Beyond This Place

In the 1960s, Gordon La Belle decided to abandon his conventional lifestyle, and with his wife Marjorie he moved to Maui, joined a hippie commune and pursued a life of freedom, psychedelic exploration and bicycling. Gordon changed his name to Cloud Rock, and he and Marjorie had a son they named Ganja. When Ganja was three, Cloud Rock walked away from his wife and son; in time, Marjorie gave up the hippie lifestyle and moved to Detroit, while Ganja rarely heard from his father and had practically no contact with him. After Ganja grew to adulthood, he changed his name to Kaleo La Belle and became a filmmaker; as his 34th birthday was looming, he heard from Cloud Rock for the first time in years, who invited him to join him for a bicycle trip in the Pacific Northwest. Kaleo decided to make a film about their journey, and in the documentary Beyond This Place, he chronicles his efforts to learn just who Cloud Rock really is and why he means so much to him, while the father makes it clear he prefers to celebrate his own present rather than examining any possible mistakes in his past. Featuring a musical score by Sufjan Stevens and Raymond Raposa, Beyond This Place was an official selection at the 2010 Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival.