Download the Press Kit: The Film “In with the Old World ” is a 27 minute dramatic motion picture that was written, directed and produced by David Birnbaum . It was originally shot on super-16 film stock and blown up to 35mm. A drama that addresses and challenges contemporary notions of child abuse, the film makes use of lush symphonic orchestration and a vast sound canvas (along with the Dolby Digital sound format) in order to immerse the audience member within an all-encompassing cinematic experience The film premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival in late August, 2004. Director's Notes The Bounds Of Will Within A Culture Of Fear The pure violence that surrounds a good and proper childhood is the stuff of legend. Most can remember the emotional immediacy and associated physical response that lives within the confines of the playground. The sensitive child soon learns to respond to what surrounds him, slowly learning the rules of the game, until suddenly and at once he is propelled through the exit door and into the world. The question remains: Does he emerge into adulthood relatively unscathed, or forever scarred by his experience, doomed to relive and impart its barbarities in a cycle continuing well into adulthood? Would a so-called “normal” life be possible or even desirable for the child who’s been through more than his share of torment? As the sheer immediacy of emotional childhood experience is most often brutally cut off in the radical shift to post-adolescence (whether though learned acquiescence, Ritalin, or preservational instinct), the human desire for a clear and reasonably defined system of living can make the transition toward a placid adulthood endurable. A steady job, combined with a definable schedule and solid relationship could easily render remote the traumas of distant past, relegating them to the late-night darkness of nightmare. As the passions are suffocated and rapidly become latent, a man becomes bound to his service to routine—his choices steadily becoming less apparent to him. Only then, fully formed, static, sexless and balding can he truly disappear completely within his created universe. Yet what happens when an unresolved past experience lying dormant in the unconscious is abruptly awakened by the mid-life predilection for questioning? What if an individual, ostensibly secure in the scheme of his life, is forced into the sudden realisation, however unintentional, that his daily existence may actually be a product of a missed opportunity? Protected from these uncertainties by the frantic preoccupation with the standard administration of modern life and work, it might take the advocacy of an outside influence, whether real or imagined, to break the cycle, foment a crisis, and begin an inquisition. In With the Old World was originally conceived as an exploration of the effects of past child violence and abuse on the adult, and the function of particular systems of living that distract the conscious mind from the burden of having to deal with the past. Though our dreams may be haunted by the perception of an evil that may or may not consciously exist, our use of the past can make vivid sense out of an unlived life that only the validation of such an evil permits. It could be the fear of acknowledgement itself that provides much needed comfort where only disappointment would otherwise reside. That is, until your protector becomes your antagonist. And you are unexpectedly and with force brought back to where it all began… - David Birnbaum, 2004