‘SPIRITUAL CINEMA’

ASHLAND — Citing its beautiful scenery, abundance of acting and production talent and its high level of New Age consciousness, a group of filmmakers wants to "discover" the Rogue Valley and make it the nucleus for a new genre of films known as "spiritual cinema."

Led by Ashlander Stephen Simon, a producer of "Somewhere in Time" and "What Dreams May Come," the Ashland Spiritual Cinema Community is meeting with city and Chamber of Commerce officials to clear any obstacles for the movement, which shuns murders and car chases in favor of messages of beauty, love, forgiveness and hope.

Simon and ASCC members want to create the Institute for Spiritual Cinema in Ashland, using it to stage an annual International Spiritual Cinema Film Festival starting in February 2006, similar to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. These organizations would be used to attract productions of spiritual films in the valley.

"If they want it here, we want it here," said Simon. "This is the perfect place, a huge, undiscovered asset offering all possible locations — industrial, alpine, freeways, any kind of neighborhood — and it’s packed with extraordinarily talented people. The acting pool from Shakespeare and other theaters is amazing."

The plans are a "great concept" and pose no foreseeable problems, said tourism and marketing manager Mary Pat Parker of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, following an initial meeting last week.

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A February festival would not overlap the Ashland Independent Film Festival and would precede the opening of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival season, she said.

"It would be a wonderful fit with Ashland," said Councilwoman Cate Hartzell, who attended the meeting, "if it nests into the community in a reciprocal way that includes a focus on growing the business through education, rather than just the traditional model of filling motels, creating jobs and having glamorous producers fly in for the festival, like they do at Sundance.

"We have to learn what the tradeoffs are, if any."

The film festival would include new showings by independent spiritual film producers, create post-production resources and skilled workers and offer the support to work independent of big studios, said Simon.

"It has to fit into the style and energy of the community and be supported by it," he said. "If it’s seen as Hollywood being imposed on it from outside, it won’t work."

As an example of what spiritual filming can do for tourism, Simon said his 1980 production of "Somewhere in Time," starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour, created tens of millions of new tourism dollars for Mackinaw Island, Mich., and its Grand Hotel.

Simon last summer directed "Indigo," written by New Age author Neale Donald Walsch and produced by James Twyman, both of Ashland. They hope "Indigo" is the first of many such films to be shot here using mostly local talent. Still, post-production had to be done in Los Angeles.

The genre is catching on in Ashland, with DJ’s Video having created a spiritual cinema section.

These aren’t "religious films" like "The Ten Commandments" or "The Passion," but rather, said DJ’s co-owner Adam Black, "movies whose essence is that they uplift and open you to personal meaning and give you something to really believe in."

Among the picks: "Heaven Can Wait," "It’s a Wonderful Life," "Whale Rider," "Ground Hog Day," "Lost in Translation," "Loveletter," "Life as a House," "Minority Report," "Dragonfly," "Twice Upon a Yesterday," "Made in Heaven," "The Education of Little Tree," Simon’s pair of spiritual films, and about 400 others.

"It’s happening," said Black. "People are tuning in and really responding and renting them. They’re so burned out on all the shoot-em-ups, car chases and random sex."

This fall, Simon will shoot his second spiritual film here — "Conversations With God," based on the books of the same title by Walsch and portraying his life and self-discovery from homeless park-dweller to best-selling author.

Frequently stung by critics who call the genre too teachy, Simon points viewers to his "What Dreams May Come" — "a movie with a lot of darkness," in which Robin Williams’ character literally goes through hell to save the soul of his wife, who committed suicide.

"He goes through hell, you’ll notice," Simon says. "He doesn’t go through heck."

John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org