Armondo Linus Acosta

Armondo Linus Acosta, born September 23, 1938, is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, cinematographer, producer, consultant, designer and meditation master known as Baba Ganapati. With his career spanning over six decades, Acosta is best known for his motion picture Romeo.Juliet and most recently The Last Supper: The Living Tableau, a film recreation of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, bringing together multi-Academy Award winners Vittorio Storaro, cinematographer, Dante Ferretti, production designer and Francesca Lo Schiavo, set decorator.

Acosta was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, as the eldest of three children. His parents, the singer Kay Bratton and the drummer Alex Acosta were popular jazz musicians during the Big Band era who performed across the United States. Acosta was raised in the Catholic faith and served as an altar boy in Saint Cecilia's Church in Detroit. When the family was on the road, he was home schooled and showed an interest in music, arts and theater at an early age. When he was 13, Acosta started studies at Tomlinson Technical Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. Subsequently, he enrolled at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

Acosta’s studies had prepared him for increasingly prestigious assignments, and he soon established himself as an international designer and motion picture visual consultant. He created, directed, designed and lit over 250 major international award-winning commercials for institutions, companies and organizations. Clients and assignments included Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Chrysler, NASA, MGM, ABC, CBS, NBC, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Eastman Kodak, Chanel, Herman Miller, 1964 New York World’s Fair, and Alka-Seltzer. His work is represented in the International Design Annuals and the Television Hall of Fame.

An ‘A&R’ (Artist and Repertoire) and design consultant, Acosta, a.k.a. Armando Acosta, a.k.a. Armand Acosta, created and designed numerous LP album covers for producer Richard Bock, founder of Pacific Jazz Records (known in the 1960s as World Pacific Records).

From 1958 through 1963, Acosta had the opportunity to learn first-hand from Roger Corman. Alongside another aspiring filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola, Acosta worked as a visual consultant on The Young Racers and Battle Beyond the Sun. Learning the trade through different assignments, Acosta participated in various Corman film projects including The Haunted Palace.

In 1962, Acosta was appointed Filmic Designer for the Emmy nominated, avant-garde television variety show "The Lively Ones." The show, sponsored by Ford Motor Company, aired for two seasons on NBC and starred Vic Damone, directed by Barry Shear with music by Jerry Fielding.

Pope John XXIII, by 'motu proprio' commissioned Acosta, in 1962, to create, write and design a series of ten short feature films illustrating the Psalms. Acosta worked with Father Patrick Peyton’s Family Theater Productions[ 11] and cinematographer, James Crabe, A.S.C. The Psalms collection was screened in the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. One of the short films, The Soldier,[ 12] featuring the then young William Shatner, was screened at the 1964 Venice Film Festival. The Soldier won awards in the international film festival circuit, along with receiving industry recognition.[ 13]

Throughout the 1960s, Acosta was a consultant, often uncredited to many of the era's top directors. In 1967, he was named the head of the newly formed Crewe Co. Films Inc.[ 14] Chairman Robert Crewe announced the appointment saying that it was the company's entry into the motion pictures.

Armondo LInus Acosta was represented for over three decades by show business agent Dennis Selinger of ICM London. Acosta’s long-time legal representative was Lee Steiner of Loeb & Loeb.

After establishing his own company, Moonseed Productions, Acosta started working on his first full-length motion picture in 1988 as director, writer, cinematographer and producer. The film is an interpretation of Shakespeare's classic love story and features Serge Prokofiev's music to "Romeo and Juliet Ballet" performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by André Previn. The movie stars 120 street cats from Venice, Verona, Ghent and New York. The only human character, a Venetian bag lady, 'La Dame Aux Chat,' was played by Sir John Hurt[ 15] [ 16] and an ensemble voiceover cast included British award-winning actors Dame Maggie Smith, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Powell, Sir Ben Kingsley, Francesca Annis, Victor Spinetti and Quentin Crisp.[ 17]

The world premiere of Romeo.Juliet film was held September 6, 1990 at the 47th Venice Film Festival. The film was also screened at the 1990 Film Fest Gent [ 18] and Film Festival Cologne. The American Premiere of Romeo.Juliet was held in Los Angeles at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater (headquarters for the AMPAS) on December 21, 1992 the film was also screened at the Directors Guild Theater, the Writers Guild Theater and at Warner Bros. Studios.

Romeo.Juliet, originally conceived as a film-in-concert experience, was screened with the accompaniment of a live orchestra, premiering at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bozar in Brussels with Nicholas Cleobury conducting the Belgium National Orchestra for three performances. The premiere was held on June 20, 1992. Another concert played in Tokyo for three nights at the NHK Hall, with Yoko Matsuo conducting (February1993).[ 19]

It was the first major full-length motion picture to be shot exclusively on Betacam video and then successfully transferred to 35mm film.[ 20] Academy winning cinematographer Linwood Dunn, A.S.C. known for his special effects, acknowledged the groundbreaking technical achievements.

“The Last Supper: The Living Tableau",[ 21] [ 22] [ 23] a 'Tableau vivant,' is a stand-alone film recreation of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, and the opening sequence of Acosta's new feature film project: The Last Supper – A Divine Prophecy.

“The Last Supper: The Living Tableau" was created in collaboration with multiple Academy Award winners Vittorio Storaro (cinematography), Dante Ferretti (production design) and Francesca Lo Schiavo (set decoration).[ 24] [ 25] [ 26] It was the first time that these three Italian motion picture icons had worked together on a project.

The short film has a nine-minute running time and recreates Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”, reflecting the original fresco’s science of perspective, proportion and light. The accompanying musical score is Rossini’s Stabat Mater. It is Acosta’s first of four Tableaus recreating Renaissance masterworks. The film was shot at the Academy One Studios,[ 27] [ 28] in Ghent, part of The Academy of the Subtle Arts which Acosta founded in 1996.

The world premiere of “The Last Supper: The Living Tableau" took place in partnership with the Vatican Museums, Comune di Milano, SKIRA, Milano Leonardo 500 and Palazzo Reale, on October 8, 2019, at the Palazzo Reale Museum in Milan during their “The Last Supper, Timeless Inspiration" [ 29] installment.

There have been several projections and screenings of the film before and after the premiere.:

Acosta's second tableau, "The Communion: The Living Tableau" is based on Fra Angelico's "Communion of the Apostles."[ 48] Also filmed at the Academy One Studios, the ten-minute film premiered in Florence at the San Marco Museum (February 18, 2023),[ 49] [ 50] [ 51] home to Fra Angelico’s work. The soundtrack is Rossini’s Stabat Mater: Quando corpus morietur.

Acosta’s third and fourth Tableaus, both in post-production are Michelangelo’s “Pietà: The Living Tableau” and “Habakkuk: The Living Tableau”, based on Donatello’s sculpture (in post-production).

All four of Acosta’s Tableaus are stand-alone sequences in addition to being included in his next feature film, The Last Supper – A Divine Prophecy.

In 2001, Acosta was reunited with his mentor Roger Corman at the Film Fest Gent, a.k.a. International Film Fest Ghent, in Belgium where Corman received the Joseph Plateau Award. Acosta and Corman met for the last time at the November 14, 2009 Governor's Ball where Corman received the Academy Honorary Award given to him by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) "for his rich engendering of films and filmmakers," the award was presented by Jonathan Demme and Quentin Tarantino.

While the head of Crewe Films in the late 1960s, Acosta left his worldly life to begin a spiritual journey. In his travels, which lasted over a decade, he met the Indian guru, Guru Swami Muktananda, who gave him the Sanskrit spiritual name Ganapati, considered by Hindus to be the god of wisdom or prophecy, patron of arts and sciences and the remover of obstacles. Living and traveling alone, Acosta/Ganapati spent years in Africa and Europe. In 1980, during what would be his last major pilgrimage, he traveled to India where he met and filmed Sathya Sai Baba, Narayana Shastriji and others, considered great and highly evolved beings.

In 1980, Acosta/Ganapati walked along the Ganges River, in northern India (Uttarakand) to meet Mahavatar Babaji, also known as Haidakhan Babaji and first introduced to the west in Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, originally published in 1946, and often referred to as the Immortal One. While spending a week with three companions in Haidakhan, Acosta/Ganapati shot 10,000 feet of 35mm footage of Babaji. There he also received his formal initiation from Babaji (Diksha).

After his pilgrimage to India, Acosta/Ganapati settled in Bruges, Belgium. He received his final initiation from Swami Muktananda, becoming Jivanmukta Swami Ganapati. A small spiritual/meditation community developed around his teachings and experiences during his time away from the secular world. In 1987 he established the first Siddha Shiva Yoga Center located in Ghent, Belgium.[ 52] Additional centers were subsequently opened in New York, NY, Escondido, CA, and Rome, Italy.

Interfaith Leadership and the Vatican

Acosta/Ganapati has been a proponent of community and interfaith involvement. During the height of the AIDS crisis, he held open-door discourses for New York City’s AIDS patients and their loved ones. He visited afflicted patients and founded The one Foundation dedicated to HIV/AIDS education and the concept of “divine immunity"; establishing the harmony of body, mind and spirit through the practice of meditation.

In 1998, he sponsored a bicycle pilgrimage from Ghent to the Vatican, culminating in a public audience with Pope John Paul II and a private encounter between His Holiness and Acosta/Ganapati. On April 8, 2005, he was among the world spiritual leaders who attended the Pope’s funeral held in St. Peter’s Square.

He returned to Rome on March 19 and 20, 2013 for the newly elected Pope Francis' Papal Inaugural Mass and celebrations. During a meeting between spiritual leaders held by Pope Francis in the Apostolic Palace, Ganapati gifted the new pontiff with a silver bas-relief of “The Last Supper.”  [ 53]

April 27, 2014, Ganapati was present for the Divine Mercy Sunday canonization mass for Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II celebrated by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square; he returned  on September 4, 2016, for the canonization mass of Mother Theresa.

March 19, 2015, Ganapati spoke at the European Parliament during the Religions for Peace [ 54] [ 55] - Global Network of Religions for Children presentation.[ 56]

April 28, 2015, Ganapati, plus 100 dignitaries and spiritual leaders, attended Pope Francis' Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity. The Moral Dimensions of Climate Change and Sustainable Humanity.[ 57]

Ganapati reunited with Pope Francis at the Interfaith Prayer Service at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum held on September 25, 2015 [ 58] [ 59] as well the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Italy for international spiritual leaders on September 20, 2016.[ 60]

He was a delegate at the United Nations Global Peace Initiative of Women Spiritual and Religious Leaders in Geneva in September 2002, and to the United Nations Millennium Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in August 2000. Ganapati was one of 80 world spiritual leaders invited to the United Nations 50th Anniversary in 1995.

On September 28, 2024 Ganapati was reunited with Pope Francis during the pontiff's Apostolic Journey to Belgium. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels invited Ganapati to install his full-size replica of Michelangelo’s Pietà (commissioned in Rome) and his Maria Santissima Bambina statuette in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a.k.a. Basilique Nationale du Sacré-Cœur, as a welcome gift to Pope Francis.[ 61]