Marina Arsenijevic, composer of the music for the movie ‘Tower to the people’, and Joseph Sikorski at the  world premiere of the Nikola Tesla-based film, ‘Tower to the People’

Joseph Sikorsky made two movies about Nikola Tesla. First one is the documentary ‘Tower to the people’ which tells us about Tesla’s last laboratory, Wardenclyffe laboratory, on the Long Island, about hundred kilometers away from New York. The other movie is ‘Fragments from Olympus’ which we filmed with co-author Michael Calomino.

Joseph Sikorsky, director, producer, screenwriter and a great fan of Nikola Tesla, became fascinated with the famous scientist about 15 years ago, when he was in a book store and accidentally found some material which speaks about F.B.I investigation of Nikola Tesla’s work. The provided document contained chapters about deathly rays and wireless energy. Sikorsky was very attracted by all of it.

The enigmatic life of electrical genius and visionary Nikola Tesla unravels through a posthumous F.B.I. investigation into his particle beam research, including a new super weapon called a “death ray”.

During the height of World War II, the F.B.I. races to secure the papers and experiments of an enigmatic recently deceased scientist, who shortly before his death claimed to perfect a new super-weapon… a particle beam that could destroy ten thousand planes from 250 miles away… an invention referred to as the “death ray”. Did the machine exist? Was it a threat to the war effort? Or was the radical inventor mad? It sounds like science fiction, but it is true.

• I started to read about Tesla and the more I read my obsession grew bigger. I couldn’t believe that I have finished school, went through America’s educational system without ever hearing about Nikola Tesla. I have decided to start a mission that will raise consciousness about Tesla and his accomplishments. I wanted to show how he fought and to correct the mistake that history made and as I work in film industry I thought that movie is the best way for completing this mission. That is why I made ‘Fragments from Olympus’.
• In the screenplay Fragments from Olympus, federal authorities race for an answer, as they probe the life of genius inventor Nikola Tesla. Based on recently declassified documents, and the amazingly triumphant and tragic life of Nikola Tesla,  this is the story about one of the world’s most forgotten hero. Sikorski’s goal was to bring the achievements of Nikola Tesla to public attention, to help restore the credit that history has mistakenly placed elsewhere.
• – Michael Calomino and I decided to tell story of Tesla through examination of investigation that F.B.I did. At the same time I found out that Tesla’s laboratory Wardenclyffe, that I am only 40 minutes away, is in very bad condition and that it may soon be sold. My team and I wanted to keep the historical laboratory, so we connected with groups like Tesla science center. As we all know we collected money in 2012. Through historical venture that was started by Matthew Inman. The restauration is worth millions, so we decided to make documentary about past, present and future of Wardenclyffe. We named the movie ‘Tower to the people’.

1. Jane Alcorn, the presdent of Tesla Science Center, and Joseph Sikorski

Josef Sikorsky says that he and his team went through many troubles and came across many tests in 13 years of dealing with this problem. Their interests for Tesla grew bigger since the movie ‘Fragment from Olympus’ won the Long Island International Film Festival, and also since the movie was a quarter-finalist at the American Screenwriting Competition, the largest screenwriting competition in the USA.

Unfortunately, many wanted to represent Tesla in the negative way, like crazy scientist and out mission had the opposite goal. Through the movie we tried to remove misconceptions about him. That’s why we missed many offers. We realized that we have to keep the control over the movie if we wanted to present the exact Tesla’s portrait, so we turned to independent production. We found a great support from significant people, and some great Hollywood names joined our mission. For example Michael Lerner, nominated for Oscar, actress Sean Young from the ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Wall Street’, actor Leo Rossi moviemaker, Howard Smith from ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Matrix’.

• We succeeded at collecting resources for continuing pre-production and then we decided to donate the money for actions that included redemption of Wardenclyffe. We donated 30.000 $ for Tesla Science Center. On the other hand, our documentary ‘Tower to the people’ had completely different path. Interviewing so many significant people connected to Tesla was a great honor. One of them was William Terbo, last blood relative of Nikola Tesla. From the museum of Nikola Tesla in Belgrade we got some rare photographs and sketches so we succeeded at reconstructing the Wardencluffe tower for our documentary. I will keep raising consciousness about Tesla in America.
• A genius and a hero

‘At first I got interested in Tesla because of the deathly rays, and because of the machine for making earthquakes but the more I found, the more obsessed I become. So now I am more interested in some other technologies that he developed. From my perspective he didn’t even have to invent anti-gravity machine to reach the top of the science world. Working for benefit of mankind without any personal finance interests makes him a bigger hero’, says Sikorsky.

Milica Puric

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SERBIAN VESRION – SRPSKA VERZIJA

Džozef Sikorski,  reditelj i producent dokumentarnog filma o Nikoli Tesli ‘Kula ka ljudima’

Odbrana skromnog genija

Reditelj Džozef Sikorski snimio je do sada dva filma o naučniku Nikoli Tesli. Prvi je dokumentarni film ‘Kula ka ljudima’ (Tower to the people) koji govori o poslednjoj Teslinoj labaratoriji Vordenklif na ostrvu Long Ajlend 100-ak kilometara od Njujorku, a drugi igrani film ‘Fragmenti sa Olimpa’ (Fragments from Olympus) koji je uradio sa koautorom Majkl Kalominom.

Džozef SIkorski, nezavisni reditelj, producent, scenarista i veliki Teslin obožavalac, postao je opčinjen Nikolom Teslom pre 15-ak godina kada je u jednoj knjižari nabasao na nekakav materijal u kome se govorilo o tome kako je FBI, posle Tesline smrti, istraživao njegov rad. U priloženom FBI dokumentu govorilo se o smrtonosnim zracima i bežičnoj energiji i to je veoma privuklo njegovu pažnju.

• Počeo sam da čitam o Tesli i što sam vise čitao moja opsesija njime je postajala sve veća i veća. Nisam mogao da poverujem da sam prošao kroz celo školovanje, obrazovani sistem u Americi i da nisam nikad čuo o njemu. Odlučio sam da krenem u misiju koja bi podigla svest o Tesli i njegovim dostignućima. Želeo sam da pokažem kako se borio i da ispravim istorijsku nepravdu, a pošto radim u filmskoj industriji mislio sam da je najbolje ostvariti ovu misiju kroz film. Tako je nastao film ‘Fragmenti sa Olimpa’. Majkl Kalomino i ja odlučili smo da kažemo Teslinu priču krtoz istinito FBI ispitivanje njegovih istraživanja. U isto vreme saznao sam da je Teslina labaratorija Vordenklif, od koje sam udaljen 40 minuta, u veoma lošem stanju i da postoji opasnost da bude prodata. Moj tim i ja smo se zaintersovali za očuvanje istorijske labartorije i povezali sa grupama poput Teslinog naučnog centra. Kao što svi znamo novac je sakupljen 2012. godine kroz istorijski poduhvat koji je pokrenuo Metju Inman. Restauracija će koštati milione, a mi smo odlučili da napravimo dokumentarni film o prošlosti, sadašnjosti i budućnosti Vordenklifa. Film se zove ‘Kula ka ljudima’.

Džozef Sikorski kaže da su on i njegov tim kroz 13 godišnje bavljenje Teslom  prošli kroz mnoge turbulencije i naišli na mnoge testove. Interesovanje za Teslu povećalo se otkako je film ‘Fragmenti sa Olimpa’ pobedio na Internacionalnom filmskom festivalu na Long Ajlendu (Long Island International Film Festival) i otkako je bio četrtfinalista na najvećem takmičenju scenarija u Americi.

Na žalost, mnogi su želeli da ga predstave u negativnom svetlu, kao ludog naučnika, a naša misija je imala upravo suprotan cilj – da kroz film odstranimo zablude o njemu. Zato smo propustili mnoge ponude. Shvatili smo da moramo da zadržimo kontrolu nad filmom, ako želimo da prezentiramo tačan Teslin portret, pa smo se delimično okrenuli ka nezavisnoj produkciji. Dobili smo veliku podršku značajnih ljudi, a našoj misiji pridružila su se neka velika holivudska imena kao što je Majkl Lernar, nominovan za Oscara, glumica Šon Jang iz filmova ‘Blejdraner’ i Volstrit’, glumac Leo Rosi i kinematograf Hauard Smit (Howard Smith) iz ‘Hari Potera’ i Matriksa.

• Uspeli smo da nekako prikupimo pare kako bismo nastavili predprodukciju, a onda smo odlučili da novac doniramo za tadašnju akciju prikupljanja novca za otkup Vordenklifa. Tako smo donirali 30.000 dolara Teslinom naučnom centru. Sa druge strane, naš dokumentarni film ‘Kula ka ljudima’ imao je mnogo drugačiji put. Bila je velika čast intervjuisati tako mnogo značajnih ličnosti koje su bile vezane za Teslu, kao što je Vilijam Terbo, poslednji čovek koji je sa Teslom u krvnom srodstvu. Od Teslinog muzeja iz Beograda dobili smo retke fotografije i nacrte tako da smo uspeli da rekonstuišemo kulu Vordenklifa za naš dokumentarac. Jedva čekam da nastavimo da podižemo svest o Tesli u Americi’.

Genije i heroj

• Tesla me je najpre zainteresovao zbog smrtonosnih zrakova i zbog mašine za pravljenje zemljotresa. Međutim, što vise saznajem o njemu to sam sve opsednutiji, a sada sam mnogo zainteresovaniji za neke druge tehnologije koje je razvio. Iz moje perspektive, on nije ni morao da izume antigravitacionu mašinu da bi osvojio jedno od najvišijh mesta u nauci. Njega već čini herojem to što je radio za dobrobit čovečanstva, a bez ikakvih ličnih finansijskih interesa – kaže Sikorski.
• Milica Puric