent humanity to rise to a higher level of consciousness? Mark, little Mark and the audience hope for a better future:  Peace, united safety and equality for all humans. 

 

 

But in the end we land  “in the shoes” of  little Mark: his innocent unconditional loving spirit who just wants to learn, grow, heal and become a better human. This is the inspiring end of the movie, while we listen to the Humanity song and witness a life review of the Marks Memoire while little Mark dances to the humanity video clip from Marisa Joelson, while he seems to dance on the boat that departed Lisbon to the United States of America, to NYC towards the statue of liberty. He will take us all with him, the feeling of joy and unity listening to the humanitarian song  Little Mark is dancing to it, wildly and free as time seems not linear and all happens is one: past, present future. A collage of Marks life in fast flashes end this life review while Mark dances free and happy and safe. 

 

The Joelson’s of the 20th century

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTERVIEWs: Main characters and side characters. 

 

Marisa  about her carrier, her newsletters of meta point, her family and her inspiration as an artist. 

 

Tato Joelson, Mother of Marisa and wife of Mark Joelson about her life, her life with Mark, her love story and marriage with Mark and her life as an artist, a painter 

 

Michael from Jamaica, living now on a boat in Marina del Ray California and singer of the HUMANTARIAN SONG

 

Andy Kravitz Music producer we learn about his career and him growing up in Philadelphia as a jewish red haired kid being bullied

 

Marisa's jewish Aunt in Sacramento, about her life

 

Percy and the survival of his jewish mother escaping the holocaust

 

Interview with an historian in DACHAU the holocaust museum

 

The Ukrainian Bass player

 

A RABBEI

 

A quantuum physicist

 

A neurologist

 

Phychologist about Hellinger family systems

 

A scientist in the field of genetics

 

A historian 

 

 

Editing Notes. 

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