Homegrown Filmmaking

'Tis the season for fresh, homegrown Indiana sweet corn and tomatoes. Kids on summer vacation staying up late to catch lightning bugs in fruit jars to make lanterns or finding a box turtle in the backyard. Hot, muggy afternoons that give way to cool (for the most part) evenings on the front porch. This is the perfect setting for what we call 'homegrown filmmaking'.

In case you didn't know it already, we're not a big, fancy production company.  In fact, I (Andie) have to clear my workspace so that we can eat dinner.

Both Storme and I balance time with our kids with filmmaking.  This doesn't mean that we are weekend parents.  It means that we are the primary caregivers while our spouses work.  And as such, we squeeze filmmaking in there somewhere.

Things take longer.  But they still happen.

Lest you take this for complaining, we're actually pretty amazed that we were able to make a movie this way.  It fills us with gratitude, as it necessitates that we collaborate with others.

At the moment, we are waiting to hear back from some film festivals and looking for others for submission.  We're also talking to record labels about helping with our soundtrack, working to mail out Kickstarter packages, and planning a featurette documentary about cults and mind control for our DVD.

On that subject, we are getting great notes from leading cult experts about our film.  One of them is from Steven Hassan, author of the books "Combatting Cult Mind Control" and "Releasing The Bonds."   Steve is a well-known world media expert on spiritual abuse.

Here's what he says:

"Paradise Recovered is a remarkable film, the best in memory, about cult mind control and how people are able to help themselves and others to freedom. It is so well done. Great writing. Great acting. Great directing. Great lighting. Great music. Great editing. Can you tell that I loved it?

"I hope millions of people watch this movie and understand that it is a fictionalized depiction of groups that really exist, with charismatic leaders who claim to speak for God exclusively. Groups that control people's behavior, information, thoughts and emotions and make followers dependent and obedient. It is also about people who see someone and realize how 'stuck' they are with phobias, thought and information control, that they make great efforts to incrementally help to empower that person to grow, and learn and develop more choices.

"Please watch this movie. And please encourage your family and friends to watch it too. It deserves to be seen. It is an instant classic."

Steve's endorsement of our film makes what we have accomplished seem all the more special.  His life's work has been all about assisting ex-members while helping their loved ones understand what spiritual abuse is all about, and the thought that we have made any sort of contribution in this arena is humbling. 

The whole reason we made this movie was to give broken people hope.

Amazing what you can do from your dining room table.  I think it's time for some watermelon.