David Barbarash of Black Cat Productions likes to bring thoughtful and provocative documentary films to the Coast, such as the recent series on 9/11 and the Bush Terror Film Tour.
But the subject of his latest screening, Indigo, at the Heritage Playhouse on Jan. 30, is a bit different in tone. It is a fictionalized narrative based on true stories about gifted and sensitive children. The concept of "indigo" children intrigued Barbarash greatly.
"I'm always fascinated by human evolution in this world," he says. He has met gifted young children here on the Coast and knows of local parents and schools that have studied the subject. These children, so called because they see auras around others while their own auras are often indigo in colour, are highly sensitive individuals who are in tune with their environment and other people. The most profound aspect of the children is their acute psychic awareness and their ability to tap into other children like themselves.
Lee Carroll and Jan Tober, authors of The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived (Hay House, 1999), describe them as: "children who display a new and unusual set of psychological attributes." Research has found that indigo children seem to go far beyond cultural barriers, and they can be found all around the world.
Indigo is an independently-made film that tells the story of one family's three fateful choices that result in bankruptcy, jail, their estrangement and dissolution. Through the healing and psychic powers of the family's youngest member, Grace, a 10-year-old indigo child, the family finally has a chance. The film follows the relationship between Ray, played by Neale Donald Walsch, and his 10-year-old granddaughter Grace, played by Meghan McCandless, with whom Ray goes on the run to protect her from a kidnapper. He discovers the power of his granddaughter's gifts, which forever alter the lives of everyone she encounters.
At less than two weeks until the film's première, a targeted Internet campaign resulted in 88 sold-out theatres in AMC, an American digital theatre chain. Indigo will also be shown on Jan. 29 and 30 in over 500 churches and organizations in Canada, the U.S. and in 35 countries. On the Coast, it will be shown at St. Hilda's Church in Sechelt on Jan. 29. The tie-in with churches does not seem unusual to Barbarash.
Indigo is a new genre of film called spiritual cinema that asks two questions: Who are we? Why are we here? Those involved in making this film are part of an emerging community, he says. They come from a progressive, open-minded, spiritual group that often includes churches such as the United and Anglican congregations.
Indigo is Stephen Simon's directorial debut after 25 years of producing such films as Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come. Walsch, who co-wrote the script and stars in the film, is the best selling author of the Conversations with God series.
Ticket sales have been brisk for the Gibsons screenings. They are available for $12 at Coast and Talewind Books and Roberts Creek Health Food Store.
