Dr. Montague Ullman (1916 - 2008)

Dr Ullman's career spanned an early period in the practice of neurology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis, followed by a transition to community psychiatry, and the directorship of the Department of Psychiatry at the Maimonides Medical Center. He resigned in 1974 and since then has been engaged in extending dream work into the community. In recent years Dr. Ullman has been in the forefront of the movement to stimulate public interest in dreams and to encourage the development of dream sharing groups.

Working with a small group process that he felt was both safe and effective he has spent the past three decades leading such groups both here and abroad, especially in Sweden. There is now an organization in Sweden, The Dream Group Forum (Drömgruppsforum) (formed 1990) and the respective Finnish Dream Group Forum (formed 2003) both devoted to the training of others in this approach.

Dr. Ullman has written numerous papers on the neurophysiological, clinical and social aspects of dreams and is the author of Behavioral Changes in Patients with Strokes author of Appreciating Dreams and co-author of several books, including Dream Telepathy Working with Dreams, co-editor of the Handbook of States of Consciousness and The Variety of Dream Experience

Dr. Ullman left us June 7th, 2008

The team

Director: Ingrid Blidberg

has directed documentaries including Heartstrings (2004), Glimpses from the Waldorf School (1996), Seeds of Love (with Lena Dahlberg – 1995), A little film about Fathers (with Jolijt Ivarsson and Anette Wiman - 1993). Ingrid has many years’ experience in theatre as a producer, playwright and theatre manager.

Photographer and editor: Maja Kekonius
Finished her studies at the Gothenburg School of Film Directors in 2005, where she received the Carl Larsson award. Besides directing, editing and photographing film, she also is working with casting, art videos and commercials. Her most recent project was as assistant director for Old Issues, New Glories (2008) by Katarina Nitsch.

Photographer: Robert Lundmark
Has directed the films The Thought That Counts, In Corners, and No Law 4000. Robert directs and works as an actor, photographer and editor of films.

Animator: Juan Alvarez

Education, Production Management at the Institut for higher TV-education in Gothenburg. Masters degree in animation and Advanced computer imaging and animation course II at the University in Pompeu Fabre, Barcelona. Works as animator, photographer and softwaredeveloper. Homepage

Sounddesginer: Thomas Frank
Works as studio technician and has studied sound at the film school in Gothenburg. He is now studying audio visiual history at the Gothenburg University. Thomas has worked with many film productions.

Music: Wildbirds & Peacedrums

Mariam Wallentin and Andreas Werliin - song and percussion. They both were educated at the Musical high school in Gothenburg and received the 2008 Prize for Jazz in Sweden. Records: "The Snake" (2008) and "Heartcore" (2007). Homepage

Music: THOTH – prayforming artist

works in New York and San Francisco. The Herma: The Life and Land of Nular-in. A solopera in three acts. Violin, Vocals, Foot Percussion, Spoken Word.

Technical support: Erik Löderstedt

Elektronic musician, runs a label. Loves computer and sound technology.

The Process

Thanks to support by Film in Vasterbotten I was able to go to New York and participate in one of Dr Ullman’s workshops in Ardsley during theSpring of 2004. With me was Robert Lundmark as photographer, and we filmed Dr Ullman’s lecture about his method and interviewed him about his ideas about dreams and mankind.

In New York we went to the Bethesda statue where we encountered the prayformanceartist THOTH in the vault in front of the statue. I continued to follow my curiosity on dreams and went to Copenhagen where some of the most interesting dream therapists in the world were gathered for the IASD conference. The search for more material took me to the North of Norway and a Lapplander who worked with one of my dreams.

By this point I had quite a bit of research material -- a pilot but no money to continue working with the film. Some years later I contacted the organisation Dromgruppsforum and they gave me some money so I could get the project back on track. This time I decided to concentrate on Dr Ullman’s method on working with dreams in small groups.

I had a new photographer, Maja Kekonius, who also edited the film with me. In spite of the constant lack of money, the work was full of pleasure. Dr Ullman’s way of talking, filled with humour and imagery, is both difficult and fun to edit. I wanted to make a film that would work for those who are curious about what their dreams want to tell them, but have never worked in a dream group themselves. I also wanted to make it possible for future generations to get to know Dr Ullman a little

bit and hear about his method in his own words. I’m very happy that he had the time to see the film and that he liked it.