Text Box:                 RSF Native Travels South for New Documentary 'Sacred Geometry'       By Whitney Youngs 5/8/07              After spending three years in the Yucatán Peninsula and parts of  Central America, RSF native Elizabeth Upton is just about ready to  lock herself away in a dark studio for the editing and post  production phase of her new documentary "Sacred Geometry," which  examines the unique life and times of the Mayas as it relates to  numbers, the universe, their architecture and their deep connection  with nature.  The documentary's music is scored by Rancho Santa Fe-  based businessman Daniel Gonzalez. Upton is hoping to finish the work  by late 2007 or early 2008.  According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, "Sacred geometry can  be described as a belief system attributing a religious or cultural  value to many of the fundamental forms of space and time."  "Sacred Geometry is nature's equation – it's what we can see and find  in everything around us. It was a sacred science that lasted until the       Renaissance and for some reason it dropped off, and I was curious  to find out why," said Upton about her decision to produce the  documentary. "It's looking at [the concept] through the lens of the  Mayan consciousness, but also a great universal lens and what we can  learn from that and why that's important to implement the knowledge in       our lives."  Upton heard of Gonzalez, who migrated to the U.S. from Mexico City  more than 10 years ago and now owns Smart Auto Detail in the RSF  Village, from a friend in the business who is an independent producer  and has worked with him in the past.  "I was living in Northern California at that point and I sent him an  email, and he sent me one back, and it was just so warm. He later  sent me a demo and I loved it and he invited me to have dinner at his  house with him and his wife," recalled Upton about hooking up with  Gonzalez. "Unfortunately, I wasn't in the area and so mainly it was  corresponding through email for a matter of about eight months and  then when we finally met it just felt like family."  Gonzalez has worked on film scores in the past and fairly recently  finished one for a film called "The Enemy" that was to open in  Berlin, Germany, this year. He also wrote music for a Logitech  commercial and is now working on the music for "Sacred Geometry."  Upton, 25, graduated from UC Davis with a degree in anthropology and  film – as one of its first majors – in 2003.  "I helped create my own film major, Davis didn't have one before so I  helped write and create it and now they have one," said Upton.  Upton, who speaks fluent Spanish, lived in Mexico as a foreign-       exchange student to learn the language and live with a       family. At that point, she had already produced a few documentaries,       including one on the Grand Canyon. Upton has won awards at film festivals for  her works "Romania: Paint the Door Open" and "Ecogeomorphology." The  former is about the struggles of Romanian orphans and the programs  that help them, while the latter is a about of group of Davis  students majoring in various fields – ecogeomorphology is the  combined study of ecology, geology and biology – traveling down the  Colorado River as they conduct research.  "I went there and purposely didn't bring my camera," recalled Upton  about her foreign-exchange experiences, and who visited a site named  Uxmal that brought her to tears.  "There was this feeling I had that was just so very deep and I didn't       know what it was or could understand it, but I was overwhelmed in all  senses of the word and I knew I had to come back and figure out why."  On the plane ride home, Upton met a bona fide cryptologist who for  the last 20 years had been working on dissecting the meaning of the  Mayan numerical and symbolic codes and told her Sacred Geometry is  the language of the universe.  "Mayans would build temples with the same design portions as our own  bodies. You look at the structures, and it's aesthetically pleasing  and you don't really quite know why but with Sacred Geometry you can  break it down and see the dynamic proportions that are embedded  within those buildings and it makes sense," said Upton. "Its' the  same thing that's on a nautilus shell or a pine cone, or an orange  when you cut it open or a flower's petals, and somehow along the way  that knowledge didn't get passed down enough, it's kind of outside of  us."  She has since taken on the role of the traveling gypsy as upon  graduation Upton decided to forge ahead with the documentary and  lived in the Yucatán Peninsula for eight months and most recently  traveled to the several Central American countries such as Guatemala.  She was able to connect with some Mayans still living there who she  said still speak an ancient dialect. A family invited Upton into  their home and told her about the story of how they make their  clothes and the meaning of the symbols on them.  "I wanted to get a feel of what they do on a daily basis and where  they live on a more anthropological basis," said Upton. "It's kind of  hard because they are very closed to the idea of cameras and filming,  and I can understand why a lot of filmmakers don't go there."  In between her filming, Upton has been staying with friends in Los  Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and with her parents who live  near the San Diego Polo Club fields in Rancho Santa Fe.  "Really, for three years, I've been on the road ever since I  graduated college," said Upton. "Now I am looking to set up my studio  so I am either looking at Los Angeles or San Francisco and when I get  set up I anticipate seven months of editing and post production." HOME