About Us
DREAMLIFE FILMS is a production company created in 2013 by Vic Compher, who is a filmmaker, poet, clinical social worker, workshop trainer, and author.
Vic’s documentaries, 4 of which are featured on this website, address a broad range of challenging social issues which often confound our modern world. A wide variety of topics are explored in these films, including global warming, sexual and religious trauma, secondary or vicarious trauma of professional helpers, or the sometimes troubling gap between older and younger generations. What these very diverse films have in common, however, is that each one offers unique, thoughtful routes to wholeness and healing which are reflected in vivid, wise, and often dramatic interviews of the persons Vic features around these topics.
Uniquely, each of these documentaries combines the artistry of music, visual arts and montage, animation and poetry with contemporary psychology, science or technology. Realizing that we all perceive the world in many different ways, Vic communicates in a fluid manner through both metaphorical or “right brain” techniques as well as through more analytical “left brain communication”! Vic is particularly interested in how we as humans can learn to appreciate our genetic and emotional connection to Mother Nature — and how we learn from her and from one another how to heal ourselves and our world.
Indeed, Vic addresses a key environmental theme in his most recent film, “The Eagle and the Condor Unite–A Story of Climate Restoration“, which advocates for the restoration of our climate to its preindustrial condition. This recovery and sustenance of our atmosphere and human life itself can occur through the deepening of our appreciation for Mother Nature AND through our use of the remarkable and rapidly emerging environmentally friendly technologies, depicted in the film. These scientific breakthroughs, which are based usually on biomimicry can enable the removal and capture of legacy CO2 from the atmosphere, while our use of sustainable energies is transitioning away from fossil fuels. Learn More
“Angels and Saints–Eros and Awe” recognizes religious trauma, caused by history’s harmful splitting of “flesh and spirit” and presents ways of bringing psychological healing and wholeness. Learn More
An earlier film, “Portraits of Professional Caregivers: Their Passion. Their Pain” addresses secondary trauma and staff resiliency. This film has been broadcast widely on PBS, screened at many public and professional venues around the country, including various national and regional conferences, and for many workshops and training institutes. Caregivers film was nominated for a regional Emmy for outstanding documentary in 2018. Learn More
And lastly, “I Cannot be Silent” illustrates elder adults bridging the generational gap with children and young people through the sharing of their poignant, inspiring and often dramatic life stories regarding peacemaking. Learn More
Rodney Whittenberg is an Emmy Award winning composer and an Emmy nominated film producer. He is also a multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer, sound designer, music producer, writer, podcast producer, film director, editor, producer, and educator.
Rodney is the founder of Melodyvision, a full-service media production company that serves as a platform for him to bring fresh perspectives to each client and project while adding value that results in creative solutions for often complex problems. Rodney has produced and directed the award-winning documentary Voices of Ages and produced and co-directed the Emmy nominated Portraits of Professional Caregivers – their Passion, their Pain, and the award-winning documentary Angels and Saints – Eros and Awe. He has co-directed more than two dozen short, experimental documentaries, many of which have won numerous film festivals. He has also worked as a freelance segment producer for HBO, WYBE, and WHYY.
As a film composer, Rodney has written music for over thirty-four films and TV shows, as well as countless dance performances. His projects include: Code Name: Ayalon, Anthony Bourdain’s A Cooks Tour, PBS’s POV Documentary The Camden 28, The Spanish American War (co-written with Time for Three) for the History Channel, and horror film classics Infested and Return to Sleepaway Camp. He’s received a regional Emmy for his musical score for the TV Documentary Mother Dot’s Philadelphia and a Best Sound Design award at the Terror Film Festival for the movie Tolltaker. He also directed the orchestral film shoots for Beethoven to Beijing, which was nominated for the Library of Congress’ Ken Burns Prize.
Rodney has taught music and audio production courses at Lincoln University, University of the Arts, Drexel University, and Philadelphia Community College, as well as graduate level film courses at Rosemont College and an audio production course for animation at Jefferson University. He has been a guest lecturer at Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Franklin and Marshall College, and has co-written curriculum for the Southeast Delco School District.
Rodney has also had the pleasure to have interviewed Terrence Blanchard, John Lewis, Andrew Young, legendary bassist Ron Carter, avant-garde composer George Crumb, jazz piano icon Ramsey Lewis, and swing guitarist John Pizzarelli.
As an audio engineer and record producer he has worked with artists as varied as Time for Three , Bobby McFerrin, the Philadelphia Orchestra Percussion Ensemble, and The DePue Brothers Band.