Spectacle Films Inc

Spectacle Films Inc
Established	6/16/1992
Entity Type	For-profit
Incorporated State	New York
State ID#	1644379
EIN	UNK
Physical Address	10 FISKE PLACE, SUITE 319, MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK, 10550
Mail Address	10 FISKE PLACE, SUITE 319, MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK, 10550
Registered Agent	Cevin Soling
Doing Business As	N/A
Past Names	Sponge Music Corp.
Website	SpectacleFilms.com

Spectacle Films, Inc, is a New York State domestic business corporation registered to Cevin Soling at 10 Fiske Place, Ste. 319, Mount Vernon, NY, 10550, and associated with The Satanic Temple throughout 2013 in press releases as the film company that would be capturing its work as part of a future documentary.

It was founded June, 16, 1992, as Sponge Music Corp. before changing its name to "Spectacle Films, Inc" on Oct. 7, 2004.

Getting Started

In an interview about the release of a 2002 music album through his company Xemu Records, Soling explained how he began making movies, beginning with "Hole in the Head", released in 1998:

[T]he way I got into film, for instance, I never went to film school, I just had an idea for a documentary after reading this article, this interview with Paul McCartney where he was talking about having dinner one night with John Lennon, and Lennon was saying something to the effect of, "I s'pect we get holes drilled in our heads. I read somewhere it expands consciousness." And McCartney responding, "Well, you get it done, and if it's great I'll think about it." I'm a huge Beatle fanatic, and read all the interviews, and it was so jarring, because generally they're asked the same questions and the same answers and the same anecdotes come up, and I can't imagine how tedious and horrible it must be for them to do interviews, having to repeat the same answers. But this was something that had never been mentioned in any other interview, never came up. And so it was kind of surprising to see the story. And then I did a little bit of research and found the background of this doctor who came up with this theory about drilling holes in people's heads, and how it results in increased brain blood volume. And he believed that it resulted in greater brain metabolism and expanded state of consciousness. So it seemed like there might be some truth to that. So I was kind of curious and decided to study it, but to make it into a film. And I had no film experience, but it was like, Hey, why not make a movie.

In 1999, Spectacle Films released Urine: Good Health, which describes itself as an hour-long documentary that "objectively explores the claims of proponents of urine therapy as well as the views of some of the world’s preeminent doctors and researchers regarding the medical uses of urine." In March of 2013, Soling and Spectacle Films Inc. sent out a press release to remind people that film existed, for some reason.

The Satanic Temple

In April 2013, a press release from Spectacle Films announced a lecture on "The History of Satanic Worship", with speakers Lucien Greaves, Szandora Lavey, and Soling.

The Cultural Studies Club of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education will be hosting ‘A History of Satanic Worship’ to be presented April 11, 2013, by academics and practicing Satanists. Satanic Temple spokesperson, Lucien Greaves, will present ‘A History of Satanism from The Old Testament to The Satanic Temple’ accompanied and followed by long-time public Satanism advocate, Szandora Lavey, who will offer a personal perspective on the modern practice of Satanism. Cevin Soling, of Spectacle Films, a Harvard Graduate School of Education student, will speak about the use of religion in the service of social activism and as a potential device to protect civil liberties.

A June 2013 press release claimed, "Spectacle Films will be documenting The Satanic Temple’s efforts toward contribution to the Adopt-a-Highway program in an ongoing project aimed at chronicling the Satanic organization’s unique activities."

A press release from July 2013 claimed that The Satanic Temple was "New York-based" and that the company had documented a same-sex ceremony over the grave of the "mother of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps". That project does not seem to have been completed by the company, although similar footage seems to have ultimately appeared in the 2019 Penny Lane documentary Hail Satan?.

Both press releases also promoted an Adopt-A-Highway fundraiser for New York City on Indiegogo with a deadline of August 05, 2013. According to the website, the fundraiser collected $2,244 of $10,000 (or $15,000) before its deadline, releasing the funds to the Lucien Greaves account but it is not clear whether the volunteer action subsequently took place.

Pseudonyms

The author of several press releases for Spectacle Films from 2013 are listed as Samuel Hines, but the associated phone number "212-807-0290" was the same used for other Spectacle Films releases with Soling's name, such as Urine: Good Health, and other Soling projects including Spectacle Films itself, John Frum , He Will Come , and Xemu Records Inc .

Other associated names include Paul Fillmore and Paul Anson, the latter of whom fundraised for The Satanic Temple's early and disappointing Adopt-A-Highway fundraiser, but also future Soling projects for Spectacle Films, like The Gilligan Manifesto.

Completed Films

Per IMDB.com, these are the six completed films produced by Spectacle Films, but it does not list Urine: Good Health; John Frum, He Will Come which seems to be the same film as Mr. Cevin and The Cargo Cult despite being released more than a year apart; additionally, Deflation (2001) with Keira Knightley seems to be an error, perhaps from another, similarly-named company.

A Hole in the Head (1998), dir. Eli Kabillio

• A Hole In The Head examines the development of "modern" trepanation as used by people in the United Kingdom, The United States, and The Netherlands for the purpose of attaining a higher level of consciousness. This procedure, used by the ancient Egyptians, Incas, and others, is believed by the voluntarily trepanned to allow for renewed brain pulsations that increase brain blood volume and thereby improve brain function. Interviews regarding the history and efficacy of the procedure are also held with some of the world's most respected neurosurgeons and anthropologists.

Urine: Good Health (1999), dir. Eli Kabillio

• Urine Therapy is an unconventional and controversial practice that involves the use of one's own urine for health benefits - a practice that has been employed throughout history by people around the world.

The War on the War on Drugs (2002), dir. Cevin Soling

• Comprised of over 60 independent short scenes shot in a wide variety of cinematic styles, THE WAR ON THE WAR ON DRUGS parodies drug war propaganda and those who insist we fight the drug war at any cost.

The War on Kids (2009), dir. Cevin Soling

• THE WAR ON KIDS shows how American public schools continue to become more dangerously authoritarian. In addition to failing in their mission to provide education, they erode the country's democratic foundation by denying the most basic civil rights to youth and often resemble prisons. Written by Cevin Soling

Ikland (2011), dir. Cevin Soling

• The Ik were described as sadists who starved their own children and crapped in front of each others' homes for fun. They were reviled as the worst and most depraved beings on Earth, and it was recommended that their culture be destroyed for its own good. No one has dared to film them in the 40 years since they were first studied. Ikland recounts a quest to re-connect with a lost corner of humanity. For director Cevin Soling, they represented the last outpost of imagination in a world devoid of myth. He risked his life, and the lives of his crew, by traveling through war-ravaged northern Uganda to reach them. Their experience was alien and surreal in ways only Jonathan Swift might have imagined.

John Frum, He Will Come (2016), dir. David Guinan

• On the tiny island of Tanna in the South Pacific, a cult religion believes that an American deity named John Frum will one day bring them an abundance of gifts and lead them to salvation. This film chronicles one man's attempt to fulfill this strange prophecy.

Mr. Cevin and The Cargo Cult (2017), dir. David Guinan

• Harvard graduate student, Cevin Soling, sets out to fulfill the tribal prophecy of a mysterious cargo cult - this is the story of what happens when he succeeds.

Tiffany Brittany Brooke (2020), dir. Cevin Soling

• The story of a young woman who leaves home to go to Hollywood so that she can follow her dream of becoming a prostitute. Despite her best efforts, she is unable to find a pimp and instead gets drawn into the sleazy world of acting, which she tries to keep secret from her parents to avoid humiliation.

Books

The website for Spectacle Films Inc. lists the books The Bomb That Followed Me Home (Rumpleville Chronicles), a part of a series of books also published by Soling.

Spectacle Films was the publisher of Soling's book The Student Resistance Handbook, which was featured as a resource on the website for the nonprofit The Alliance For Self-directed Education Inc that Soling served on the board of directors from 2016 to 2019.