Three Friends, One Great Idea:
The Making of the Movie Indigo
By Arielle Ford

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The making of the movie Indigo.

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Neale Donald Walsch is best known for his bestselling book series, Conversations with God. You could say he makes his living by talking to God. James Twyman is known worldwide as the peace troubadour. He spends most of his time in foreign lands speaking and singing. Stephen Simon is a veteran film producer (credits include Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come) who fled Hollywood to join his friends in Ashland, Oregon, while focusing on making what he calls “spiritual cinema.” Three best friends. Three men committed to a spiritual path who decided to risk their friendship and their reputations by making a movie together, a movie called Indigo.

“Indigo is about taking responsibility for the choices we make. It’s about the thin line that separates success from failure, and love from regret. It is a film about redemption, grace and the healing powers of a new generation of psychic and gifted Indigo children,” explains Simon, director and producer of Indigo. “It tells the story of one family’s three fateful choices that result in bankruptcy, jail, and their estrangement and total dissolution. Through the healing and psychic powers of the family’s youngest member—Grace, a ten-year-old Indigo child—the family finally has a chance.”

Indigo was shot on a $500,000 budget and financed through thousands of small contributions from people around the world who believed passionately that the film’s powerful message needed to be brought to the world.

James Twyman co-wrote the script with Neale Donald Walsch and served as the film’s Executive Producer. Walsch, who has been an actor for more than thirty years on stage and screen, stars in the film as the grandfather of the Indigo child.

“This was a dream come true for me. Showing up every day on the set by 5:00 a.m. for makeup was sheer fun,” says Walsch. “Knowing I was doing something really important to get a message out brought me a lot of psychological enjoyment. And, even though many of the days were 12–14 hours long, I loved every minute of it!”

Did making Indigo put their friendship to the test? “No, surprisingly it didn’t. From the minute we decided to do it, to the minute the final frame of film was edited, we never had any trouble,” says Simon. “In fact, we are doing it again, but that’s another story. The movie genre of Spiritual Cinema is exploding. With the mainstream acceptance of What the #$*! Do We Know?, we can expect to see more and more films that are created with the express purpose of informing and transforming.”

The theatrical premiere of Indigo is presented by Emissary Productions www.indigothemovie.com, The Spiritual Cinema Circle, the nation’s fastest growing new DVD film club, and Monterey Video, which will release Indigo on DVD in the spring. Indigo will be seen at more than one hundred AMC Theatres nationwide. The premiere screening starts at 11:00 a.m. nationwide on Saturday, January 29, 2005. In addition to watching Indigo on the big screen, movie goers will be treated to a special introduction by director/producer Stephen Simon, screenwriter James Twyman and writer/lead actor Neale Donald Walsch.

“Indigo has been eagerly awaited by the spiritual community since it won the prestigious audience award at the Santa Fe Film festival,” says Twyman. “We are delighted that AMC Theaters and The Spiritual Cinema Circle are partnering with us to make it possible.” Tickets will cost $10.00, and advance ticket sales are only available online at www.indigothemovie.com.

“As the leading purveyor of Spiritual Cinema, we are blazing new trails in film distribution,” explains Gay Hendricks, co-founder of The Spiritual Cinema Circle. “Our thousands of subscribers from over sixty countries trust us to find meaningful movies that appeal to their values. By sponsoring the theatrical premiere of a film such as Indigo, we show how important this new and growing genre is to so many people.”

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