JOURNEY INTO SELF, 1968

(FILM DIRCETED BY TOM SKINNER, 45 min)

Journey into Self is a film which portrays what was originally a 16-hour group-therapy session (Encounter Group) for eight strangers edited down into 45 minutes exploring
just four of the people involved. The session was facilitated by psychologists Carl Rogers and Richard Farson and the film itself won the 1968 Academy Award for Best
Documentary feature.

 

"The question they examine is: What is like to be oneself, What are other people like when they are themselves?" (Stanley Kramer, introduction to Journey Into Self )

 

The film is hung on Carl Rogers person-centred therapy, which focused on the commonalities that exist within each individual, no matter how different they may
appear on the surface. By being subjected to such an intense session of communication, the participants break through their exterior barriers, shed their masks, and achieve a
genuine empathy and understanding for one another. The collective unconscious is exposed revealing a heartwarming unity and sensitivity amongst these seemingly disparate individuals.

 

The production style and setting for Journey Into Self is very simplistic allowing the viewer to access the group as though they were, as Stanley Kramer put it “a peeping tom”. Due to this pared down approach it is only the ageing quality of film and sound which reminds us that we are looking into a situation nearly fifty years old. Issues of race, gender, age and class are still so readily accessible and pertinent making Journey Into Self a timeless insight into the human relationship and what it means to be together.